Mere teenagers at the start, Judd Reid of Australia, Nathan Ligo of the United States, and Nicolas Pettas of Denmark were the only three foreign uchi deshi (personal residential students) of Mas Oyama to receive certificates of completion from his famed, three-year Young Lions' program. After enduring overlapping periods of three years each, Judd and Nick would go on to become formidable fighters, proponents of a training style that reached its pinnacle in the 1990s and emphasized body toughening in the pursuit of tournament victory. But Nathan Ligo, "the American," the most...
Mere teenagers at the start, Judd Reid of Australia, Nathan Ligo of the United States, and Nicolas Pettas of Denmark were the only three foreign
