Seymour Yang was born in London, England. He is best perhaps known for creating the brand Meerkatsu which features an array of iconic designs and artwork drawn in his own unique style. Yang began training BJJ at the age of 34 years old after previously having a background in other martial arts. Regarding his entry into BJJ he says “I’ve always trained martial arts throughout my adult life. It was through my study of Japanese Ju Jitsu that I first heard about Brazilian Jiu Jitsu so my curiosity led me to try out a BJJ class back in 2003.”
He is currently a first-degree black belt after receiving his black belt from Nick Brooks and Mauricio Gomes in 2015. These days he can be found training at Mill Hill BJJ in London and lists Priit Mihkelson as recently influencing his current game, mentioning “Currently I’m giving a lot of time studying the instructionals put out by Priit Mikhelson – he’s got an amazing mind and has some innovative approaches. I have found it easy to incorporate them into my own game.”
We asked Yang about his favorite BJJ positions and he said “I go through phases depending on my whims but I tend to favour spider guard based variations, currently I’m liking the tarantula guard. For sweeps, I think the scissor sweep is very underrated as I use it quite a lot. When passing and being small, I like using the one where you stand up and sit down in a combat base to open the closed guard and then pass from there.” He also uses achilles locks and toeholds as his main form of submissions.
Like many practitioners, he’s also had a few injuries in his time and adds “I’ve had recurring lower back pain which takes me out a couple of times a year for a few weeks each time. Not really an injury, more a chronic condition brought about through bad BJJ techniques and habits and perhaps too much time spent sitting at the desk. It’s been ok in recent times as I look after myself better (proper warm up, stretching, yoga, some weights, better application of BJJ techniques etc.)”
Yang also competed at times during his blue belt days and got a couple of golds and silvers when he was competing at blue belt Master 1. During this time he competed against Mark Phung who he considers his toughest ever opponent and states “During my more active blue and purple belt comp days I fought Mark Phung. It must have been 3 or 4 times. He’s a beast and got me each and every time. But I had so much fun against him and we’re good friends, but boy did I want to beat him haha!”
Q&A
Firstly, did you ever think Meerkatsu would become this big?
“No and yes, without sounding boastful. But you have to cast your mind back to the early 2000’s and what BJJ was like in the UK. It was a very small minority community of practitioners rolling around and experimenting with stuff in garages, lock-ups, basements, the corners of gyms and even hotel function rooms. I started documenting my BJJ activities and some of my artworks in 2003 when I tried my first lesson but Meerkatsu as a name began in late 1990’s when I needed a tag for online martial art forums. Being ‘well known’ in BJJ circles back then only needed the presence of a blogsite and a website, it wasn’t a big deal.”
I can see from your original blog website you’ve been on the internet since 1999 – which is probably before some people reading this were born. I don’t know when you started designing rashguards, but are you surprised by how many you’ve sold?
“My first ever rashguard commission was in 2011’s Honey Badger for Tatami Fightwear – you can read more about this crazy thing here. My first own-brand rashguard was the Gentle Ape, in 2013, you can read about it here. Prior to 2011, I did a few BJJ logo commissions, but it’s fair to say things only really took off after that honey badger release.”
What are the influences of your artwork? It looks Japanese to me, particularly like Japanese block painting.
“Yes, Japanese and Chinese design work: modern graphic design, traditional media, anime, manga, packaging design, advertising, both retro vintage and also modern pop culture…anything that catches my eye really. I guess there’s a bias to the far east but I also really am into European fairy and folk tales and have drawn many pieces relating to those stories.”
Is there any particular reason your designs are based on animals?
“Not really, I just like drawing animals as they tend to be non-offensive and have broad audience appeal. But I probably draw an equal amount of human characters too (see my geisha and demon works and also my copious comic stories).”
Why the name Meerkatsu?
“I just made it up. It’s a compaction of meerkat and katsu (curry). Being a unique made-up name is handy for social media reach and trademarking purposes.”
If I think of other rashguards and Gi’s they’re not like yours at all
“Thanks, some people love em, probably a lot hate them. It’s all good.”
Are you a trained artist or self taught?
“Self-taught. Apart from a few brief stints attending evening Illustration courses. My path as a kid went towards studying science and trying to be a good Chinese son…when really I just wanted to be a bad ass graffiti artist.”
Correct me if i’m wrong but your technique seems to be some sort of freehand sketch, then you will go over the outlines on an iPad and also use that to colour it? I have never done art so maybe that is an awful explanation. Could tell me your process?
“More or less that’s the process – freehand a sketch, then draw it more convincingly on the iPad, then transfer it to my PC where I can unleash Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop for more powerful layout, colouring and vectorising tools. I have an artist blog here which offers a few more bits of info about the process.”
Lastly, what are your plans for the future?
“Just to carry on, teaching, rolling, training, maybe get one more tournament in before I am too crippled by old age.”
The official Meerkatsu site can be found here and some of the Meerkatsu BJJ wear can be found here.
