RW

What is the rule bias? Quick background - the first UFC were BRUTAL. Even groin shots were allowed. Politicians tried to shut UFC down (funny, those are the same politicians who now love the sport!) and UFC had to get sanctioned by some state athletic comissions in order to be legitimized and therefore secure its financial future. These commissions imposed rule changes. These changes happen to disfavor strikers A LOT, for example: - no knee or kick to the head of a "downed" opponent. Don't feel like getting kicked in the head? Put on knee or even one hand on the ground! This also allows wrestlers to spam takedowns. - No "12 to 6" elbows. - No soccer kicks - no kicks to the kidneys - no headbutts* - no small joint manipulation* - no kicking "downed" opponents, or kneeing them* - no groin strikes* the items I marked with a * give wrestlers a HUGE advantage. You can spam takedowns, push someone against the cage with your legs wide open, and "control" the opponent by pushing his face with your head like in wrestling thanks to these rules, not to mention you can't just bend their fingers.

This is true. The gracies began fighting "value tudo" (portuguese for "everthing goes") in brazil. Then the Fertita bros saw it and thought "let's put this vale tudo stuff in an octagon and make it a bloodsport kind of competition". With time, they had to tone down the bloodsport stuff and abandon the tournament-style rules (e.g. winner fights winner until the finals), but that was its origin alright.

I used to be a huge UFC can, back in the days guys like Randy Couture, Matt Huges, Chuck Lidell, etc fought. It was such an interesting thing to see fighters with different backgrounds (e.g. Randy was a wrestler, while believe it or not Chuck had a Kempo Karate background!) and how those backgrounds had to be adapted for a "no holds barred" (notice the quote marks, by that time it was anything but, but still). You had amazing kickers like Crop Cop, good brawlers like Chuck, great wrestlers like Randy, etc. The sport has changed a lot. Now everyone trains generic "MMA" and most fights end looking like some sort of wrestling match with the odd, sloppy-looking strike. I'm no longer a fan, the "mixed" and "martial arts" aspect of MMA is gone, now it might as well be called "extreme wrestling" or something

I see Kata as a lesson plan too, for different reasons. Kata is a good way to practice the concepts in the curriculum for that person's art. Say you need to know the front punch, high block, step-drag and palm strike in order to advance to yellow belt. You will be taught those moves first, practice them, etc, and you might be taught a kata that incorporates those very concepts too. By practicing say. "kata A" with front punches, high blocks, palm strikes and step drags, you will also be practicing the moves you need to know for that belt, but in an integrated manner, which will develop muscle memory and also teach you to link moves together, so you no longer see them as isolated techniques.

Isn't the closed fist too wife for hitting the neck (unless the opponent's chin is extended)? I find knife hands a bit telegraphed, so I'd rather use a leopard strike (sort of like a half fist) *re-reads. dang, I meant too wide, not too wife. sorry

vantheman, this is all so interesting and knowledgeable, thanks so much Are there any websites or resources you'd recommend to read more about kempo in general and shaolin kempo too?

Isn't the closed fist too wife for hitting the neck (unless the opponent's chin is extended)? I find knife hands a bit telegraphed, so I'd rather use a leopard strike (sort of like a half fist)

This makes a lot of sense. I am learning so much So does this mean that if one goes to a particular kempo school and then moves area, that person has to start again all the way from white belt?

what's more resilient?

Interesting! How is your kempo 2, for example? In my school it's: - half moon back, mid block -spear hand to the neck - shuto to the neck - downward hammer to the head

it's called shaolin kempo, but I don't think it has anything to do with Villari (I'm in the east coast BTW). Here are some of its feaurtes: - It does make mention of the 5 animals from time to time. - black Gi - belts go like: white, yellow, orange, purple, blue with black stripe across it, blue, green with black stripe across it, brown, 2nd brown, 3rd brown, black. - has a concept of "center line", which means the strikes should come from your center line as that generates more power. - at least in the lower belts there is A LOT of karate content to it. I have noticed that the higher students do have very un-karate forms and such. - stances are karate-like (e.g. horse stance) but not as low or wide. - they do weapons!!! (well, the advanced belts, anyway). They have some non-kobudo ones such as kali too. - we bow differently from karate, we put our clenched fist at neck height and cover it with the palm of our left hand and bow.

au contraire, it was a great, very informative post and I am happy you posted it (still reading though it though)

it's funny many states freak out over a nunchuku but are ok with guns

I agree with this. Most people can get away with carrying a pocket folding knife, and if hunting, fishing, etc, a good fixed blade knife can always be handy. Sticks are readily available in many forms (as an LEO, the collapsible baton or ASP comes to mind), and I understand that many of the Filipino stick/knife arts transition pretty seamlessly from their stick, to knife, to their open-hand system. A cane is also legal to have on you at all times, and would be worth while to train, if you can find instruction on it. I would also proffer this idea: why not train with a handgun? Many states offer conceal-carry courses, and if you do some digging in regards to local ordinances, open-carry is a very viable option, as well. All food for thought. Funny you mentioned Filipino sticks, that's what our Sensei started teaching us recently I really like them, which surprised me. I always thought they'd be awkward to use, like the Bo. I got very good at doing the Bo twists and stuff, but it always seemed to unwieldy or telegraphed for a real strike. Kali sticks are just perfect for me

Update: Almost 3 months into it and I'm loving it! My stamina is like 3X better, my reflexes are coming back and somehow I did well in sparring. Many of my karate reflexes and kicks carried over well I've found it hard to get used to the kempo half mooning. You see, in shotokan, you half circle forward and usually get into zen kutsu dachi, which is a wide, low stance. Turns out that in kempo you half moon and the stance is not as low or wide, and I am still getting used to this new way of moving. I've learned my first complete kata too, and I practice it at home too. This is so so so good, I am very happy. Thanks for the support guys!

I thought Di Mak was basically 1 hit kill? I guess it has gotten very mistified, but in truth, many things are 1 hit kills, such as a throat punch, a hit to the back of the head, a really hard hit to the nuts. I guess they could be called dim mak?

Thanks for your replies guys, they add a lot of perspective. I think my school transitions from Bo to Broadsword apparently, though I've also seen sai in higher belts too

How would you choose your weapon? Some people choose the Bo because it can transition so well into a real life situation: Any broomstick or thin pipe can be a bo. However, as far as weapons go, it's sort of weak, even a baseball would do more damage, let alone a "real" weapon. Some people choose swords and Kama and the life, but they don't really translate well in real life, it's not like one can walk around with a sword or sharpened Kama on the street. Many martial artists don't ever get to train with a sharpened weapon (sword, kama or any weapon really), and even if they do, the only scenario where they could use it is for home defense, point at which they might even have a gun instead. Sais seem to make sense, but I don't know how legal they are to own (despite them not being sharp). How well does a Sai transition into other everyday life objects? (e.g. bo is like a broom stick) Any thoughts?

Also, someone can be an amazing martial artist but not such a great fighter

The idea is not too applicable. It reminds me of that "black belts must register their hands as weapons" myth. How does one assess when the martial artist is "a weapon"? Will Junior and Chrissy be considered "lethal weapons" now because their mom sends them to taekwondo class twice a week after school? I heard some schools give "cammo belts", so I guess there's that. At what belt does one become a "weapon"? What arts will be classified as "weaponizing"? And like it was mentioned here, there are blackbelts who aren't exactly good fighters, and there might be guys who are naturally amazing fighters (white belt or otherwise). The idea doesn't really make much sense in my opinion.

This is great advice. 1) Find out what schools are in your area. Why waste hours or days deciding you want to study say, Goju Ryu Karate when the closest school is 50 miles away? 2) Once you find what schools are in your area, research into those styles a little bit (I'd not spend too much time doing it). For example, if you hate grappling you can cross BJJ schools from the list, if you hate kicks, you might want to skip taekwondo... 3) Once you narrow your list of schools to a certain style or group of styles, go check each school out! Pick the one you like the most.

This is my current issue. How did you change careers? I may want to do that too.

Oh dear, this is so true. And it's just not true for that subreddit, but for many, many martial arts communities. It's either Muay Thai/Boxing/BJJ or bust. Also, many of their members are of the mentality that you must be Anderson Silva or Mike Tyson or you can't comment on anything (also, huge coincidence, everybody there is at a Anderson Silva or Mike Tyson level!), which puzzles me, since people can discuss NFL without being as good as Brady, or NBA without being on a Lebron level.. yet when it comes to martial arts they feel you just have amateur MMA fight experience or at least be REALLY good or you can't have an opinion

It exceeded all my expectations! If you want to see another SF movie series, albeit this one is comedy, look up "street fighter: the later years" in youtube

I love the bloodsport-syle fight in the trailer with the guy with the headband