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 Mat Booe of Gokor's Team Hayastan in North Hollywood received an honor the weekend of April 4-6.
After fighting 8 fights in a three day Mixed Martial Arts Stickfighting event,
Mat was accepted into the exclusive "Dog Brothers" tribe as "Dog Mat" (additional levels are
"Candidate Dog Brother" and "Dog Brother")
He utilized Gokor's Hayastan Fighting System
coupled with Dog Brother's Martial Arts to its fullest. Two fights were ended
with armbars, several ended with ground and pound and several were ended with
hard hitting stick fighting skills. Mat pulled off throw after throw and
thanks to Nick "Pappy Dog" Pappidakis' coaching showed greatly
improved power and skill with the stick.
"This was a life changing
experience." Says Dog Mat.
"Three days living in the adrenal state, dealing with the real possibility
of serious injury and even death, has altered the way I see life, people and
fighting. I can't tell you what it means to be accepted as a part of this
gutsy and maybe even a little insane, elite group of warriors."
Mat has plans to fight in the Dog Brothers August Gathering
next. Then in late September it
is off to Berne Switzerland to compete in the Euro Gathering to fight with some of the best Europe
has to offer.
The Dog Brothers Gathering of the Pack is a
"real contact" MMA Stick Fighting event. Quoting Guro Crafty Dog there are
three simple rules:
1 No judges, no referees, no trophies.
2 Be friends at the end of the day. The goal
is that no one spends the night in the hospital and that everyone leaves with
the IQ with which he came.
3 No suing no one for no reason for nothing no how no way! Real
Contact Stickfighting is Dangerous and only you are responsible for you, so
protect yourself at all times.
All striking with the stick(s) or with the
body are 100% contact. Any less is considered a dishonor to your
opponent. Within the
context of the code of "Friends at the end of the day" very
little is deemed unacceptable. It is your job to defend yourself not your
opponent's, but if a man is not capable of defending himself the
other fighter should not deliver shots of lasting damage or IQ reduction. Sticks
are usually ľ to 1 Ľ inches thick and usually
are 30 inches or longer and made of solid rattan. Knives used in this
event are dulled aluminum.
Marc "Crafty Dog" Denny, the "Guiding Force" of the Dog
Brothers, is one of the original founders of the Dog
Brothers. He
heads the gatherings and their fights. This event on April 4-6th
was slightly different than all the rest. Denny designed this 20th
anniversary event to be three days instead of the usual one to commemorate the three days of fights with which
the Dog Brothers began. As well, this event was closed
door admitting fighters by invitation only. This kept the level of skill
high and the contact subsequently much harder.
The three days of
fighting were filmed by a highly professional film crew with 5 cameras and will
be part of a movie about the Dog Brothers. Denny describes the concept of
the movie as “’Pumping Iron’ meets ‘Higher Consciousness through Harder Contact’”.
More info about the Dog Brothers and their Dog Brothers Gatherings of the Pack
can be found on their website at www.dogbrothers.com.
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