The Pit (mixed martial arts)
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| Est. | 1986 |
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| Founded by | John Hackleman |
| Primary trainers | John Hackleman Rick Metzler Chuck Liddell[3] Luke Riddering Joe Lynch Christina Acevedo Glover Teixeira [4] |
| Past titleholders | Chuck Liddell[5] Light-Heavyweight Champion (UFC 2005-2007)205 lb (93 kg) |
| Prominent Fighters | Chuck Liddell (UFC)[6] Glover Teixeira (WEC) Antonio Banuelos (WEC) [7] |
| Training Facility Locations |  Arroyo Grande, California |
| Official Website | The Pit / Home Page |
The Pit is a professional mixed martial arts association and training camp run out of Arroyo Grande, California. Founded in 1986 its fighters have competed in various promotions including the UFC, Pride FC, and WEC.
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[edit] History
The Pit was founded in 1986 in Woodland Hills, California as a training gym in the art of Kaju Kenbo or Hawaiian Kempo as it is now known. Its founder, John Hackleman started the school as a mean to teach a more straight forward, no-nonsense approach to martial arts. Initially it was only a school for training serious fighters. With a logo of a Grim Reaper-like fighter and a name like the Pit, it was decided that the school would need another name to attract kids and families so it given the style name of KuZen when it opened to the general public. The Pit currently operates out of Arroyo Grande, California and gained worldwide notoriety when Chuck Liddell became UFC Light-Heavyweight Champion. [2]
[edit] The Pit boss
Born November 21, 1959 in New York City, from the age of four John Hackleman grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii. It was around the age of nine years that he began studying Judo. By highschool he was a golden gloves boxer and a competitive kickboxer. He had initially added Shotokan Karate but by 10 years old had settled upon studying Judo and Kaju Kenbo under Walter Godin who he would continue to train with until Godin’s death in 2002. Kaju Kenbo was a mixture of Karate, Judo, Kempo and Western boxing which had developed in Hawaii in 1947 specifically as a streetfighting art.
In 1979 Hackleman enlisted in the army because of the hostage situation in Iran. He ended up spending his three years on the Army boxing team, winning State and regional Golden Gloves titles. Success there led him to a pro career under Don King Promotions with a pro record of 17 wins, 3 losses, with 15 knockouts.
By 1985 he moved to California where he renamed his style Hawaiian Kempo. The Pit is the only Hawaiian Kempo school that favors the Ke-m-po spelling as opposed to Ke-n-po. He describes his style as more hardcore than other Hawaiian Kenpo schools may teach it, but decided to give his school the style name KuZen; a mix of the god of war in Hawaii and Zen Buddhism; to attract children and families to his school. [2]
[edit] Training a champion
Before UFC 47 both Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz had trained at the Pit. This would be a turning point in Liddell career as he was coming off losses to both Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Randy “the Natural” Couture in two of his prior three fights. Before the fight Chuck had been a longtime contender who had never been given a shot at Ortiz and the title. Ortiz’ loss of the title to Couture made the matchup a no-brainer for both fighters. Chuck knocked Ortiz out in the second round and went undefeated for a subsequent seven fights before losing the title in a rematch to Quinton Jackson. During this time he avenged losses to Randy Couture (twice) and Jeremy Horn. He defeated members of two distinguished training camps in the Lion’s Dens own Vernon “Tiger” White, and the Gracie Barra Combat Team’s Renato “Babalu” Sobral.
The change in Chuck Liddell’s career was part of a philosophy of John Hackleman’s to get back to the basics of what had built his career. Prior to his loss to Couture, Hackleman felt that Chuck had had too much training time taken away due to the need for publicity tours and other such scheduled events on the behalf of the UFC. He had felt that it was time to get back to the type of training that the Pit was known for.
Since then Liddell has opened his own school along with Scott Adams in San Luis Obispo, California which focuses on kickboxing. Fighters from the Pit train at both school but Liddell and other fighters from both schools fight as members of the Pit fight team.
[edit] Training style
Hawaiian Kempo, or Kaju Kenbo, blends kickboxing, western boxing, judo, kempo, jiu-jitsu, and wrestling, with a heavy fitness program developed by Cross-fit [1]. In order to add more time for a more fitness-oriented curriculum aimed at producing well-conditioned athletes, training katas were eliminated from the original Kaju Kenbo formula. Practicality and usability are emphasized in the areas of striking and grappling. Bag training is emphasized both standing and on the ground.
Since the school began accepting non-fighters, they train students from the age of three years old and up. The school uses 3 belt separate systems; one for three to eight year olds, one for ages nine through 13, and one for adults. [8][1][9][10]
[edit] Current and upcoming events
Since losing the UFC light-heavyweight title to Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Liddell suffered a second consecutive loss to Keith Jardine at UFC 76 via a split decision after three rounds. However, Liddell rebounded three months later with one of the most significant wins of his career against former PRIDE FC middleweight champ Wanderlei Silva--winning a unanimous decision after three rounds at UFC 79. Liddell will now face up and coming light heavyweight Rashad Evans. Evans was decided upon as a sudden fillin for Shogun Rua, after Rua suffered a surgery-requiring knee injury during training for his fight against Liddell. The Liddell vs Evans bout at UFC 85 will likely determine the next challenger for the UFC light heavyweight title.
Recently one of the Pit's younger fighters, Antonio Banuelos received notoriety when he was featured on the Tapout reality series. Although he lost his WEC 26 bantamweight matchup to Charlie Valencia via 1st-round knockout, he remains one of the Pit's top young prospects as the team looks to build their next superstar.
[edit] Current Pit fighters
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Fighters currently representing The Pit
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[edit] Other Pit fighters
- "Hurricane" Ralph Alarcon
- Eric Swartz
- Scott Boggel
[edit] Fighters who have trained at The Pit
- Tito Ortiz (UFC)
- Tony DeSouza (UFC)
- Ross Pointon (UFC)
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Ultimate Regimen: A fighting champion gets intense.. Sports Illustrated - SI.com (2007). Retrieved on 2007-08-21.
- ^ a b c John Hackleman article. Knucklepit.com (2007). Retrieved on 2007-08-21.
- ^ ESPN Page 2- This guy scares you?. ESPN.com (2007). Retrieved on 2007-08-21.
- ^ The Pit Instructors. ThePitMMA.com (2007). Retrieved on 2007-08-21.
- ^ 'Iceman' looking to avenge loss to Jackson in '03.. CBS Sportsline (2007). Retrieved on 2007-08-21.
- ^ UFC notebook: Liddell, Ortiz truckin’ on ‘Route 66’.. The Boston Herald (2007). Retrieved on 2007-08-21.
- ^ Antonio Banuelos_WEC_Pit_Tapout reality show. Yahoo!Canada (2007). Retrieved on 2007-08-22.
- ^ The Pit Hawaiian Kempo. homeofthepit.com (2007). Retrieved on 2007-08-21.
- ^ “Pit Boss” John Hackleman Speaks About Liddell’s Loss. Chuck Liddell: Official Site (2007). Retrieved on 2007-08-21.
- ^ Hackleman Keeps It Old School for Liddell. UFC.com (2007). Retrieved on 2007-08-21.
- ^ Sherdog.com search for "The Pit" fighters. Sherdog.com (2007). Retrieved on 2007-08-21.
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