Martial Arts Super Show 2018
ROUND-2: MARTIAL ARTS SUPERSHOW 2018
It was funny, we simply arrived at MASS’17 as two dudes dressed in black BB shirts, and left with an entirely new perspective on the martial arts industry. First, we had no idea how big the industry actually was. It was truly fascinating. Prior to attending the Supershow, our main touch points to the industry were the standard go-to's like Black Belt Magazine and our local schools. Other than that, we had no real way to get a true pulse on where things were heading.
MASS’17 was a pivotal point for Budo Brothers as a company. Making connections with so many amazing martial artists, and learning from others that are on a similar paths as us, really helped us shift our mindset and grow into new areas. We were like kids in a candy shop! Not to mention, we had an absolute blast checking out the Vegas scene. It really only took attending the Supershow once to realize that we need to go every year.
Both of us were incredibly excited to do this all over again at MASS’18. This time, the event was at the Bellagio which was really cool to stay at another famous casino. The Supershow was scheduled to start on Sunday, July 1st (Canada Day!) so the responsible thing for us to do was arrive on the Friday so we could get into some trouble over the weekend.
Now, prior to MASS’18, we had been in a bit of a cash crunch with a lot of the product development work we’ve been doing; So money was a bit tight. We jumped on a call to go over everything and get the flights and hotels booked. During the call, we both agreed that we would need to be "Ballin' On A Budget" on this trip and would need to keep our costs low... An hour later, Kyle called again and the conversation went something like this:
Erik: "Hey man."
Kyle: "Yo... I may or may not have just booked us a Cabana at a pool party on the Saturday at Liquid."
Erik: "WHAT DID WE JUST TALK ABOUT!??!"
Kyle: "Man, we gotta live a little..."
Erik: "How much was it?"
Kyle: "$1000... well, that would be our minimum spend."
Erik: {long pause} "You do realize that is a complete suckers game right?"
Kyle: "Man, it would be awesome to have our own spot to post up in."
Erik: "So us two dudes would have to stay at a cabana and spend $1000 looking like a couple douches?
Kyle: "Actually, we would be two bosses living the dream..."
Erik: "Did you have to pay up front?"
Kyle: "No."
Erik: "…You know what, I'm willing to bet you that if we go there and don't say anything about the cabana, and just post up next to one, we will have the exact same experience and save $800…."
Kyle: "Mmmmmm, sounds lame."
Erik: "Well how about we try that first, and if the cabana situation looks like it would be worth lighting $1,000 on fire, then let's do it."
Kyle: “Alright, but as long as we actually will do the cabana if it looks like it would be worth it."
Erik: “Deal.”
You see, Vegas is designed to make you leave town without your money... So in order to prevent us from leaving flat broke, we had to employ tactics like this. With this “genius” plan now ironed out, we were all systems go!
Since we launched BBTV, we figured it would be a good idea to just let the cameras roll and bring you all along for the ride. Here’s the first episode that will be launching on our Youtube Channel in a few months. But, we're giving you, our subscribers, an early sneak peak. Push play and check out Episode-1 where we get all of the partying out of our system before the big show starts:
Believe it or not, we actually managed to meet our party quota for the trip in one day! And, we actually followed through on the plan to simply post up next to the cabana that we were supposed to pay $1,000 for, and literally had a exact same experience... Actually, an even better experience because we could cruise around and not worry about who was at our cabana drinking our overpriced booze. This factually proves that the whole "VIP Cabana" nonsense is a complete suckers game! We ended up only spending $100 each and the experience was one for the record books.
Ok, now it's time to pretend like we’re capable, responsible, functioning human beings. After shaking off a hangover, we needed to get our game-faces on because we didn't come down to Vegas to be a couple of useless tits... We came down to put in some work! The Martial Arts Supershow is the mecca of martial arts gatherings so we needed to get ready for prime time.
Before the show started, we were getting a lay of the land and bumped into Leon Rogers, Senior Vice President of Century Martial Arts, as well as David Wahl, Vice President of Sales, and got a chance to tell them all about what we are up to with our non-profit... Luckily camera's were rolling and we captured the candid explanation. Check it out:
After that, the show got started and we were thrilled to go check out the conference room floor. It was LOADED this year! Way more booths, way more exhibits, and way more attendees. We're not sure what the final numbers are, but MASS'18 sure felt larger than MASS'17. Check out Episode-2 of BBTV to get a sense of what the Supershow was like:
With the opening day in the books, we looked forward to the coming days that were chalk-full of training! We got to train with some LEGENDS including Superfoot Bill Walace, Eyal Yalinov, and of course Sifu Singh! We were so excited that Sifu Singh was selected to teach at this year's Supershow, and what's even cooler, we got to meet up with him the night before the big day and go train in a park in suburban Las Vegas.
Now, if any of you have been to Vegas, the first thing that probably comes to mind is the strip. I bet hardly anyone has traveled off the beaten trail and witnessed what rural Vegas is like. Well, we can now say that we have... I'm not sure if we just went to the wrong neighborhoods, but from what we saw, it appeared to be a bit of a transient dive (sorry.) But it took us three tries to find a local park that didn't have any needle-wielding crackheads inhabiting it so we could train in peace without having to actually fight people. I'm sure there are some incredible parts of suburban Vegas that we missed, but the wrong turns we must have taken didn't leave us with the best impression. At the end of the day, all cities have their problem areas, and I think we managed to find them rather easily.
In this next episode of BBTV, we link up with Sifu Singh and the JKDAA crew and end up having the BEST TIME OF OUR LIVES.... I know we keep saying this, but the bar keeps getting raised! It seems like magic happens every time we link up with this crew. Here's proof, Episode-3 lays it out for all to see:
We're still buzzing from MASS'18 and can't wait to see what the Century crew has in store for MASS'19. Given the progression we've seen from year to year, we can only imagine how awesome it will be... and of course, we're going to be there!