AnonymousCoward

The fight is in the UK on the 22nd February. The bout will be fought under K-1 rules at Wolverhampton Civic Hall. I don't know anything about the fighters. I would go, except that it's a little far for me to go and get back in time for work the next day because I don't drive. The UK K-1 doesn't even seem to have its own website or advertise outside of muay thai gyms. A few posters in major cities or organising coach trips from major cities wouldn't hurt K-1's popularity in the UK...

Great posts and very interesting. For those who are interested in seeing Wing Chun in the ring, there should be something quite interesting at the UK K-1 championship this year! Two times British Karate Champion will face Wing Chun specialist Kasim Khan under K-1 Rules. (see full clip) By the way, I saw the original match between Andy Howson and Reece Crooke in October last year and it was a great fight, if it wasn't so far away I would definitely be there!

The people were probably holding Sapp back because in his last match (with Remy Bonjasky) he KO'd him after he had slipped on the canvas and was disqualified... In fact, Francois Botha did the same to Cyril Abidi in their previous match at the previous K-1 event, hence his "matrix style" response as the commentator put it. It was just random chance that they got put together again in the next tournament. On a separate note, I'm wondering whether Will Vanders (the must maligned commentator for Eurosport Martial Arts) will be at the UK K-1 event in February at Wolverhampton... I'd love to see what he looks like. People slag off Will Vanders but the Boxing Commentator on Eurosport UK is so much worse. He's really depressing, always on about how rubbish boxing has become, how the fighters are all unskilled and all the matches are fixed. It's a chore to listen to him. At least Will Vanders loves the sports he commentates!

And also, do you want to compete or watch?

Where do you live? What country?

I went to my first Jiu Jitsu training session last night, I have a few years of Taekwon-Do experience and have done some kickboxing cross-training. Although it felt a little bit strange, going from being an advanced student of Taekwon-Do right back to being taught basic blocks, strikes and breakfalls, it was good fun and I will go again, besides which, I learned a number of good techniques in the first session alone. In addition, I wouldn't worry about your size, as your lower centre of gravity means that it should be easier for you to throw people who are taller than you. Also, with age (sometimes) comes a degree of maturity and an ability to act responsibly... you may find that they are better training partners than your peers in age.

It's the same in the UK. A similar thing happened to a bunch of LARPA's (Live Action Role Players) near where I live. They were wandering round the woods pretending to be futuristic crime fighters or some other cybergoth related nonsense and a Police armed response unit was sent over (armed with HK MP5's) to disarm them of their airsoft weapons. Needless to say, the Police were not impressed. One of them was my girlfriends ex - in his mid-twenties I tell you...

Well, I'm sorry, I don't know anything about guns at all. Yes you're right, the report is about air guns rather than airsoft guns. I just thought that it might be interesting as a curiosity for some which is why I mentioned it. I have seen several news reports and documentaries which showed places in Manchester where air gun conversions take place and I have no reason to disbelieve the news reports. The manufacturer referred to by the houses of parliament is: http://www.brocock.co.uk/ And you can see that some of the guns look like they could perhaps chamber a live round due to their firing system, or simply explode as I mentioned earlier... Mind you, a question was once asked in the houses of parliament about a made-up drug called cake. If you have never seen Brass Eye (by Chris Morris) I would recommend it unflinchingly as comic genius in the genre of spoof documentary.

In the UK, where handguns are illegal except for police use, it is common for people to buy airsoft guns and bore them out to make cheap "saturday night special" type guns. It has been raised in the UK parliament. http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm199900/cmselect/cmhaff/95/95ap05.htm "A recent innovation has been the conversion of low powered air pistols to fire live ammunition. This relates to the legally available .22 calibre revolvers manufactured by Brocock and involves converting the "Air Cartridge System" to chamber live ammunition. The "air cartridges" can easily be replaced with a similar shaped metal insert that allows a live .22 or .25 calibre bullet to be chambered in the cylinder and then fired with lethal force." I think a couple of people were shot with these last weekend in Liverpool. There were no details about the type of weapon used except that it was a low calibre handgun and the injuries were not fatal (due to bad marksmanship I think), so I'm presuming that it was one of these. The UK has a big market for deactivated weapons re-activations. A Police officer I know said that they catch a lot of people with illegal firearms when they turn up in hospital after their weapons have exploded during test fires. I've had a few airsoft guns when I was younger...

I initially started martial arts after I got mugged at knife point - I vowed that it wouldn't happen again. Now I study martial arts to keep fit, for sporting purposes and for the sheer love of the art.

I think that it is a good idea. There are people I have been training with for up to two years and I don't know their names - after a few months it becomes too embarassing to ask again!

From what I am aware, the walk in a traditional Taekwon-Do / karate form means that your rear leg passes your front leg closely and then arcs out, allowing it to be used as a sweep to open up your opponent. It also raises your centre of gravity so that you can drop it when you strike.

You might do this for a straight blast - you would be covering distance to get within their guard whilst distracting with rapid punches.

The rules of "Full Contact Kickboxing" generally mean that the participants wear shin / instep guards and boxing gloves and are only permitted to strike with the feet and hands above the waist. In these rules, the fighters usually wear long trousers and no top. You can win by referee stoppage, points and also knockouts. As previously mentioned, there are also light contact versions, which most people call Freestyle Sparring. It is uncommon for kickboxers to compete in point stop sparring, where when a punch or kick is scored by a referee the fighters return to their positions and start again. There are also "Low Kick" rules which allow kicks to the outer and inner thigh area (not to the knees). These fighters usually wear shorts and no top. Muay Thai allows sweeps, elbows, punches, kicks and knee strikes with no protective boots, although gloves are worn. Groin strikes are not allowed. The fighters usually kick with their shins rather than the instep. In traditional muay thai matches, music is played during the fight and before the bout starts a traditional dance called the Ram Muay is performed which is different for each fighter and each gym as it represents digging the grave of your opponent and is used to pay homage to the fighters instructor and his instructor before him. The competitors are allowed to wear buddhist charms on their arms and before a fight will wear a special head piece made from rolled up buddhist scrolls given to them by their instructors which are intended to protect the fighter from harm. Clinching is allowed in Muay Thai where a lot of knees and elbows are thrown. The fighters in a muay thai fight may wear a traditional skirt type thing (sorry, I don't know the name) or wear shorts. There are also other variations on these rules, for instance, you will often see "Full Thai Rules" which means all strikes are allowed, or "Full Thai Rules with elbow pads" for younger fighters etc. etc. However, I wouldn't say that Muay Thai has a smaller variety of kicks than in Kickboxing, you will see hook kicks, jump spinning back kicks, spinning hook kicks, axe kicks, roundhouses and front kicks in Muay Thai just as you would in kickboxing. You may also see a flying knee knockout! Obviously boxing doesn't allow kicks - it allows punches to the head and torso only. I hope that helps.

I've read a book about Kuk Sool Won (Weapons of Kuk Sool Won) and I think it looks quite interesting, especially in the weapons department. The "dan bong" (2 short sticks) techniques look great. They're held differently from escrima sticks and are used to attack pressure points. Also, the twin short swords (joong gum) and rope techniques (po-bok) look good too... If there was a school in my area, I'd be sure to check it out.