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.

Thanks a lot for that Don Rearic site link. Great stuff on there...

I don't like music in class at all since my musical tastes are seemingly different to everyone else in the class - I feel like I'm doing boxercise or something. I end up blocking it out once I concentrate anyway, which makes me think that it's pointless in the first place. The instructor ends up wasting time running over to the stereo to turn it down / up rather than being able to be heard over the music and the reverb in the hall can mush the sound up anyway. I think the only good thing about having music in glass is that you can't hear the grunting and squeaks of people doing exercises so much! I dislike musical forms even more than that. Especially those done to "high energy dance" like Scooter and that other rubbish. It's embarassing enough to be seen in a hall wearing your pyjamas without being worried about what people will think of "your" taste in music! I'm with battousai16 - there is some awful music being played in dojos, dojangs and gyms across the world... it needs to be stopped. If I was training on my own I would slap on some jungle, industrial or metal, but I'm not into choosing for other people...

I just thought that I'd tell you about Tony Martin a farmer in the UK who woke up to find two people robbing his house. He grabbed his shotgun (pump action - therefore illegal in the UK) and shot the first one (he later found out it was a 16 year old boy) at close range in the back killing him instantly. The second man ran out and across his field - Mr Martin then followed him and shot him in the legs injuring him. Mr Martin served two thirds of a five year sentence (it is normal to only serve two thirds of a sentence in the UK if you behave whilst in prison), originally he was to serve a life sentence (25 years) for murder but a successful appeal showed that he had "diminished responsibility" at the time. He is now being sued for damages by the other man and is hounded by reporters and threats from criminals and is under constant police protection. The entire case history can be viewed here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/martin/0,2759,214318,00.html Although I'd feel happiest using a combat knife as a weapon, I think it's a bit too lethal against a burgular since it's far too easy to kill them so I'd rather confront them with tonfa or just empty handed. If I had edged weapons or projectile weapons in the house, they would be locked up anyway so by the time I've retrieved my weapons, I may as well have phoned the Police too.

I stand corrected... thanks!

Yes, that's Pettas (of Kyokushin) breaking his leg during the K-1 2002 Survival event. Most painful: (http://www.k-1gp.net/d001_29.htm) Poor guy. I think that Pettas' leg caught the knee rather than the shin snapped. I heard that it was a stress fracture from repeated abuse but I can't confirm that.

I think that I feel sorry for him. Sounds like he's had a hard life. It's a common expression that "violence begets violence" and he sure sounds like he's good at violence after all that abuse he took as a child. Without meeting him, I couldn't say much more as I don't know him - but maybe he could do with some therapy, possibly some anger / conflict management sessions! From his stories the mans' first reaction to anything he didn't like was to try and fight it out rather than to talk it out. Still, that would make a whole bunch of cr***y stories wouldn't it Still, I'm making assumptions about a man I don't know... so I'll shut up. His training methods look sound to me, but no way am I ready for them! They're fairly expensive too unless you intend to go pro.

I used to wear a white dobok, but it got disgusting sweat patches under the armpits and groin after about six months and also got brown stains on the buttocks from when I was stretching on the gym floor. People started avoiding me - I had to throw it out. I didn't realise I was making it worse by attempting to bleach it clean though. Thanks for the tip, that's invaluable! Anyway, white doboks are a hassle to keep clean so I now wear black gis (is that the correct plural of gi?) - I think gis look smarter than doboks and are cooler in hot weather. I rarely see anyone in a white dobok... The main thing for me is getting the smell out - it builds up over time - I use biological detergent and wash at around 37 degrees C as this is the optimum temperature for the enzymes in washing powder. My top tip is that if you hang up your dobok on a coathanger to dry you shouldn't have to iron it. In hot weather I used to put my dobok on when it was damp to help keep me cool - but beware of joggers nipple...

Forgot to mention, he sometimes sells equipment through ebay, so it's worth having a look there first as it's often cheaper.

In the UK, I can recommend YE Sports' own brand of Thai Pads. Not only are they very hard wearing (they made my knuckles bleed at first until I softened them up with kicks and bag gloves) but they are also unfeasibly cheap. They are the same ones that another Internet based martial arts shop sells for £35 + P&P and the closest thing I have seen to them in the shops costs £50 rather than £20. http://www.ye-sports.co.uk/thai-pad.html I've also tried their "punching gloves" which are fingerless gloves with gel padding on the knuckles. They are much better than your average bag gloves as you can hold a a proper fist in them.

Although I study Taekwon-Do I might be able to assist here. I have tried out three types of shoes: Adidas "Taekwondo Gold" shoes, also Hayashi martial arts shoes and an anonymous brand from Playwell Martial Arts (http://www.playwell.co.uk). The Adidas shoes don't fit me very well as I have long flat feet and the Adidas shoes do away with laces in favour of an elastic portion of the shoe, so those shoes rely on the arch of the foot to keep them on. However, they are great quality but are fairly expensive (£60-100) - Also the Adidas ones look great, much better than the Hayashi ones. In the UK, it's quite fashionable to wear them when you go out to night clubs etc. There's loads of Adidas designs now, but a number of them are more for fashion than for martial arts - I'd stick with the basic designs. The cheapest place I've seen these shoes in the UK is at http://www.playwell.co.uk The Hayashi shoes are a lot cheaper and come in two versions and a number of colours, one with a leather upper and one with some sort of polyester thing. Although these also use an elastic portion, they also have a single lace grip around the top of the shoe which made them fit my bizarre foot shape very nicely. The Hayashi shoes are less hard wearing than the Adidas shoes - particularly the sole if you wear them outside, but since they only cost £22 a pair for the polyester version and £30 for the leather ones, that may not a problem for you. Finally, the Playwell own brand I didn't like at all and sent them back - usually there stuff is good quality but I just didn't like them. All of the shoes allowed good flexibility by the use of a thin sole with a circular pattern imprinted where the ball of the foot would be. It is possible to pull your toes back for a kick if your style does that, but I found that as the Hayashi ones fitted the arch of my foot better, it allowed the shoes more travel backwards which was better for breaking with shoes on and also so that your instructor can see your foot shape. As for sliding on the floor, I train a lot on surfaces which aren't sprung or matted and sometimes you can slip in the shoes when in a horse / sitting stance, but it's less slippy than barefoot on sweat. Hope that helps.