Company: Matt Furey Combat Wrestling
Tape Name: Mongolian Grappling Secrets Revealed
Tape Cost: $99 plus $6 s&h for set of two videos
Length of Tapes: Vol 1: 56 minutes
Number of Moves/Techniques: over 30
Return Policy: Unknown
Experiences in dealing with this company: Excellent
The Instructor: Matt Furey
Company’s Address: 10339 Birdwatch Drive Tampa, FL 33647
Company’s Phone Number: 813-994-8267
Web Page: http://www.mattfurey.com//
E-mail: matt@mattfurey.com

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Primary Grading Criteria:

1. Production/Tape Quality: 8
2. Instructors demonstrated skill level: 10
3. Comprehension Score/Immediate Understanding: 10
4. Degree to which this will make someone a better Martial Artist: 10
5. Score on delivery vs. hype: 9
6. Degree to which we'd recommend this product: 10
7. Wasted Time (The higher the number, the less "fluff"/repetition): 9
8. Playback Score/Watching it over-and-over again: 10
9. Would I purchase more of this company's products: 10
10. Overall grade based on cost vs. value: 10

Grand Total: 96 %

1. 80%-100% = 96 %
2. Poor, Fair, Good, Excellent = Excellent
3. 0-5 stars = 4 stars

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Secondary Grading Criteria:

1. Beginners benefit: Good
2. Intermediate benefit: Excellent
3. Advanced benefit: Excellent
4. Time to benefit: As per usual, the more you practice…..
5. The need to buy additional tapes to understand this one: None

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Written Summary:

Ladies and gentlemen! I give you the fantastic, controversial, outspoken, hated as much as loved, Matt Furey!! Doing a review of a Matt Furey video feels somewhat similar to defusing a landmine. The man has so many enemies that the reviewer feels as if he were writing an article on the charitable deeds of Saddam Hussein. Whatever one says, there will invariably be many MAVR readers disagreeing with one. So be it. Matt Furey exists and is putting out lots of instructional videos and has submitted a few of these for review, so here goes.

How would you defuse a landmine? Very carefully, obviously, step by step. As a video reviewer, it is important to remember that one is reviewing a video, i.e. one is not being asked to comment on the opinions, lifestyle, personal habits etc. of the person on said video, except in so far as such personal details are on the video itself.

The recent Internet war between Matt Furey and another well known instructor and his supporters is utterly irrelevant to this review. Both instructors involved are highly knowledgeable and it is a great pity that such disagreements might distract from the fact that much can be learnt from both of them. It is clear that Matt Furey believes in the maxim "Any attention is better than no attention at all " and that he loves provoking reactions by finding things to say that are as un- politically correct as he can make them. This can be seen in the introductory comments on this video, as in when he says that these techniques are " not for wheelchair people" , not for those in the "Special Olympics". Off course this could be said in a nicer way, i.e. "people with any kind of structural problems should not attempt these techniques", but said like that , it would stop Matt having fun, and Matt sure likes to have fun !!

Three more details before getting into the review as such. Firstly, Matt Furey has just moved to Tampa, Florida and his new adress is not available on his website at the time of writing of this review. I am sure he will change this as soon as possible and he is contactable via e-mail . Secondly, this video is advertised as the first one in a set of two. Only the first one was submitted for review, however, a review of volume one will give the interested reader a good indication of what both videos are about and furthermore, should there be sufficient interest out there, one could always ask Mr. Furey to submit the second volume. Finally, saying that our "experiences in dealing with this company " were excellent reflects OUR experiences. It has become obvious that some people have problems communicating with some of the instructors whose videos we review, however, this does not necessarily mean that we have similar problems. Also, the reviewer corresponded with Mr. Furey in a private capacity before becoming a MAVR reviewer and never had problems communicating.

Now to the video contents as such: This video deals with so- called Mongolian grappling techniques. I say so-called simply because these techniques are probably not only found in Mongolian wrestling or even Shuai Jiao for that matter. The more practical and combat tested a technique is, the more likely it is to be found in the combat arts of different cultures, historical epochs etc. It may be worthwhile thinking about that for a moment : If your style of "Sichuan Cockroach Kung Fu" features complex flying kicks the likes of which are not to be found in any art anywhere else, chances are that this uniqueness is due to their not working very well in combat. As others have pointed out before, there are only so many ways in which one can move. The more functional ones have been discovered and rediscovered by many fighters in many cultures. In terms of grappling, for instance, one needs only to look at the drawings found on the walls of Egyptian tombs which pre-date Christianity by one or two thousand years or at Antique Greek vases, which show grappling techniques many of which are similar to Shuai Jiao or modern Greco- Roman wrestling and were probably used by Turkish wrestlers, Indian wrestlers etc. ..Differences lie not so much in the techniques themselves but more in the rules of engagement ,which may have differed significantly from culture to culture. Depending on the rules, certain techniques may be done in very different ways. A clear example of this would be the differences in the punching techniques of boxing when comparing bare knuckle boxing to punching with boxing gloves.

The video starts with a brief overview of entering skills, briefly outlines Mr. Furey's personal interpretation of Bruce Lee's "Five Ways of Attack" and then moves into the actual throwing techniques. It is here that the reviewer feels that Mr. Furey really stands out. If you want to learn the ground game, go to the Brazilians. If you want to learn to really be combat competent with the stick, learn from the Dog Brothers. If you want to learn how to lift up your opponent and drop him viciously onto his head (or back or shoulders or whatever), Matt Furey is your man. That, as far as this reviewer is concerned, sums it up. There are more than thirty throws or variations of throws shown on this video, which is what certain other video companies might stretch into three or even four videos. In this case, one throw follows the other, there are a few repetitions of each throw, just enough to get the broad picture, the finer details can be worked out on the mat. There are throws following on from a single leg or double leg entry, fireman's carry, hip throws, throwing defences against full nelson and bear hugs, throws from Chi-na type locks and a lot more.

A few precautions should be noted. Firstly, as Mr. Furey also says on this video, you would want to practice these throws on a gymnastics crash-mat or something similar. Doing these throws on a standard thickness grappling mat would mean you are either very experienced, very tough or very stupid and about to need a doctor. A fair degree of physical conditioning would also be recommended.

The video is clearly self produced and this shows. Mr. Furey himself comments on this by saying that he doesn't give a damn, the quality of the techniques is what matters to him and what should matter to you. O.K. , fair enough, The only thing off course being that if production costs are fairly low, maybe one could pass on the savings to one's customers. To which Mr. Furey would probably reply by saying that it took him decades of hard work to acquire this knowledge and why should he sell it cheaply, since this is how he makes his living. He would off course phrase it less diplomatically! Someone once said that he would try to learn from the devil himself (Herself?) , if s/he had a technique worth learning. To summarise , whether you like Matt Furey or whether you would like to put out a contract on him with your buddy Gino, this tape, in the reviewers opinion , has a lot to offer to someone who wants to learn more about combat effective throwing techniques.

E.P.