Although Kelly Kobold is best known for her decision loss to Gina Carano on October 4th’s Elite XC Heat fight card, the girl’s got more wins than Gina’s had fights. Kobold has been fighting professionally since July 2002, and her 16-3-1 record includes notable wins over two of MMA’s top tier fighters, Adrienna “AJ” Jenkins and Shayna Baszler.
Kobold trains at Team Bison, along with many of the Twin Cities’ top fighters such as Mike Bjork, Cory Walmsley, Brandon Foxworth, Sammy Morgan, Paul Giegorff and the undefeated Brett Rogers. Team Bison has over 400 wins in the cage, 25 regional titles and has fought all over the world. Since I was in Minnesota for the holidays, I decided to stop by the gym and check it out.
Team Bison rents space from a boxing gym in St. Paul, Minnesota. I showed up on a Friday night and asked owner and head instructor Mike Reilly why the women of Team Bison are so good. He said, “Because most MMA gyms where women go they’re treated like princesses; like they’re made of glass. We don’t do that. When Kelly walked in when she was 18 the first thing I did was smack her in the mouth.”
Team Bison certainly does have a reputation for their take-no-prisoners approach to training MMA. As their website states, “The Bison approach is show up or shut up. We work and train as a team. Everyone teaches, everyone learns and everyone rolls. We have members of all sizes and skill levels. Anyone is welcome to come and work out with us. However, not everyone is allowed back. Bring a good attitude, a sense of humor, a willingness to learn and a desire to contribute. About 50% of practice time is dedicated to sparring and live gos. Fighting is not required to train with the team; however, fighting, competition is our focus.”
Reilly, who started grappling as a kid and trained in wrestling, judo, jiu jitsu, has been coaching for over 20 years. He teaches grappling for MMA, which is pared down. “I don’t try to submit people,” he said, “I hurt people until they give me a submission and then I take what they give me.” Although I showed up in a sweater and jeans, I’d been experiencing jiu jitsu withdrawal from being away from my own gym for over a week. Reilly asked the girls at his gym if any of them had extra clothes. Kelly let me borrow an extra pair of shorts and Shana Olsen donned down to UnderArmour, lending me her t-shirt.
If jiu jitsu is like a game of chess, rolling with Kelly Kobold was like playing a game of checkers in which I did not know the rules. It felt like I was making the same dozen mistakes over and over again, which she was responding to in the exact same ways each time. Occasionally she’d stop and teach me what to do from the positions I kept winding up in…clearly stated and demonstrated so I could incorporate it right away… not that it helped much. Kobold is ranked second at 145 lbs and is looking to fight at 125. Although she walks around at 135 lbs, it was the strongest 135 lbs. I’ve rolled with, male or female, once she sunk into position. This was a nice, easy roll for her, and part of the time she was carrying on a conversation with another teammate.
Reilly asked if he could step in to show me some grappling for MMA basics. He asked Joe Lynch to come over and showed me one way to assure somebody could not roll towards me when I have side control. He also told me to stay on my toes. “We have a saying here at this gym,” he said. “There’s only two types of girls you find on their knees: Good Catholic girls and bad Catholic girls.” I adjusted my position.
I asked Reilly what Team Bison is best known for, noting that their team has a vicious ground and pound. “Our ground and pound is better than most places,” he said, “but our fighters are known for their heart.” When I asked Joe Lynch why he trained at Team Bison he said, “Because it’s the best. Because there’s strong guys here. Because of the ethic: hard training and hard fighting. I’ve only heard good things about it.”
The direction of Team Bison’s competitive fighters is largely contingent on the fate of Elite XC. However, Tat Romero, Rico Washington and Naomi Merth are competing on January 9th at Brutaal. Zack Jensen, Rico Washington and Shane Dezee are competing on the 21st in La Crosse, Wisconsin and Team Bison will be holding smokers on January 17th. As for Kelly Kobold, she currently has two fight offers on the table—one against Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos at 145 lbs, and one with Tonya Evinger at 125 lbs.
Keep an eye out for Team Bison—Minnesota’s busiest little team.
Check out Team Bison’s webpage:
http://www.bisons.net/
Also, here’s an excellent video of the girls of Team Bison!
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