Seni 06

Seni 06

“Go on Timmins!” I shouted as he competed against his opponent in the Seni 06 Light weight competition. He put on a tremendous fight but ultimately lost.

That was the start of Seni 06. I must admit I didn’t enjoy it overall as much as the first time, but my brother and Paul Ratcliffe met and saw several big celebrities from the World of martial arts and got our photos taken with some of them.

But what I didn’t enjoy about it was the fact that my brother and I were late for the Krishna Godhania seminar and we couldn’t find where to register or sign up to do the seminar (doh!) but we said hello to Krishna Godhania and walked around instead. However it was cool my instructor Simon and Paul Hinds got in and it was good to see the 2 Jimmy's,a father and son combination of Martial Artists who train under Rob Campion in Warriors Eskrima.

Seni 06 seemed to be much smaller than last year. Up to now the highlight was seeing my mate Andrew Timmins in the BJJ tournament. I bought some new Eskrima sticks and shared the costs of some training DVD’s with my brother. We also got some new stick bags so we carried them around on our shoulders (not to look hard..honest). We walked past John Saxon of Enter the Dragon fame. Yes the guy who played Roper. He was signing autographs with a promotion called Red Lizard. Everyone on that stand was wearing bad guy Enter the dragon uniforms and even one dressed up like O’Hara (the guy Bruce Lee annihilates for killing his sister in the film). We didn’t ask John Saxon for an autograph however.

As we brushed or walked past a celebrity we thought we wouldn’t see another. But then as we walked past the Cage Rage stall, a little old man in a blue jacket and a walkie talkie was asking everyone to make way. The thoughts “What was his problem” and “Hey??” went through my mind then I saw an entourage and right in the middle was a big brute of a man with a Mohawk and a goatee. It was UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Chuck Liddell! Man he was huge, like a hybrid wolf man (I meant that in a nice way) and it would have been cool to get his autograph as I am a big fan, however the line of the queue stretched almost half the arena so we did the next best thing.

Dana White was also there and I recognised him from the Ultimate Fighter. He is the president of the UFC and he was very friendly and posed for photos with people. In fact so many people got his photo I think he should charge next year. But joking aside he was a great guy and said he appreciated I watched his show. Lun introduced himself and also got his picture with as did Paul. Hmm does Lun want to fight in the UFC for introducing himself???

We walked around again and I must admit I didn’t search for the things I wanted to for some reason maybe I was tired from the driving.
However as we walked past the Combat Magazine stand, Lau Gar Fei or Gordon Lau/Liu from Kill Bill 1 and 2 and 36th Chamber of Shaolin was sat on some comfy seats signing autographs and getting photos with fans taken! Holy Crap!!!!! Return to the 36th Chamber was one of my favourites and this guy also stared in such cool films as Shaolin vs. Ninja, Legendary Weapons of China(when Kung fu films were Kung Fu films) and Tiger on the Beat. We got his photo taken with us and he signed our free copies of combat (Lun asked him to sign his copy in Chinese) it was really cool!!!


Walking around and totally star struck we then bumped into yet ANOTHER celebrity in Danny John Jules. Cat from Red Dwarf and was also in Blade 2. He was at his own stand with a few others promoting and independent Martial Arts film: Sucker Punch. As I just seen Gordon Liu there was no way I was going to be fazed by Danny John Jules, so I asked for his autographs and engaged in conversation with him. Well he began with me, as Lun was taking my photo with him he spotted Lun’s stick bag on the shoulder and he asked “What’s in the bag? what’s in the bag!” I explained to them they were sticks and he said that it must be dangerous for the hands. So I showed him my knuckles to which he replied “ooh!” and then I asked him if he did Martial Arts and he said “Yeah I did a bit for this film” and turned after a second he said “Wu Shu” I replied: “ahh Wu Shu”. Paul asked if a Red Dwarf movie was coming out anytime soon “Nah they keep pulling my plonkers on that one!” was the somewhat funny reply!

Anyway enjoy the pictures, my only regret is that we came home late on the way home so I missed my mate Paul Hinds’ birthday night out and by the time I got home I was knackered but I hope you had a good one Paul.

Seni 06 great exhibition but I not as good as the first time however the highlight was definitely Gordon Liu. Check out Lun's blog for some different pictures and perspective!
Thanks
Kit