​Intensity, desire and heart. Undersized, underrated and overlooked by many speculators, Curran Jacobs figuratively slew giants and a few demons on his way to the 2018 Catch Wrestling World Championship title.
 
Facing him was a pleasure and a great time to demonstrate the old adage, “Steel Sharpens Steel”. For 30 minutes we battled giving our all in the ring. No dirty tricks. No fouls. Just hard nosed battling for 30 minutes.
 
It was thrilling to face down a competitor with that level of intensity and determination. To me our lengthy battle was truly living. A chance to slough off the day-to-day of career, church and family and simply battle. Battle with no other intent than to subdue the other man into submission.
 
For 6 rounds (I swear it was 8) Jacobs hurled himself at me. I tried to be the bully as much as I could but he wouldn’t allow it even though I outweighed him by at least 50 pounds.
 
I made pre-match calculations, strategies and plans. Even during the match I made adjustments as I realized trying to take him down was both futile and pointless as it merely sapped me of my waning old-man strength. Instead I attempted submissions from underneath, at one point extending his arm to the point of popping yet he didn’t tap.
 
On another series I had him pinned but no one but myself and a few corner side spectators could see.
 
On yet another I had a choke locked on as tight as I possibly could given my failing grip. One trapped leg would’ve sealed the deal. Yet somehow, some way Jacobs found a way out, a point of day light and he ran for it.
 
An outsized underdog in every match Curran Jacobs willed his way through each competitor overcoming them with his heart and tenacity.
 
I watched his quarter and semi final match ups that went into multiple over times only to end in rear naked strangle submissions for him. Not one but two capable and expert grapplers went down to what seemed like an easy thing to avoid. But it wasn’t. It was going to happen whether you knew it was or not.
 
To quote the great short story ‘A Piece of Steak’ by Jack London, “youth will be served”. Curran’s youth and vigor pulled him through many a potentially match ending situation in all three of his matches.
 
I couldn’t help but feel just like Tom King in the story. Old. Tired. Up for one more battle. Yet despite all of his dominance couldn’t stay the tide of youth.
 
After the match as I reflected on “how else could I have beaten him?” I could come up with few answers. I gave him my best, or at least the best that my battle worn 41-year-old self could give. I made so many mid game adjustments it gave me no less than 3 finishing opportunities that for whatever reason didn’t happen.
 
I analyzed the various scenarios and factors then finally I came to one plausible conclusion. I dislike crediting successes or failures to things like this, to me “Cause-and-Effect” means your training and skill execution, but sometimes explanations like this are very real in sport.
 
I think I can boil it down to this: One man’s personal quest and one man’s destiny.
 
The more I thought about it and the more I learned about Curran’s history the more sense it made.
 
A man who has suffered personal loss and tragedy like Curran often finds a special place inside his soul that drives him on to do great things. There are few things in life that evoke one’s soul to grow the way personal loss does.
 
During the match I thought at some point he would have slowed down yet those memories must have driven him on. I can explain it in no other way. Every match he was outgunned yet he still found a way to win.
 
I’m a big believer in Champions finding a way to win.
 
On a personal level I hate losing. It irks me forever. Losing to me is like having a piece of my soul removed. There are few losses that I forget. I use them for motivation. But in the end, they are merely sporting losses.
 
True losses, like the loss of loved ones, takes a different piece of your soul and provides a much more powerful motivation. Love. Remembrance. Connection to the other side and a will to shine for them while still here on earth.
 
Losing to Jacobs was the most unique loss I’ve ever experienced. I’ve never lost to someone who then promoted me on social media. I’ve never lost to someone and somehow made an instant friend and kindred spirit. It is bizarre.
 
For that I can only credit Curran’s warrior spirit and his desire to fulfill a personal quest. He found a way to achieve his destiny as the first modern era Catch Wrestling World Champion becoming one of the new young torch bearers for this great sport. Not just by eking out wins but by submitting all three of his opponents.
 
There are a number of torch bearers in MMA but Curran’s place in the Catch Wrestling cosmos is special. Special because of the adversity he constantly faced each match out and special because of his personal reasons for fighting, for excelling for others beyond just himself.
 
I can’t help but like the guy. He is a great competitor. He is very in tune with his family and they give him power. He is a great and gracious champion.
 
As one warrior to another I would like to congratulate Curran on a job well done. I hope that he is able to carry the sport of Catch Wrestling as well as he does himself. The sport of Catch Wrestling has a great new champion and his name is Curran Jacobs. 

Jake Shannon. Is a man that doesn’t get nearly enough credit for the revival Catch Wrestling is currently experiencing.
 
20 years ago whisperings in the grappling universe called to Jake Shannon from beyond the grave. 100 years of glory had been forgotten by rule changes, money grabbing and gimmicky promotions which bastardized and eventually extinguished the fire of Catch-As-Catch-Can that once swept the land.
 
A sport that was appreciated by the hard-nosed working class, Catch Wrestling attracted thousands at live events and created myths and legends of the famous champions of yesteryear. Gotch, Nelson, Burns, Lewis, Robinson, Cardinal, Gama. These names were all but forgotten. Golden champions of their age. Stranglers, Hookers, Pinners and warriors whose deeds were immortalized in the minds of their rabid fans. Yet those days of blood, guts and glory were left in the past covered in the dust. The days and memories of raw primal power rarely seen in the ring had been buried and lost.
 
That whisper from the Universe spoke to Shannon, “Remember us” it beckoned. “Remember who we were and what we did. Resurrect us and breathe new life into us. Restore us to our former glory and place in the grappling cosmos.”
 
Whatever the actual events that lead Shannon to dive head first into the wild and sometimes whacky world of Catch Wrestling may ultimately be only known to him and the whispering spirits of wrestlers past.
 
Sometime in the early 2000’s I stumbled across the www.ScientificWrestling.com website. It told the stories of many of the great Catch wrestlers of the late 19th and early 20th century. As an aspiring Olympic wrestler these were names I had never heard of. Champions of a sport that had somehow died out decades before I ever even knew what US folkstyle wrestling was. Without Jake’s efforts to revive the lost legends of CACC I for one would have never known that they or the sport of Catch Wrestling even existed. The website eventually went from text to videos to live seminars with former champions, namely Billy Robinson, who became the point of the spear for Shannon’s revival efforts.
 
Slowly but surely champions trained personally by Billy Robinson in Japan became big stars on the stage of MMA in Pancrase, Pride and UFC. Kazushi Sakuraba, “The Gracie Hunter”, defeated Renzo, Royler and Ryan Gracie and multiple BJJ opponents in the ring and cage.
 
Josh Barnett, “The Warmaster”, won the UFC as one of the youngest ever champions as well as won the IBJJF No Gi worlds.
 
Erik Paulson, Neil Melanson, Randy Couture, all high profile examples showcasing the value of CACC in the ring and cage who catapulted CACC into the consciousness of anyone serious about grappling or MMA.
 
While Shannon’s efforts have by no means been so all influencing to have caused all this they have been the spark that has helped bring notice to the general public. When the CACC athletes won events Scientific Wrestling gave you information on the how’s and why’s, the back stories and the origins of the techniques and tactics being used.
 
Soon more people learned about CACC and Jake’s influence through Scientific Wrestling grew. More seminars with more participants wanting to learn CACC and how they could get an edge over their competition. More videos and more content than ever before became available.
 
Reporters rarely if ever get credit for the events they cover. But without them much of the world’s events go on unknown and unsung to the rest of the world. Pioneers are often overlooked and taken for granted. The mountains they had to climb for life and death eventually becoming ‘recreation’ for their modern-day counterparts.
 
Jake Shannon is both reporter and pioneer. Without Jake Shannon many, and I would dare say almost all, of us would have never heard of Billy Robinson or Catch-As-Catch-Can. We wouldn’t have seen the recent CACC tournaments abounding. Jake’s “King of CACC” series of tournament sparked others to follow. We would not have seen the rise of the Snake Pit or the 2018 World CACC Championships.
 
Again while no man is an island or can truly do any great work alone he can create a spark which eventually builds to a roaring fire.
 
We are witnessing firsthand how the influence of one man’s vision leads to the influence of another, then another and on and on until that vision is fulfilled. The revival of Catch Wrestling is like a mighty eagle just hatched from its shell as it stretches its wings to take new flight into the heavens.
 
So many of us hope that Catch Wrestling will soar to new heights as it continues to grow and restore its once glorious form.
 
Thank you Jake Shannon for all of your efforts for not only the sport of Catch Wrestling but for your tireless contributions to all of the grappling arts.
 
To hear more of Jake’s story you can take a listen here:
Grapping Central Podcast – Jake Shannon Interview
Episode 295: Jake Shannon
http://grapplingcentral.com/episode-295-jake-shannon/
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