SubGrappler

I think thats just being narrow minded to think that one style has all the answers. Someone who spends their entire life doing nothing but grappling is going to know how to grapple a thousand times more efficiently than someone who just studies it on the side. The same is true with striking skills. There are strikes in Jiu Jitsu and Judo, but Im not about to ask Royler Gracie to teach me Muay Thai, you know what I mean? You can fine tune it even more so than simple grappling vs striking. Someone who does only takedowns (such as a freestyle wrestler) is going to be much adept at teaching takedowns than a grapple who is proficient in submission wrestling tournaments. A boxer is going to have better hands than someone who only practices it half as much- you get what Im saying. Those that refused to adapt and cross train, including the Gracies, found themselves falling behind the competition.

that doesnt make sense,they can get kicked in the head so that cant be the reason they dont have there guard up! Sure it does- its much more difficult to land a kick to the head than it is to land a punch to the head. Kicks are coming from a downward angle, which makes them a little easier to check even if your hands are down at your waist. Simply put, fighting with your hands at your waist is a bad habit of TKD.

http://www.karateforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=297782&highlight=cauliflower+ear#297782 third post from the top.

Guess it depends on the quality of krav instructors that you're training with and what kind of kickboxing you're doing- just the term "kickboxing" is incredibly vague. As far as the krav maga, in theory its a solid style to train in, but there is a much greater amount of krav instructors who dont know what they're teaching than vice versa, and as a result, many of the instructors simply resort to limiting their teaching to deadly techniques. what area are you in? (city state?)

"What the hell is a Ninja?"

Sure it is, and the vast number of competitions and their results have more than proven this. Mixed martial arts is not a style, but rather a venue of fighting. When the context of "MMA" is to imply BJJ and Muay Thai, that is also correct. One who is a mixed martial artist will prove to be a much more well rounded and skilled fighter than one who is one dimensional. If you only know standup, or only know groundwork, and your opponent knows both, you're fighting at a serious disadvantage. What this simply means is that your shotokan karate (or "my muay thai") coupled with a grappling art will prove to be far more effective than shotokan by itself. Well, I hate to be the one that breaks the news, but Ryoto Machida is far from a "pure" shotokan practitioner. He has had extensive Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu training (he currently holds a purple belt under Wallid Ismael). Hes trained with Renato Babalu, Rey Diogo, and Frank Trigg. http://www.mmareview.com/FProfiles/profile-ryoto_machida.htm "Ryoto has a tendency to revert to a karate stance during competition, but the traditional side karate stance has proven to be risky in MMA competition due to the fact that it increases the likelihood of an opponent obtaining a single leg takedown" Hes far from a pure traditional karateka.

I would hope so- the guy is a 9 X world champion- 6 times in the Mundial's and 3 times in Abu Dhabi. Its safe to say that hes probably the best person in the world when it comes to fighting on the ground.

I wonder how many people, on whom dimmak was applied by real experts and not by Mc dojo-ists, are not here nor able to testify, and in person, to its effectiveness in internet forums such as this.. Lets put it this way- BJJ has never proven to be too effective for challenge matches. Take anyone who claims to be uber deadly with dim mak death touches to any BJJ school and make such a claim to the instructor- they will have no problem proving you wrong. Lets be serious here- the Gracie Challenge was up for many years- defeat a Gracie and you win $100,000. Surely a dim mak expert could come up and defeat such a person- after all, if you have the skill to execute such a technique, surely you could pull your deadliness just a little bit to subdue an opponent. The following statement is fact- no one has proven any kind of death touch to be effective in a real altercation in front of a general audience. As a result, Im forced to ask- how many people have you actually killed with a death touch? Until you have, what proof do you have that it actually works, other than your instructors word?

Just remember that what ever it is that you choose to take up is going to take time and dedication to learn. If anyone tries to sell you a technique that you can learn overnight, dont bother with them. Make sure that you can train against resisting partners too- if you learn how to escape locks, holds, and from being on your back, work the techniques first on non resisting opponents (say for like 50 reptitions a day for no less than a few weeks). Then, ask the person to resist you- to not let you get up, not let you get away from them, or not put them in a submission hold.

I've had a few people hit me with Dim Mak's before - needless to say Im still waiting to die There arent any shortcuts in learning how to fight- arent any secrets either. Its just like any other physical activity (basketball, football, baseball, etc). It takes time and dedication.

I dont wear em, simply because my ears are already messed up and they're very cumbersome to wear. During the time that my ears were swelling, I did get a chance to use different types of headgear. Any kind will generally suit you well, but I found the ones with the hard plastic covering did the best job of preventing your ears from getting smashed. It acted as a shell surrounding your ear, whereas other types of headgear actually rest against your ear. Either or will work- if your ears arent inflammed, doesnt matter which one you use, but if they're sore, I'd go with a pair that has a hard plastic outer covering.

"" to learn how to fight without fighting, is like learning how to swim on sand." Miyamoto Musashi" I just noticed that quote- I love it. Any chance you might have a link as to who this guy is?

Its hard to say- you have the opportunity to train with a quality Judo instructor- you have to weigh his credentials vs the credentials of the BJJ school- just because its a Machado affiliate does not mean that Jean Jaques Machado is going to be teaching the class. Its often said that Judo employs more standup while BJJ employs more groundwork, but this is an overall generalization of the two styles- its very possible to find yourself a BJJ instructor who has excellent takedowns (perhaps he has lots of wrestling experience) and you can very well find a Judoka who happens to be a ne waze (groundfighting) specialist. Most Judo schools will train according to Judo rules, which will limit your ground fighting and focus primarily on your standup game- almost to the neglect of your ground game. Most BJJ schools will train according to BJJ rules in which starting off the feet isnt a big deal since you can always pull guard- you'll often start off your knees in a BJJ class as the focus is on developing your ground game. In comparison though, your average BJJ class neglects standup much more so than Judo neglects groundwork (and Judo only "neglects" groundwork when compared to BJJ). With the introduction of tournaments such as Abu Dhabi however, standup work is becoming incorporated more and more into your regular BJJ class. Go to both and weigh what it is that you're looking for and ask as many questions as you can.

Im partial to BJJ's rape defense systems, simply because a sexual assault is often going to involve a grappling situation. You might like this: http://www.gracieacademy.com/women_empowered.html Heres a preview video: http://www.gracieacademy.com/rapesafevideo.html

That's a good reason to differentiate between tournament sparring and the real thing... I hope that the people who spar like this in tournaments know not to really fight this way -- one hit to the face and you're done. In tournaments I go to, we allow for points to the head as long as there is no actual contact (for safety reasons, contact above the shoulders is a DQ), and if anyone dropped their hands they'd lose in a hurry. Why not just have headgear and then allow full face contact?