T. Jay Thompson's Super Brawl, a mixed martial arts competition whose roots started in a small biker bar in Honolulu, Hawaii, has grown into an veritable proving ground for up and coming fighters from all over the world. It also showcased some of the biggest names in the sport. Frank Shamrock, John Lober, Jerry Bohlander, Tra Telligman and Vitor Belfort are a few NHB notables who have either launched or competed early in their incredible NHB careers at one of Thompson's events. Super Brawl received a lot of notoriety recently from Shooto's Jutaro Nakao's upset of UFC Lightweight Champ Pat Miletich (in SB XI). One of the most prominent groups who have consistently supplied Super Brawl with some of Hawaii's toughest and most aggressive fighters is a stable of fighters called Jesus Is Lord. I caught up with Ray "Bradda" Cooper and Ronald Jhun of Jesus Is Lord at the Waipahu High School Gym, on Oahu, Hawaii on May 10, 1999.

FCF: Tell me how and when Jesus Is Lord got started.
Jesus Is Lord: The first time David Kawika Paalui fought at Super Brawl [SB I, 6/28/96], he was looking for a trainer. I met him at church and I told him I could get this gym [Waipahu High School Gym], that we could train at. So we started training for his fight and, after his fight, he kind of asked me if I wanted to fight also, at the next Super Brawl. At first I was hesitant, but he kept pushing me and pushing me. I never had confidence in myself. But he said, he was rolling with me and thought that I could fight. So I said "OK" and we started training from there. It was about 3 years ago, around the first Super Brawl.

FCF: Who is the head instructor or instructors at JIL?
JIL: Right now, we are kind of not instructors. I don't call myself an instructor. I call myself a student and we just help each other. Right now, me and my brother-in-law Ronald (Jhun) are in charge of the gym and regulate the people that come around. We just take care of the gym. As for instructors, we just learn from each other, from [video] tapes, and from previous fights, what we can change for make ourselves better.

FCF: What kind of previous experience, like boxing, wrestling, or any formal martial arts training do you guys have?
JIL: Boxing, I did some boxing. And wrestling, I did a lot of high school wrestling and a little bit of college wrestling, J.C. [junior college] wrestling. Most of the guys that train with us have had wrestling experience. We get one state champion wrestler. I was runner-up in the states (Hawaii State High School Wrestling Championships). So mostly a wrestling background and a little bit of boxing.

FCF: Are you the only one with boxing experience?
JIL: No, Bozo [Steven's nickname], Steven Paling, has a lot of boxing experience, a state champion [for a] couple years. And David [Kawika Paalui] has a lot of experience.

FCF: What video tapes do you find helpful?
JIL: All the Gracie tapes. We try to get a lot of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu tapes. Not only Gracie's, but Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. A lot of the Shooto fights, a lot of live action. We try to pick up stuff from the live action as well as the instructional video tapes too. We looked at Carlson Gracie Jr., Mario Sperry, Royce Gracie and Rorion.

FCF: Did any of you turn your life around from a previously troubled past?
JIL: Kind of. Mostly all the them came from a kind of violent background, drugs, single-family homes, but for me, I was never into drugs. I never really had any bad stuff happen to me to turn around, but most of the guys were addicted to drugs and alcohol. Some of my family members.

FCF: Was it the training that really turned them around?
JIL: For a couple of guys, the training really made them stop doing that. For me, I was always keeping in shape. But some of the guys, the training really made them stop drinking and smoking.

FCF: Doesn't your group have a closed-door policy as far as accepting new students?
JIL: At one time we never really thought about people fighting, but guys just kept coming. We wasn't really prepared for that. We never know how to turn them away. They just wanted to come and I was, like…I cannot tell you for fight because I don't know if your ready and I'm not an instructor. I was just trying to work on me and my brother-in-law Ronald [Jhun], we really wanted to fight and help each other out. But now we kind of realize that we cannot let anybody fight. I don't call myself an organization, but people think we are and I got to explain it to the guys that I cannot let them fight under me cause they cannot just come from off the streets and fight. Like Egan's [Inoue] guys would tell people no straight out, "You ain't gonna fight for me." So we had to regulate. Now we're kind of settling down. We're watching for [people] who like fight. Right now we not letting other students in cause we are trying to train ourselves and we can't be worried about the other students, so we kind of closed everything.

FCF: How much fighters do you have? Please give me some specifics on your fighters that are presently competing?
JIL: Ronald Jhun is fighting around the 180s to 200lbs and he's 28 years old. Ronald is catching on real quick. He has four fights under his belt and he's really improving quick. He's learning his hands, boxing, which he didn't know too much. Brennan Kamaka is fighting at about 167lbs, he's 24 years old and this will be his third fight. He's mainly just wrestling, ground and pound. That's his style and he's trying to perfect it. There's Kai Kamaka, Brennan's brother, he's kind of an all around guy. He's got some cleaning up of his technique to do, but he's coming around quickly. And then there's Bob-O [Robert] Ostivich, he's 31 years old. This guy's never done any kind of sports in his life and never did anything athletic, but he's come a long way. He's the only guy who improved 100% from day one, from about 2 years ago. He's learning a lot of technique, Jiu-Jitsu. Working on his hands and learning some take downs also. Bozo [Steven Paling] and David [Kawika Pa'aluhi] train with Egan [Inoue]. They still come and work out with us about once a week. David is kind of training Bozo for this up and coming fight.

FCF: Besides Super Brawl, what other events have fighters from your team competed in? I know you fought in a Shooto event. Can you tell us about that.
JIL: I was fighting in middleweight. That was a good experience cause I learned a lot about keeping calm and you cannot just win a fight off of punches. I know that I needed more conditioning because after 2 minutes I was getting winded already. I learned a lot from that fight. After I watched the fight and I tried to mount him like a beginner and I know I can mount him better than that. I just went blank. So I guess it comes with experience and being in the ring. I'm the only one to fight in another event, so far. We have competed in the submission tournaments [Egan Inoue's tournaments] and a few guys competed in the Gracie tournaments [Relson Gracie's BJJ tournaments].

FCF: Does your team have any plans to compete in Japan again, if given the opportunity?
JIL: Right now, I can only speak for myself. I like compete in Japan and anywhere else I can. I like get a lot of experience. So my plans is for me to fight anywhere I can, Japan. I kind of have a plan to fight in Guam in [the next] Super Brawl.

[Ronald Jhun walks in.]

FCF: So, you guys don't sit down and talk to each other about what each of you want to do as far as fighting?
JIL: Not all the guys are committed. Like me, Ron and Bob-O are the guys that are committed and like pursue fighting
Ronald Jhun: I would like to fight if given the chance. Like Braddah [Ray Cooper] was saying, just get as much experience as I can.

FCF: It seems that all your fighters have a very solid base in wrestling and boxing, but end up with a ground and pound strategy. Is this a team strategy and submissions considered secondary?
JIL: The ground and pound, we always like be on the top, so we can strike. But we never leave the submission alone. We also train the technique and submission cause we want to be prepared for the long haul. Not only striking, cause there is a lot of submissions that can be done. Like I said, Brennan is mainly the one who uses his wrestling and ground and pound. I like show a lot of technique in submission, but I find myself on top and I like staying there. But we do work a lot of the technique, the Jiu-Jitsu. We are trying to learn the technique.

FCF: Would you rather end fights via punches or submissions?
JIL: Right now, I am learning to take whatever comes.
Ronald Jhun: Yes, whatever comes first.
JIL: I tried just punching and I know I need more than just punching or striking.

FCF: What are some of your training methods and how often do you train?
JIL: Right now, we are training 3 times a week. But me and Bob-O train 5 times a week. We just concentrate on a lot of takedowns, drilling takedowns and doing a lot of freestyle wrestling for the conditioning. We try to put in a lot of drill for Jiu-Jitsu, arm bars, whatever, escapes. As far as boxing, we spar a lot. We work on the ground hitting and defending from the ground. Mostly sparring, we don't have that much time that's why.

FCF: Hasn't your group and Egan Inoue's Grappling Unlimited Hawaii made kind of a "strategic alliance" for the mutual benefit of both your academies? Tell us a little about that.
Ronald Jhun: We used to go over there and have small mini-tournaments with those guys.
JIL: They would invite us to come over and train with them, but just Bozo and David [went] cause David really wants to get his black belt in Jiu-Jitsu. For us we just stay here and try to learn as much as we can. We really trust in God to help us. And He's been helping us a lot. So far, just studying tapes and really helping each other, rolling a lot. That's where you really get into a lot of different situations, live rolling. With Egan's school, we never go [haven't gone] over there for a long time. He invites us to go over there and right now we're kind of training, so we don't want to go no place else. [We] might get distracted. We'd like to go over there and train. We admire and respect Egan and his school a lot. Egan does his best to help out local fighters like us.

FCF: T. Jay Thompson (Super Brawl Promoter) told me that you have the potential to be the best in the world in your weight class (165lbs). Does any of your students have aspirations of making it into one of the major events like the UFC or Pride?
JIL: Right now, we never really talked about that. Right now, me and Ron are just trying to get as far as we can get. The main thing is getting experience. Where ever it takes us or God takes us, we're ready for go. We love this sport. We love wrestling. We love to fight. If it takes us to Super Brawl or if it takes us to Pride, then we would be happy to go.

FCF: I know you can't speak for everyone, but what are the goals of the both of you? Are you fighting for the money, you guys just love fighting, or to test yourself?
JIL: At first, we used this fighting to minister the word, the gospel [of Jesus Christ]. That's kind of what got us started. I'm still fighting because God gave me a talent for wrestling and for fight and I'm going to use that talent that God blessed me with to minister to whoever, my cousins, whoever. My goal is to fight the biggest guys because that's going to be more of a testimony for one small guy cause I know that Jiu-Jitsu is made for one smaller man to beat one bigger man. And I really like fight anybody. That would be a testimony, not only to my family, but to people, like Hawaii people. That we can make it out there too.
Ronald Jhun: Basically the same. I guess me and Braddah get the same vision, ministering the word. Get out there and speak on live television, where ever get people. This sport catches people's eye. It gets their attention. I guess my brother-in-law [Ray] really got me into doing this and the sport's been good to me, God's been good to me. I rather be taking my fighting off the streets and into a sport and to show the kids out there that you no gotta be on the streets fighting…like a role model. We go over there [at Super Brawl] and I see choke [a lot of] kids looking and if I can get to speak to those kids and be a good example to them.

FCF: What about for the money? Do you guys hope to win enough money to quit your jobs and fight full-time? A guy named Travis Fulton fights for any amount of money. He just likes to fight. Rickson Gracie on the other hand, feels, with good reason, that he's put in enough time and is willing to fight only for a certain amount so he can retire well off. How do you guys feel about it?
JIL: I would like to fight full-time, if I had the opportunity. I would.
Ronald Jhun: I kind of think I would still work. I'm a tradesman and I got some years vested, so I kind of like the way my schedule is now, working and training. I think people kind of admire you working, taking care of your family on top of that and doing a sport like this.

FCF: Which of your fighters, if any, do you feel are ready for these events? If not yet, when do you feel the fighters will be ready?
JIL: Right now, only Ronald, mainly. His hands is getting real good. Brennan still needs a lot of drilling on his technique, striking. And Bob-O just needs more experience in the lower class.

FCF: So you think their ready to fight, but just in a lower class? [Shooto has a couple different skill levels so fighters can be matched up by skill and experience]
JIL: Yeah. Mostly everybody got at least one fight, except Bob-O. He's got the least experience.

FCF: Now, the question everybody is wondering. How can you call your group Jesus Is Lord while training to beat the crap out of people?
JIL: [laughs] I don't know. We see it as a sport, we see it like boxing, wrestling, and football. There's referees, there's doctors, we don't go in there to beat the crap out of anybody. We train like professionals, we're not just off the streets. We put our heart and soul into this. We got assigned the name and we want to give God the glory.

FCF: How did you guys get the name Jesus Is Lord?
JIL: Everyone else, who seen us, made us a team. Like T. Jay [Thompson], whoever, said oh yeah, that's the Jesus Is Lord team. [laughs] We kind of had to be that, be a team, but we still no more an instructor, just helping each other. And whatever goals one person has he is going to do it his own way and he's just using us for help, to be sparring partners. The first time I went fight, I used a shirt with Jesus Is Lord on it and ever since then the name just stuck on us.

FCF: What do you think of the quality of fighters entering the major competitions (like UFC, Pride, IVC, etc.)?
JIL: They got some good fighters in there. I would like to fight in there. Mostly wrestling is in there now. I'd like to see some good Jiu-Jitsu guys in there and get some technique and Jiu-Jitsu back in there.

FCF: Finally, what are your future plans, after Superbrawl?
JIL: Just to keep fighting every month. If more than once a month than I'd like to do that too.

FCF: Are you counting submission grappling tournaments as fights too?
JIL: Yeah, kind of, just fight where ever I can, Super Brawl, Shooto fights in Japan, or where ever it takes me. But I'd like to fight once a month.

FCF: Is there anything else you would like to add?
JIL: [laughs and pauses] I wish I did.
Ray's wife: "He's a man of a few words." [laughs]
Ronald Jhun: I thank God. I thank God I got over with it [the interview]. [laughs]

FCF: Thanks for the interview and good luck at Super Brawl.
[In this time of children killing children, the Jesus Is Lord team is using this often controversial sport to help make a positive change. After talking to these soft-spoken gentlemen, you can't help but wish them the best of luck.]