Angus

Nup, don't like it. Never have, never will...

Hahaha, i would have laughed to his face... A belt is supposed to be a statement of level and knowledge. White belts are the beginners, it's just a statement of rank. Maybe his grading system is different. I just think the grading system is so stupid, cos i've seen blue belts beat black belts and all that kinda stuff. The white belt effectively becomes the second kyu u move to if ur instructor wants to do things that way. Bah! Whatever! Angus

Yeah, that's fine... And i'm not saying i'd have much of a chance against him because i must reluctantly admit that he has some talent, but just to have a piece would be nice. As for the MT dudes not going into boxing and winning, well, they do Muay Thai, not boxing. Forces of habit would take over and they'd get into one of those 'hugs' that the boxers do and the next thing that happens is the MT dude gets kicked out cos he forgot where he was and kneed the boxer in the ribs. That last post of mine also made a general statement about boxers with loud mouths. I know the young people my age, who weren't around in Ali's time of glory, reckon he was kinda like 'Rocky', kinda humble and all that. But as has been said Ali was a loud mouth, especially before the rumble in the jungle. We don't hear much about his loud mouth attitude these days, only the fact that he was a champion. Okay okay okay, being a loudmouth gets more attention, sells tickets, but why? I grew up learning that nobody likes a smartarse. Mundine is just a current example of this stuff, but they have been around all the time. One person i particularly like is Stan 'The Man' Longinidis. He became world heavyweight kickboxing champion in 1990 and he greeted his title not with 'look how good i am', but with tears of joy, and respect, while his oponent tried to put it down to dirty dealings in his speech right after the match. I likes Mundine a lot more when he played for St. George (? - was that the team - ?). Bah! Angus

Bah!! Don't feel bad that u were in a fight! Feel good, and swim in the knowledge that u are a machine!! FG SGFHSDGF SGH!!!! i just spent nine hours at work and i have so much energy left to burn! * I want to dance, i want to sing! * I should stop drinking so much coke. Angus

Come on Henry....!.... u have to be joking! Haver u ever been in a real and dangerous street situation and used a crescent kick? It might work against those wuss-bag guys who really don't want to fight, but if u come up against a guy whose really pissed off and wants a piece of u then u'd be lucky to get any kicks off at all! If u lift that leg he's gonna tackle you! Simple rugby tackles, that's essentially what the BJJ guys do and anyone with half a cabage for a brain knows how to tackle someone. Besides, how r u gonna know that this guys doeesn't hold black belts in every style under the sun? Are u willing to take the chance with a kick that is gonna leave u open. Axe kicks CAN be caught if u move your feet properly, and personally i'd rather not risk having my knee broken or my legs taken out from underneath me. SPARRING in the dojo is the only time i'd EVER use these kinda kicks. Otherwise it's low-line and mostly circular. Just trust me, i know what i'm on about. If u can land a crescent or an axe kick on someone in the street then they weren't worth fighting in the first place. Angus

But then that makes it a completely different move. It then gets turned into a spinning elbow - which is also not too bad a move. Angus

What's this about striking first being the wrong thing to do? Sometimes it is better to hit first than to be hit. It only takes one good hit to KO a person. Bah! Angus

Laying into someone is easy once ur in, u just have to know what combination goes with which. I mean, it's hard to throw an elbow then do a spinning heel kick. Go in with combos like cross-jab-cross-hook and all that. Laying into someone generally uses your bread and butter techniques such as jab-cross-hook-uppercut. When someone is coming into u fullon then trying to block every strike is not the way to go. You should learn to cover up like a boxer does, and duck and wave, moving in circles (as mentioned above) and getting out of the full force of the attack. Don't worry if u get hit a couple of times, it happens to everyone. Also as is stated above, good technique will allow u to strike properly and firmly. Stay kool bro, Angus

Well then, isnt that a heartwarming story. Um, well against a controlled boxer's hook/haymaker u can still apply the same principle, cos they leave themselves open and if u deflect properly then u can still draw him off balance. It all comes down, like people have been saying, to reflexes. It's all cool. Angus

Yeah, even if u had a good crescent kick, unless u needed to use it there r better and more accurate kicks that can be used. U leave yourself way too vulnerable if u use crescent kicks and spinning kicks though. I used to be a flashy fighter back in the day, back when i was fast and wiry like Bruce, but i only ever landed one good spinning hook which knocked the dude down, and even then i never used crescent kicks. Now i'm physically heavier and have more power in my basic strikes. Basics never fail if u know how to do them. Angus

All u have to do against wild throwers is apply the basic flowing (water) theory and in essence use their own energy against them. The defence i stated above is a prime example of that. U use hardly any energy in the strike, u r just using his own momentum and loss of balance against him. It's cool. Angus

Yeah well, i wouldn't have liked to have taken on the instructor. He's one of those people who are so intesnely dedicated to their training that it's almost scary. Even when he's being friend;y he's intimidating you... *shivers* Angus

Pictures!! We must have more pictures!! Angus

SMASH 'N' BASH'EM!! KILL KILL KILL!!!! Just my humble opinion. Angus 'stay off my blue suede shoes' Argyle.

Personally i think there are three types of arts that would make u an extremely well-rounded fighter: Muay Thai (kicks, knees, elbows, superior footwork), Boxing (Punches obviously, and ducking/weaving techniques), and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (ground techniques and locks etc). Send a private message to Thaiboxerken, cos he does all of these and more. I haven't seen him around here for a while though. If i had had access to Muay Thai earlier i would have done this, but i only had access to freestyle kickboxing. I've done HapKiDo, Zen Do Kai, Goju Ryu Karate, Freestyle Kickboxing, Wushu, Boxing, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Later, Angus

Hahaha, i must say that hearing of Mundane's knockout made my day. I almost hit the roof with joy to see that loud mouthed spam go down. The last dude he fought should have won on points too but i reckon the judges were about as straight as a pretzel during that fight. I wouldn't mind a piece of 'The Man', even if he is a good boxer. This goes back to the situation with Kickboxing and Boxing again. All these boxers get paid more than kickboxers but i bet a boxer wouldn't last 3 rounds with Muay Thai bloke of the same weight division. So all the boxers go around with big heads and stuff, and some of them with loud mouths like this piece of crap Mundine, while a kickboxer goes out there and does a harder job due to having to be smarter because the legs are being used as well, but they only earn a fraction of the money. This really gets up my nose. Humble boxers i don't mind, but i'd love to see all these fools with big mouths go the distance with a kickboxer. Angus

Against a wild hook punch i would do an upper deflection (block), if it's at my head, and at the same time be moving in the direction that the swing is going, this acts to take him off his centre of gravity. Now, just after blocking i would most probably do a downward, thrusting palm-heel into his chest. This will push him back of hopefully push him to the ground (if he's drunk most probably) due to the dude being off balance and the extra energy u get from moving quickly in the direction of the punch. Angus

Jumping back kicks, axe kicks, crescent kicks!?!?!? What's wrong with u people? Anyone who is trained and has even a single iota of sense will kick u (quite literally) in the arse if u expose your back to them (back kick), and tackle/sweep u if u lift your leg to do a crescent/axe kick. I have a modified version of the spinning back kick that i use in four count leg combinations and i'd only use that if i'd landed some hits on the guy previously (most probably with roundhouses). About the side kick though. One of the most beautiful kicks i've ever seen executed was buy a green belt in HapKiDo (now a black belt). He was sparring against the instructor (a second degree black) and was getting his butt kicked. He then went to do what looked like a low line thrusting kick to the hip, which drew the instructor's gurad down just enough for him to change the course of his kick, spin his hips around, and execute the most beautiful side kick to the head i have ever EVER seen. I just stood there and laughed cos i couldn't believe it. By the end of the night though, the greenbelt was in major pain cos the instructor was also a purple belt in BJJ and did some flying takedown which accidentally fractured one of green belt's bones in his arm... Ah well.. Angus

Hmmm... I tend to believe the other story. I've heard that kungfu/wushu whatever u want to call it was developed by watching animals fighting and then deveoping moves or tactics from that. i tend to believe the more credible origin of there being a basic martial art to start with (ie Pankraytion). Angus

There's no such thing as evil, just different levels of humanity. These are tehn classifiewd by various words: idiot, fool, champion, legend etc... Angus

Nope. Kata for the less enlightened student can be very confusing, and a single kata does not allow for something else to be done, you are doing the same thing over and over again. I know it's meant to be like a drill or something but Katas are set, they cannot be changed, they teach bad habits if not closely watched. In drills u can do step, punch, kick... then modify it to an infinite number of things: kick, kick, step, punch, kick etc etc... Doing drills allows your run of the mill, average, every day martial artist who wants to learn to fight the opportunity to develop combinations with a flexibility that he can enjoy, without being told he's doing the drill wrong because the ancient founders did it this way or that way: front snap to the stomach and not the head blah blah blah... useless crap like that. Angus _________________ "Your Anger is a Gift" - Rage Against the Machine Angus Argyle - KarateForums.com Sensei Freestyle Martial Artist. [ This Message was edited by: Angus on 2001-12-01 19:49 ]

Nope. Angus

Damn, and here i was thinking that Kara-te literally translated from Japanese as Empty-Hand and was created from two different chinese martial arts by Okinawan peasants due to the law at the time which dictated that they weren't allowed to carry weapons of war. And i was also thinking that the first ever martial art was the Greek art of Pankraytion, which was carried by Alexander the Great's armies thru Asia, well before the emergence of Wushu. Pankration was indeed a mix of boxing and greco-roman wrestling with limitted and unrefined kicks. Meh. Angus

Nah, i say doing drills up and down the hall are the foundation of techniques, the theory. The hypothesising is done in sparring, and the proof is found on the street. Angus

Maybe u r ready to join the dark side of the force... Angus