Karate

Karate is just shorthand for "Martial Arts", but I practiced quite a few, and was quite proficient. I call it "Karate", but really I did Shaolin Kenpo/Kempo for about 20 years as my primary art (teaching as well as doing), and Aikido, Aikijujitsu, Judo, Gracie Jujitsu, Tae Kwon Do, Escrima, Arnis, Kali, Jeet Kun Do, Tai Chi Chuan, Shotokan, and a few other arts as my secondary arts. ℹ️ Info           ~ Aristotle Sabouni Created: 2013-10-02

(For a while, I was doing my primary 4 days a week, and my secondary for 2 days a week... but sometimes, my primary/secondary training flipped (2/4). Back in 1992, there was a WMAC event in Las Vegas, and me and my crew were the Demonstration Team. Here are some pictures I got with other famous Martial Artists at the event.

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  Benny "The Jet" Urquidez is a famous Martial Arts competitor and seemed like a nice guy.

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  Sadly, I never got a picture with Bruce Lee. But when I was a young kid, I met him. My Grandma and I would do Dim Sum in China Town on Sunday's (in L.A.), and then she'd shop afterwards. We went into a shop and she mentioned, "This is Bruce Lee's brother, a famous Movie Star"... and Bruce's brother said, "Bruce is in the back" and he called him out and I met him. Then he died a few months(?) later. But he'd kind of inspired me to get into Martial Arts later.

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  Chuck Norris is incredibly nice and humble, and a little quiet offscreen. We hung out in a party suite with him, once you got him talking about his competition days and the real Martial Arts, he opened up a lot more than wanting to talk about movies and TV shows. (We were hanging out, so I never tried to get a shot with him).

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  Ed Parker tested me for my 3rd Degree Black Belt. (Chuck Sullivan was my primary instructor at the time, but Ed had come out Barstow for this test.

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  Known as the King of Kata, especially for his weapons forms.

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  Ernie Reyes, Jr.: of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and had his own TV Show, and his Dad had a chain of Studios. We hung out, as we were both younger at the event than many of the others.

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  Jean Claude Van Damme: he was very nice, gracious, and he valued fans and other Martial Artists. Though he went through a few wives, as he seemed to confuse them for punching bags occasionally. (One of my closest friends Cousin's was his first or second wife).

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  Kathy "The Punisher" Long was one of the Title fighters at the event we were the opening act/demonstration. She was cool.

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  Jeff and I were both Kempo folks, that had similar instructor circles. One of the events we were at together, I got a shot with him.

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  Bill "Superfoot" Wallace was known for his speed and reach on his kicks.

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  My Instructors: Vic LeRoux and Chuck Sullivan.

There were dozens of other famous Martial Artists that I met, or even worked out with over the years/decades. (Like some of the Gracies). But I wasn't much into photos. It just happened my wife had brought a Camera to Vegas and that one event... and a decade later, I was rummaging through old photos and decided to save these.

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Life Experiences Life experiences make us who we are (or influence it).

Martial Arts These are just the Martial Arts philosophies that influenced me, and the ways I look at things.

Tags: Life  Martial Arts