Featured Author
Joe Maffei -- August 2001
A practitioner of martial arts for more than 30 years, Joe
Maffei holds a black belt in judo and black sashes in
Chinese kung-fu and tai-chi. He is a full instructor in Jeet
Kune Do Concepts and the Filipino arts.
Joe's father, a music teacher
at the Boston Conservatory,
was a tremendous influence
on Joe from a very young
age, encouraging him to
pursue martial arts, music,
and sports. An exceptional
athlete, young Joe was
recognized for being his
school's "all-around
gymnast," was running back
and co-captain of his
football team, and was a
five-time U.S. free-skating champion. Although
accomplished in many areas, Joe made his passion for the
martial arts his dominant focus. When Joe was 7, his dad, an army war veteran, taught
him hand-to-hand combat tactics as well as a crude form of judo and jiu-jitsu.
These skills would soon be tested, as Joe spent most of
his late teens drumming with bands in rock clubs and
biker bars up and down the East Coast. This eye-opening
lifestyle quickly convinced Joe that he needed to
accelerate his martial art studies and defensive tactics
training. He eventually sought out Navy SEAL instructor
and jeet kune do (JKD) expert Paul Vunak and in 1980
began training in Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do Concepts and
the Filipino martial arts. Today, in addition to being an
instructor of these arts, he is fully certified and trained in combat knife fighting and
Rapid Assault Tactics, the military system of hand-to-hand combat taught directly to
the navy's antiterrorist unit SEAL Team Six.
In 1990 Joe opened his own training facility, The Integrated Martial Development
Center, in Waltham, Massachusetts. That same year, he was introduced to undefeated
Brazilian jiu-jitsu champion Rickson Gracie. Understanding the importance of ground
fighting, Joe began studying under Rickson and Renzo Gracie in the Gracie style of
ground fighting, which had been proven and tested on the violent streets and back
alleys of Rio De Janeiro for more than 70 years.
In 1995 while Joe was training a group at Ft. Devens in
Ayer, Massachusetts, a friend who was a tactics
instructor for the U.S. special forces asked him if he would
work on a special project combining ground fighting with
edged weapons. Joe agreed. Realizing that environment,
climate, conditions, number of attackers, equipment, and
gear all play a major role in the execution of hand-to-hand
combat techniques, Joe set out to develop a system that
would emphasize adaptability, offer simple solutions to
suit their needs, and have a commonality that would allow
it to be adjusted for either law enforcement or civilian use.
Joe's career
continued to flourish,
and in 1995 he was
contracted by the Ultimate Fighting Championship
(UFC), the world's largest television
no-holds-barred cage fighting event, to be an
expert witness in a nine-day trial in Rhode Island
superior court. His testimony supported the UFC's
position that Ultimate Fighting was a sport in and
of itself, distinct from kickboxing, collegiate
wrestling, and other sports that had to be licensed
by the state athletic committee. That same year he was hired as the martial arts color
commentator for the World Vale-Tudo Championship, a similar event held in Tokyo.
He is now a certified instructor and trainer for the International Fighting Championships
(IFC) and has coached his students to two world championship titles in
no-holds-barred cage fighting. In addition, he has trained members of state and local
law enforcement, as well as U.S. special forces, FBI, DEA, ATF, and other
organizations.
Joe's first Paladin Press video production, The Reality of Edged Weapons, was released
in July. He is also the creator, coproducer, and writer of The Complete Fighter: A J.K.D.
Freestyle Fighting Video Series and has published articles in several magazines,
including Karate Illustrated, Full Contact, Inside Kung-Fu, Police Marksman, and
Modern Knives.
His latest project has been the development of a combat fighting knife called the JKD
Fighter in collaboration with world-renowned custom knifemakers Bud Nealy and Jim
Piorek (aka Blade Rigger), designer of custom carry systems. Beyond that, he plans to
keep training, teaching, and improving his system. Toward that end, he says, he will
continue developing educational material, new products, and training enhancement
equipment and tailoring and customizing programs for people and organizations
worldwide.
Q & A
Q. How has your athletic experience affected your practice of the martial arts?
A. I think sports and martial arts are two sides of the same coin. They keep you healthy
and fit. They take discipline and practice to be good. The training makes you strong
and develops attributes such as coordination, balance, and stamina. And they offer the
opportunity to develop a competitive spirit--that spirit to win, or survive . . . to never
quit.
Q. What sports would you recommend as good "training aids" for martial arts, and
why?
A. I think any contact sport with continuous motion is good--football, basketball,
soccer, and so on. These sports make you tough and also develop a sense of
teamwork, which can help build better social skills. Also, playing team sports helps
promote peripheral vision--the ability to watch many players while still focusing on
your own task. This is a great skill to have when facing multiple attackers.
Q. What would you say are your greatest assets as a martial artist?
A. As a teacher, I would say patience, adaptability, and the openness to experiment
with different methods and new ideas, as well as the ability to identify a student's
problems quickly and use conventional or unconventional methods to achieve the
appropriate results. As a fighter, I would have to say my athletic attributes are high on
the list. I'm pretty quick and strong. Another plus is my appearance, because it's
unassuming and nonthreatening. I blend in well with your average person, adding an
element of surprise.
Q. Of all of your martial skills, which would you say are
indispensable, and why?
A. Experience, awareness, and adaptability. First and
foremost, experience. Being in the music business and
spending half your life in bars and surrounded by drunks,
druggies, and criminals, you learn about the dark side of
life. You develop an eye for criminal activity--who's doing
what, who's with who. Which leads us to awareness.
While I may have great techniques, kicks, punches, and
other attributes, if I am not aware of my surroundings and
the potential danger that lurks, I may not have the opportunity to launch those deadly
punches or kicks. At the same time, the attributes I've developed give me adaptability
to maneuver an escape or establish a dominant position that gives me the advantage in
a fight.
Q. When did you begin studying t'ai chi, and what has that added to your overall
proficiency as a martial artist?
A. I started t'ai chi about 1977. T'ai chi focuses on full, deep breathing. This helps the
circulatory and respiratory system. The deeper the breath, the greater the amount of
oxygen that can get to the brain, which promotes clear thinking and awareness.
Practicing deep breathing can also increase lung capacity, decreasing fatigue. This will
allow your body freedom and more fluid movement, adding to your overall proficiency.
And deep breathing can help settle you down in frightening and stressful situations.
Q. Who are some of your favorite martial artists, and why?
A. Of course I admire all of my teachers. But my favorites are my students, because I
had the chance to watch them grow and develop as fighters, teachers, and responsible
people.
Q. What was it like training with Paul Vunak?
A. Paul Vunak is an extremely talented and gifted individual. He has a great sense of
humor and is a good friend. At that time in my life I was so fortunate to be training with
Paul, because he was so intense and hungry. I just felt blessed to be in the right place
at the right time. I remember training in his backyard in Long Beach, California. It was so
different than my former traditional training--informal and loose, but very aggressive,
with so much forward pressure. This was not some set of patty-cake drills, but rather an
aggressive way to learn how to fight functionally. Those days were ROWDY . . . and
somewhat out of hand at times. Our personal talks were about Bruce Lee and Paul's
training with Dan Inosanto (with whom I would train later). We would talk about the
training and the escapades down in Virginia Beach, the different methods used in
training the SEAL teams, and the high-tech equipment used and developed by the
military. We also talked about the team members and the different tactics and scenarios
used for certain missions. I have been training more than 20 years with Paul, and I base
my teaching and training on what he told me in my very first lesson: "Find your own
truth in combat."
Q. How about the Gracies?
A. I can only speak for the Gracies I worked with, Rickson and Renzo. Although their
personalities may differ, their attitude toward their family's art did not. They are perfect
gentlemen and fierce fighters. Their training regimen and workout ethic was incredible,
and their zest for life inspiring. I am proud to be able to call them my friends and my
teachers.
Q. What are your thoughts about Ultimate Fighting and the efforts to ban it? How has
it influenced the martial arts in a positive way?
A. I think the UFC made a big mistake in the early stages of the event, with regard to
the long-term life of the sport. Their marketing strategy was to promote this barbaric,
no-rules blood sport in order to stir up controversy. In the short term, this was great.
The event got a lot of publicity, made a lot of people money, and created a lot of
excitement. But in the long term it was detrimental to the growth and the development
of the sport. And that's what it is--a sport! With strict rules and regulations. I think No
Holds Barred (NHB) or Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighting is great. It has influenced
many martial artists in a positive way in that it has opened their eyes to the realities of
empty-hand fighting. It is a key component to my training and teaching.
Q. What can you tell us about your knife grappling
program?
A. Well, the first thing I can tell you is that the last thing
you want is to be grappling--on the ground or
standing--when a knife is involved. Grappling and knives
don't mix. Unfortunately, it happens, and we need some
where to hang our hat. Knife fighting can be broken down
into various ranges--long, middle, close, the clinch, and
ground fighting--and they integrate quickly. Most
practitioners only train one or two of these ranges, so
when the time comes to fight in all the ranges they are
limited. My students train in all of them. But the first thing
I teach is blade awareness. These days, when most people
learn grappling or ground fighting, they learn it as a sport. Even NHB fighting is a
sport. An NHB fighter is trained in striking, joint locks, chokes, and so on. He develops
muscle memory specific to a certain way of fighting. But that way does not involve
knives or multiple attackers, so it gives the student a false sense of security when
facing an opponent in a life-threatening situation. My advanced training always
includes knives and multiple attackers so the student knows right away what will work
and what won't. However, I train all students to be proficient in empty-hand NHB
fighting, and the knife program is an extension of empty hand-fighting. My knife
program can be adapted for law enforcement and civilian use or adjusted for military
use, incorporating multiple knives and pistols placed on specific parts of the body for
easy access in awkward and uncomfortable positions.
Q. What is the biggest flaw in martial arts instruction today?
A. Simple. 1) The use of unrealistic techniques and training methods. 2) Instructors
who are overly controlling and don't allow students to think for themselves and
experience other styles and instructors. 3) Instructors who are not qualified and only
teach for the money, which may endanger their students and others.
Q. Where is your school, and are you training instructors to open schools in other
parts of the country?
A. The main training facility is located in Waltham, Massachusetts. And yes, we are
training instructors in the U.S. as well as on a global basis.
