rmurray

Nothing wrong with Jon Bones Jones but that wasn't the full Shogun Rua. Rampage must be kicking himself for not being in there while the pickings were easy. (At least the easiest they've ever been in a ring with Rua.)

18% of Karate Forums posted replies are bitter.

People hypothesize about this alot. Take it from me; when the rubber meets the road you are going to do what's in your heart without giving a passing thought to the law. I have had to stand down an intruder with a deadly weapon on two occasions. One that was climbing through my front window in the middle of the night. I live in Oregon. I could have put both of those guys down for dirt naps and been absolved of any wrongdoing. It wasn't in my heart to kill. Although, with the hammer pulled back I was fully commited and only a millisecond away from drawing either of their final curtains. My point being that when the threat is that clear and present, you are hyper focused on the situation in front of you and your state's statutes are the furthest thing from your mind.

What kind of credentials are required to ask and interpret a poll?

there's no denying the UFC has done everything for MMA as a sport. The comparison in my post was actually refering to UFC and traditional MA. Professional atheletes in every sport are bigger faster stronger than ever before. Sports science and nutrition have come a long way. Guys like GSP and Silva will rise to the top in any arena. And frankly the cards haven't been that great for a while now. It feels like the matches are created excplicitly to maximize ppv sales. If anything the UFC has done it's job bringing MMA mainstream and now MMA has outgrown the UFC. MMA deserves a greater governing body.

I don't think the video is too bad. His technique looks pretty much like the Kali fighters in the Phillipines. They slap the blade around like a paintbrush only faster. As for myself; God help me, I can't imagine engaging in a knife fight. Getting cut to ribbons must be one of the worst things to endure. Unless I was protecting my wife or something I think I would just throw my knife at him and bolt.

I wouldn't get hung up overthinking the legality of your technique. Or calculating 10% more force. If you're truly in a self defense situation than you need to come out with your best stuff and fight as hard as you can until the threat goes to zero. If you are a law abiding citizen and it truly was a self defense situation you won't be in any trouble. Your extended knuckle fist probably isn't going to kill a guy as easily as you think anyway.

I guess the point is pretty moot now. Fedor pretty much said he was finished after the stoppage to Silva last weekend. That doesn't change the fact that Dana White is a spoiled baby and UFC is going downhill in a big way; disrespect is commonplace, it is vulgar and crass and seeing the fights is hardly worth putting up with the rest of the garbage. Dana White and the UFC are doing for martial arts, what crack cocaine and gangster rap did for the inner city 25 years ago.

Yeah Pedro, You're friend Napolean Dynamite is a real blackbelt. And I'm sure the most respected senseis in your area were lining up to prove themselves against a self taught 16 year old boy and his own style that he had been creating since he was 13.

It's very understandable why Walmart would have that policy. If a Walmart employee straps on an armed robber and someone gets killed who do you think is going to be held liable for the damages. Walmart would much rather absorb the loss of the netbook than pay out to a dead employees family. Plus shootings are bad for business.

That is high praise coming from you sensei8. I've always found your posts to be very wise. I don't mean to speak out of both sides of my mouth here; but for the original poster: One night at class this woman showed up. She was a "blackbelt" from northern CA. I think she had recently moved to the area and was looking for a new dojo. Her belt must have been four inches wide, way too long, and elaborately decorated with flashy gold characters, the knot was as big as big as my fist with both ends hanging out about 14 inches. It looked ridiculous. This woman (besides not knowing any katas) demonstrated the weakest "karate" I have ever seen. She held her hands in front of her face, elbows pointed out. She looked like the Notre Dame fighting irish decal. We were working out with pads that night and she couldn't generate any kind of power and seemed to have no concept of distancing. She would cock her elbows way back before every punch. She didn't use her hips at all, it was terrible. Any whitebelt in our class could thrash this woman in no time at all. It made me think; there is some dojo in northern California that will give a gaudy, oversized blackbelt to anybody. Do you want fries with that?

Most people try to do the best they can. Who is so wise and impartial that we appoint them to determine which schools are McDojos and which are not? Try to compare martial arts training to a college education. Not all schools are equal, and nobody expects them to be. Everybody knows that a degree from Stanford or MIT comes at a much greater cost (both in financial investment and acedemic effort/achievement) than a degree from an accredited online university. Brown University doesn't have the right to tell the University of Pheonix to make their curriculum more difficult. The Yale graduate doesn't sit around calling for the closure of Devry University or Everest college. And why would they? The student who puts in the hard work enjoys the benefit of a better education. Who can say that the students of a so called McDojo aren't getting something worthwhile? Do your own thing. Who cares what other schools are doing?

I like the higher stance as well. It is well suited for taller/bigger people. I think of it as heavyweight karate. (although not exclusively) I think Shorin Ryu is a good practical self defense. I wish our classes were more intense. And some more kumite would be great, but all and all; I can see the blackbelts at my dojo are well trained at a high level. I'm no expert but was surprised to see you are a blue belt. I always thought of Shorin Ryu as no-nonsense karate with just white, green, brown, and black belts with stripes in between. That's how it is at our school.

Man that was sweet. I've never been in the Silva camp, but you have to respect a flawlessly executed technique like that.

The OP here was from 2004. This kid has probably graduated from college already. Hopefully he isn't having trouble with bullies anymore.

If you're Georges St Pierre You put vaseline all over your body to slide out of holds. If your anyone else Wastelander was right.

Kamahl. You have participated in a martial arts forum for close to a year already, made over 120 contributions but still have not begun any formal martial arts training. You know that you can't learn martial arts from a dvd. You're obviously interested in martial arts and want to learn. There must be 500 different MA schools in San Diego with different prices and schedules. What is causing the procrastination? Anybody can make time to learn something they are genuinely interested in. Just do it.

To the OP. I was corrected for chambering too low (right above waist)also. I now chamber just below my pectoral muscle. It feels pretty good and I'm able to throw good punches from there. I don't think the pull back is pseudoscience at all. I was taught and I beleive that the pull back trains the hips to work with the punch and generate more power. As you advance in karate the hips learn to work on their own so the pullback is less necessary for a strong punch. But you train using the pullback and you always know you have a hand (or foot)chambered and you know where your next technique is coming from and generally what position your body is going to be in. I couldn't imagine trying to fight without it. It is so base in my style of karate.

I consider strength training an important part of my martial arts program. It may not be practical for a woman, but I lift weights and consider my size and physique my very first line of self defense. I think a would be assaillant sees me and decides to wait for someone more vulnerable. Not being selected as a victim is the best self defense you can have.

I've been in a few scrapes, but only twice have I swung with anger and intent. Once as a child and once as an adult. I'll share the first time. I was in sixth grade and kickball was king at my school during recess. I got up to kick and I really blasted one. I was running around the bases when this kid Josh (who I didn't really even know) sticks out his leg and trips me. We were on pavement and I was running full speed so I fell hard and tore my jeans. My knee and elbow were bleeding. I'll never know what made him do it. I had never struck anybody in my life before; but I was hurt, I knew I had been violated. I was embarrased, bleeding and my jeans were ruined. So when I got up, I cocked back and punched him in the face like it was second nature to me. He started bleeding instantly (very satisfying) which wasn't common in fights among 6th graders. The fight was over, he put his hands over his mouth and started bleeding profusely. The inside of his mouth had gotten pushed between a gap in his teeth and got stuck there, so it ripped apart from the rest of his mouth. when teachers tried to help him it only got worse. He was bleeding so much that the school called an ambulance to come take over first aid and they had to take him to the hospital. I'm not sorry at all.

So True. Actually that's my first style. I've had a CWP longer than I've trained in karate.

Me too Ramy. Let's go hide in the bushes until this situation cools down. If I get hurt too bad, I wont be able to train for a couple of weeks.

Funny post. I've often wondered that about the police. (no disrespect to the men and women in law enforcement especially Bushido Man) but the number of police killed by gunfire is nearly identical to the number killed in traffic accidents (check; Officer down memorial page). However police use deadly force in self defense at the very first inclination that they may be in danger; yet they don't seem to take any precautions when driving/parking their patrol cars. Just my observation as a law abiding citizen. I actually do really appreciate the work law enforcement does.

Full contact sparring? I'll go all out from time to time with 16oz gloves on and headgear. Other than that forget it. Except for maybe teenagers and a few misguided souls in the hoods and trailor parks; The only real full contact sparring in this country is going on in prison between guys with free health care and nothing to lose. Who in the real world can afford to go bare knuckles at full speed. A single incident can easily cost you over $10k at the Prosthodontist. Most insurance plans consider putting your mouth back together elective and don't cover it. There's also a major liability issue for all parties (including the property owner). Besides; how long could a real full out match even go? Maybe one minute before someone is seriously injured. I know alot of martial artists, and I can't think of anyone that would even consider full contact sparring. I'll start a short list of potential injuries to you or your partner. Anyone should feel free to add: Broken jaw, broken nose, lost teeth, broken eye socket, concussion, broken wrist, broken ribs, internal bleeding, broken clavicle, torn iris, damaged trachea, irreversable reproductive harm, a slough of joint injuries.........

Karate+ Judo, Karate+Jiu Jitsu, Karate+BJJ, Karate+Wrestling I think some form of grappling would be the logical compliment to karate. Hopefully your karate would be enough in most self defense situations. I know I would feel safer on my feet even if I had strong ground fighting ability. If I was to be in a street fight, I would almost certainly be in the legal and moral right. Therefore I would want to be on my feet and visible to any surrounding people. I also prefer to keep a good view of my opponent in front of me. If I start wrestling some thug in between a couple of parked cars, I wont necessarily see if he goes to his pocket for a weapon. Plus, if he has someone with him, it would be all to easy for his buddy to stomp my head even if I was totally dominating on the ground. But in the end; I think it would be better to have great ground skills and not need them, than to need ground skills and not have them. I just don't have time to learn a second martial art. Maybe after I get my blackbelt.