Thursday, November 20th   2008

Ralph Gracie Academy
1166 Howard, San Francisco California 94103
415-522-4777

I recently visited the Ralph Gracie Academy in San Francisco and had the pleasure of meeting several fighters and students there. I was the second to arrive at the academy that morning, and was let in by one of the students. The gym is expansive and well lit due to the wall of glass that borders its front side. It provides a barrier of contrast between the fighters that train inside the academy and the citizens and visitors that stroll by and peer through the large expanse of glass. It was very quiet at that time that I arrived as we were the only two people there, that was soon about to change.

Enter Kurt Osiander, a Ralph Gracie Mixed Martial Arts instructor with 10 years of Jiu-Jitsu experience and 4 MMA fights under his belt. Arriving in a casual manner, Kurt welcomed me to the establishment without hesitation and gave me free reign about the academy. Students began to trickle in as I greeted several fighters and BJJ students.

The academy began to fill with conversations as more and more students made their way onto the mats. Some stretched diligently, as others “worked the room” to get caught up on the latest and greatest from their friends’ lives. As with all gyms or academies that we have visited, this is a very tight group of individuals, the head instructor being Kurt Osiander.

The MMA training that Kurt puts his fighters through is kept at a high pace. With professional fighters like Luke Stewart, Nik Theotikos, and James Cook in the class, the level of training is amongst the highest attainable. The fighters pushed the pace and kept the intensity high, and although they were “fighting” each other, they continuously counseled one another on how to improve their respective techniques. Kurt and Luke Stewart were training for their bouts with Raul Castillo and Joe Riggs on the Strikeforce “Destruction” card.

After an intense training session I had the opportunity to interview Kurt and get his thoughts on his current training mindset, his upcoming fight with Raul Castillo, and the growth of MMA.

INTERVIEW WITH KURT OSIANDER

Download | Duration: 00:09:56

Coming off of his first MMA loss, Kurt heeds the advice and council of those close to him in his training. He explains that his mindset leading into prior fight was not as technical is his training partners and counterparts. Having been handed his first loss, Kurt was not about to miss a step on his way back to a victory.

“After that mishap, you just go back and regroup. You change your game a little bit and you realize there’s a little bit more than just attacking the other person, you have to be a little more strategic and patient sometimes.”

“I have been working with my guys and they have more theory and development in their tactics...so I regrouped and try to asses my strategy and game plan more.”

“Initially when I first started fighting I wanted to fight the enemies of Jiu-Jitsu, but everybody does Jiu-Jitsu now, so we end up fighting each other.”-Kurt Osiander

I asked Kurt what his thoughts were on fighting Raul Castillo, a talented fighter with an undefeated record of six wins and zero losses (6-0). Raul Castillo was once a white belt under Kurt Osiander, which gives this fight an interesting twist, “The Student” vs. “The Teacher”. While Kurt did not seem to be too concerned about fighting a former student, he does understand that people want to see good fights.

“Everybody wants to see us get in there and fight each other, so that’s what’s going to happen.”-Kurt Osiander

You would almost think that the MMA scene in the Bay Area is small because of these two men fighting each other. The fact is that nothing could be further from the truth. The Bay Area is riddled with martial arts gyms training the highest caliber of fighters. I asked Kurt what he thought about the growth of MMA, good or bad, and this is what he had to say.

“The good thing about it is, it’s getting in the public eye, and people are starting to realize how hard we all train to prepare for a fight, it’s no joke, it’s crazy.”

“The bad things, let’s see, that there is a huge saturation of people to fight… So if you’re getting into it to make money, you in the wrong business. I just got into it because it was a natural part of the evolution”-Kurt Osiander

Kurt explains that he is only in it to take his sport and profession to another level, yet in order to fight on larger fight cards that bring the highest recognition, a fighter must wade through a sea of talented and hungry opponents.

“I’m not in it for the money, it’s more like a personal test for myself, and I like to lead by example….. I wouldn’t put my guys to do anything I wouldn’t do myself.”

“You have to really fight through the ranks to finally get recognized as being an “A” player.”-Kurt Osiander

Kurt will certainly continue to teach, train, and fight in the Bay Area for a time to come. We hope to be back at the Ralph Gracie Academy-SF again soon.

We look forward to seeing Kurt compete on the Strikeforce “Destruction” card and wish him a great showing out there against a tough opponent in Raul Castillo.

I would like to thank Kurt Osiander, James Cook, Luke Stewart, Evan Esguerra, Nik Theotikos, and Gumby for the interviews and hospitality I received while at the academy.

JC