JohnnyS

Sometimes they make the bricks with a higher percentage of sand so they crumble easier.

The shootfighting I *did* is based on BJJ with stand-up striking and takedowns. It also contains the psychological aspects of fighting and set-ups etc. I'm not really into Shootfighting anymore and more just into BJJ. I've still got so much to learn and not enough time so something had to give and that was Shootfighting. As far as Rumino Sato, I think he's awesome. Great subs, very athletic. The only thing I don't like about the Japanese Shoot guys is that they seem to have some big holes in their games. Usually they can overcome this with conditioning and athleticism, but against a BJJ black belt the holes seem more apparent.

Unfortunately this is not the case. I can tell you that doing BJJ means you have even less chance of meeting a girl at training - not many girls want to wrestle with big sweaty guys.

Smith & Wesson, your sarcasm would be funny if people didn't believe that their eye-gouges and other "too dangerous" techniques were the answers to everything. I'm not knocking other arts, I'm having a go at the ridiculous belief that techniques which are too dangerous to train are somehow going to be instinct or the fight enders that people believe.

On another thread TreeBranch wrote: "Combat Styles have very effective ground fighting techniques that probably wouldn't be allowed in a competition" I have a problem with this because I don't believe you can really "own" a technique unless you practise it live. For example, I can practise chokes and armbars etc to virtually their full extent by allowing the person to tap if they can't escape. I've broken arms and choked people unconscious so I know that these techniques work if I go that one extra step. By sparring we know how people react to when I attempt an armbar or neck-crank or choke, but how can I know how they will react to an eye-gouge or bite accurately and then take advantage of that reaction ? I can't, and this is why "sport arts" like BJJ, Boxing, Kickboxing etc have dominated MMA, because they can practise what they fight with.

At least on the ground you have more control over your opponent than standing. I understand what you're saying and I mostly agree with it. I tell people to knock someone out standing if they can, but quite often you can't do that if the guy has better stand-up skills, is bigger, on drugs or drunk etc. Often times you have no choice and you end up on the ground anyway. From your statement above though I really don't think you have much experience with BJJ. If you did you'd know that you have a lot more control over your opponent than you've given credit for.

I think there are bigger worries in a fight than a few abrasions or bruises.

The answer was: Very Easy. You are right about it being a vulnerable position, but if you are being out-fought by a larger or more skilled opponent then it may be a wise decision to take him where he's not familiar. Besides, it will only take a few seconds to finish someone on the ground who doesn't know anything, which is a reasonable risk if you face the above situation.

Do you really think that if you start kicking the guy's ass standing that his mates will let you continue and not step in ? No-one suggests that only going to the ground is the best option, but sometimes you don't have an option. Besides, what you're saying has nothing to do with the title of this thread. Why don't you create another thread and make your case ?

So what styles are in the group "Combat Styles" ?

I bought a book years ago called the Black Book of Death which had a lot of stuff on pressure points, where to stab or shoot someone etc.

I believe that a lot of these rules don't exist in Vale Tudo matches in Brazil or in Pride in Japan. So there really is no excuse for these "masters of combat" not to fight. Or are they only able to fight if they can bite and eye-gouge ?

It's a sport, that's why there are rules about attacking the referee, or attacking your opponent after the bell. As far as why the Masters of Combat Style of MA (which is who and what styles exactly ?) don't compete, the original rules only had no biting and no eye-gouging. Groin strikes, pressure point attacks, grabbing the trachea etc were all permissable for the first four or five UFC's. The rules were only brought in to allow the sport to continue by making it more palatable to the State Boxing Commissions. So these so called masters had ample opportunity in the beginning to go in and make $60,000 easy cash.

When I ran a BJJ school I had quite a few wing chun instructors learning BJJ and they all loved it. Rick Spain, a great WC instructor and former World Kung-Fu Champion is now heavily training and teaching BJJ at his school in Sydney, Australia

I really doubt that Kimura thought "This guy can walk across a floor on only 3 fingers ?. No way would I want to fight him !" C'mon, get real. Fighting is fighting and I'm sure Kimura in his prime would have been a match for Mas Oyama.

BlackDragon777 wrote probably one of the most ignorant posts I've ever seen. Where do you get the "don't know how to position their fingers and end up breaking them 70% of the time in a fight." statistic ? You do know that 79% of statistics are made up don't you ? You say you've never taken any boxing or kickboxing but you've found them the easiest to beat in a fight. How do you know they were boxers or kickboxers ? Perhaps you should go to a good boxing or kickboxing school and try sparring with them before making ridiculous statements about how inferior their art is.

If you do a style such as TKD or some forms of karate where there is no emphasis on the bunkai (application), then yes, kata is a waste of time. If you spend time doing two-man kata, the application and drilling the applications such as in an art like Okinawan Goju then I think kata does have some benefit. I used to do TKD where there was no bunkai, then I did Goju. The Goju guys did less sparring than a lot of other arts such as kyokushinkai or TKD, but had more emphasis on training drills and bunkai. I found that the Goju guys would actually use the techniques and stances from the kata in their sparring, and would dominate these other arts mentioned when they would come in to spar. So I wouldn't write kata off completely as a training tool. Kata is a training tool. That's it.

We've had a few guys that I train with in BJJ end up in multiple opponent situations and they always seem to come out okay. One guy who was a white belt and a small guy ended up fighting two other guys. He took the first one down, mounted then broke the guys arm so fast that the other guy just stood there watching, eventually kicked the white belt in the ribs and broke one, but then the BJJ'er got up and went after the other guy and finished him also. Another blue belt student had two guys try to mug him after he came out drunk from a niteclub and phoned his wife to pick him up. The blue belt took down the first guy, mounted, armbarred and broke the guys arm. The guy whose arm got broke screamed so loud that the other guy took off running. Another guy was a bouncer working on a niteclub door with 3 other guys when they got rushed by 20 bodybuilder types. Sean got backed up against a car but managed to pull one guy in his guard while he was on the bonnet of the car. He used his opponents body to protect himself and waited for the other bouncers inside to come to his rescue, while he choked the guy unconscious.

Oops, meant to also say that these people from other arts were now training 3 or 4 days a week in BJJ, after initially only wanting to train once per week.

When I used to run a BJJ school I'd get a lot of guys from other arts - especially from Wing Chun actually - who'd want to train one day a week "Just so they know what to do on the ground". Six months later I'd ask if they were still training in their other art and they nearly aways said "No, gave that up months ago". And these were instructors !! BJJ is like the Mafia, once you're in, you're hooked for life Seriously, it's so much fun, and such a revelation after training in other arts, that you'll be hooked and become an addict.

I don't think it's that simple Kensai. It's always harder to keep someone away than it is to move in on them. It's hard to put any power into a shot when you're running backwards, trying to create space.

That video on the link that TJS provided shows exactly what I was talking about. Excellent link, thanks TJS

I know it would be weird, but if the instructor cares about his students then he will want to know who the nutjobs are so he can keep an eye on him. I would probably wait awhile first though. Maybe the guy was having a bad day and is normally okay, or maybe you broke some etiquette that you didn't know about. If it continually happens though, definately speak to the instructor.

Some good points there Nick. One thing I will pick on however is the sloppy form in the NHB matches comment. Of course it is going to be sloppy. When you have adrenalin pumping through you, you lose your fine-motor skills, so anyone involved in a fight is going to look sloppy. People need to realise there is a difference between what just looks good and what works.

Tell the instructor that the guy is nut and you don't wish to be partnered with him again. Your instructor can then keep an eye on the guy and make sure you don't have to partner up with him again. I've had something similar happen in my class and made sure that the guy didn't have to train with the offending person. Oh, and I wouldn't get too hung up on instructors grades. Unfortunately these days grades just seem to be given out - not saying that's the case with your instructor, but it does happen.