TriangleMan

Locks and arm bars do not rely on pain for them to work- they destroy the structures that hold the surrounding limb in place, so while is is possible (but highly improbably) that someone will continue fighting after you've broken their arm, they will be much less of a risk to you since they'll not be able to use that arm anymore There is a possibility that you may not have known how to hold her.

Its better to say that Fedor can ground and pound as opposed to labeling him with that style. While it is true that this is probably what hes most recognized for, you cant overlook the fact that he dominated the standup in a world class K-1 level kickboxer in Mirko Cro Cop, pulled off the most beautiful armbar I've ever seen against Mark Coleman, and put on a clinch/takedown clinic with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. He has it all.

Not allowing vaseline or any type of lubricants isnt for a safety factor but rather to allow for fair play. In past times, many people have lubed themselves up, so to speak, hoping that it would allow them to help escape the clutches of a skilled grappler. As far as throat strikes are concerned, I didnt say they werent effective, but rather they're easily blocked by tucking the chin, which would make a fist a better weapon to use. Should your opponent not know to tuck his chin, attacking with a throat strike or hitting his exposed jaw will yield the same effect.

Joint manipulation including armlocks and leg locks are not pressure points. Its a simple matter of figuring out the range of motion of the particular joint and then extending it beyond that. He or she will also have a higher probability of missing the target as well. Its hard enough to hit a target as large as the chin in the precise matter to knock someone out let alone trying to hit a smaller target (possibly more protected) in an indiscrete part of the body This is true. However, if you consistantly attack a pressure point, then you'll gain hypersensitivity to that surrounding area. Yes, people wiht more body muscle will have a tolerance gap, however, like I have said before, you have to have an understanding of how to work them, and attack them. Some points require you to push down, others to push up, and some to flick, to cause a reaction. Not all respond to a punch like some do. More physical damage can be done with a closed fist each time an attack gets through as opposed to constantly trying to set up a shot on such a smaller target. In regards to how you're supposed to work the pressure point, your opponent can easily counter what you're trying to do simply by shifting his weight or moving. As far as a punch in concerned, most people cannot take a punch- to borrow from Joe Rogan, the human jaw is not built to take a punch. Very few people can take a hard shot, but someone who knows how to throw a punch is still going to daze that particular person, even though he may not knock them out. A good point... In Karate (as an example) we are taught to be in a relaxed state, and that our feet and joints and fingers must too be in a relaxed state. Try striking a pillow with relaxed fingers, and then again with tension; you'll see that with tension your fingers will hurt more than being relaxed. Therefore in a fight, your hands and feet will do better with the little blood flow (like you mentioned) than a continuous flow. There being an advantage! The first point would natrually lead to this training mentality, however fight or flight is something that was devised through millions of years of evolution and it not easily overcome. Even while one may learn to relax himself, he's still going to suffer from the reactions of fight or flight, hes simply going to delude their effects a little more by keeping his head on his shoulders, so to speak. Yes, some pressure points do cause pain, but they are less effective. Heart meridian, lung meridian are extremely good. The Heart meridian begins in the armpit, and by scientific evidence, that is where your axillary artery / brachial artery is and both are secondary blood supply to the heart. Therefore, hitting / striking them will cause severe pain (there are a large amounts of nerve endings there too, such as the Latissimus Dorsi and the Radial as well.) As I said though, breaking someones jaw, nose, or ribs with a punch or a kick will have the same effect. The problem with the pressure point is that your attack is so subtle and dependant on hitting the target that if you dont hit that precise mark, the attack is useless. A punch, kick, knee, or elbow doesnt have to hit dead on to have the desired effect, it simply needs to make contact with you enough to transfer the power I generated onto you.

They are very legal- I just posted the link: The following acts are regarded as "illegal actions." When a fighter commits any of these illegal actions, he will be given a warning from the referee (in the form of a yellow card). Warnings will be considered as negative points in the event that the match goes to a decision. Three warnings will result in a disqualification. No head butting, eye gouging, hair pulling, biting or fish hooking. No attacking the groin No strikes (kicks, elbows, punching) to the back of the head (which includes the occipital region and the spine). The sides of the head and the area around the ears are not considered to be the back of the head. No small joint manipulation (control of four or more fingers/toes is necessary). No elbow strikes to the head and face. No intentionally throwing your opponent out of the ring. No running out of the ring. No purposely holding the ropes. Fighters cannot purposely hang an arm or leg on the ropes. Hanging on the ropes will result in an immediate warning. No kicks or knees to the head or the face of an opponent who falls face down. No application of oil, ointment, spray, Vaseline, massaging cream, hair cream, or any other substances is permitted to any part of the fighter's body before and during the fights. The discovery of any of these substances will result in a disqualification. You're simply investing too much into the practicality of throat strikes. While they may be very effective, they're certainly not as effective as a swift hook to the jaw.

Good thing throat strikes are very legal in pride http://www.pridefc.com/pride2005/whats_rules.htm Yet they've never been used with any success- a simple tuck of the chin does a great job of protecting the neck

Pressure points are nothing more than a hypothesis based on scientific information. Im not going to say that its a theory, because there is far too much information against pressure points for them to be considered a theory when they're regarded as being combat effective. The scientific basis behind them is that if you hit a certain part on the body, they'll affect something else within the body. This is true, but pressure points fail horribly in combat situations, so how can something scientifically grounded end up like this? First off, most people that have had pressure points done to them arent in "fight mode" so to speak- many pressure points simply cause pain, and during times when one has a great adrenaline surge in a "fight or flight" scenario, pain tolerance is greatly increased. As a result, that particular pressure point does not yield the result it is expected to. A second point is that since many of these pressure points are demonstrated on people while in a relaxed state, its easier to attack whichever particular never bundle which is buried deep below the skin. During a fight, however, with increased blood flow to skeletal muscle and its over exertion, the muscle groups themselves will act like a shield to that particular nerve fiber. Not only is the nerve fiber now protected from attack by the muscle, but the adrenaline dump also greatly increases the pain tolerance of the individual. A third point is that not all people respond to pressure points the same way. Some people are very sensitive to it, others are not. I find that weaker more feeble people are often more sensitive to pressure points, while more athletic people will barely acknowledge it. This simple detail makes for a very dangerous assumption should you get involved in a fight with someone you know nothing about. A final point is that when you're heart rate reaches a certain level, fine motor skills (small muscle groups, such as needed for eye pokes, pressure points, or anything of that sort) greatly diminish in favor of gross motor movements (large muscle groups, such as your hamstrings, quads, and core muscles). This means that your likliness of hitting a particular target is going to greatly decrease, nevermind the fact that your opponent is now a moving target who's trying to block your attacks and generate his own. Lastly, using chi as a means to invoke pressure points is not a valid teaching technique. So many people claim to know chi exists, let alone claim to be able to control it. There is zero evidence to support the existence of chi, and should one be able to prove its existence it would be published in every scientific artical known and they would win the Nobel Prize along with millions of dollars Martial arts movies and myths passed down through time are largely responsible for what many people are taught as pressure points today- greatly exaggerated. Many people have challenges pressure point artists and chi masters over and over again, yet none have ever accepted or stepped up to the challenge- this suggests a lack of faith in what these particular people are teaching. The reason why I believe they persist is because of their exotic nature and the mystery surrounding them. What pressure points are good for is often in a grappling scenario to get your opponent to react. Examples include throwing a cross face on someone when you attack with a rear naked choke or if you drop an elbow into the inner thigh to open someone's guard. Sure, maybe hitting a pressure point in someone stomach may cause someone to recoil in pain, then again so will a swift hook in the rib cage.

I wouldnt go right out and spend the money for a Mizuno gi right now- thats a lot of money to invest in a gi for your first class. See if you even like doing the jiu jitsu/ judo and decide to stick with it before you commit to buying such an expensive gi. That being said, you can find yourself a cheap pro force judo gi in just about any martial arts supply magazine (say asian world). For about $70 bucks you can get a good single weave judo gi that will hold up quite well. If you're rich and want to spend the money on it though, by all means mizuno is one of the best judo gis you can buy. Atama's gis arent bad, but a brand like Koral makes much better jiu jitsu gis.

Yeah, and what the hell was with him going to town on the ballistics gel with the samurai sword? I mean come on guys use your heads- this they do immediately after showing someone who holds titles in sword cutting (which means he obviously knows how to swing a sword). Then we go and have a korean stylist swinging a japanese weapon...... go figure

Thats the fault of stories and parables- anyone can make them up to suit their own purposes

People often get labeled by a particular style based on their strengths and weaknesses. Nowadays, some fighters are getting so adept at all aspects of the fight game that its not correct to label them as a type of particular fighter. Someone like Fedor is so well rounded that hes easily able to take advantage of any mistake you make in the fight, be it on the ground, in the clinch, or on the feet. He is an example of what it really means to be a mixed martial artist

I also thought the impact data was pretty interesting. I would have been very interested in seeing what the strength of that Thai boxers knee was in numbers. I would have also liked to have seen the strength of his roundhouse kick. Another idea I had- since they tested Ricksons torque strength for his neck crank among the strikers power in their attacks, I think it would have been kinda cool if you could have tested the power with which a Judo guy can throw an opponent to the ground, or the speed in which a wrestler can shoot in. Lastly, I wanted to see if I could get a charity started for the TKD guy so he could buy himself a shirt...... I'll put down money says he does XMA.

You may not have a good understanding of the kinds of strikes they're throwing if you're coming from a karate background. A punch is a punch, so it may look like a brawl, but you're missing subtle details in each strike. Pride MW champ Silva, for example, throws very fast and very hard, but the punches he throws often are very tight hooks rather than just wild haymakers. By keeping the hooks tight (and hitting real hard) hes able to get in more punches than his opponent. The idea is to overwhelm them- throw one or two punches at an opponent and he'll probably block or evade them. Throw 5 or 6, and ones bound to get through. Blocking or evading punches is like walking backwards- it buys you a little time, but you're bound to get caught. In contrast, someone like Mirko Cro Cop is much more precise with his punches- he likes to throw straights much more than Silva does, and also throws a few uppercuts. Hes more linear in his approach to the punching game and hes willing to take the time to wear you down by throwing fewer, but more direct and more precise punches, as opposed to Silva whos going to run over you like a bulldozer. Finally, you can have someone like Liddell who often keeps his hands wide and appears to throw wild haymakers as well. What hes actually doing though is counterpunching and he does it quite well. He baits his opponent into throwing at him by exposing his face when he keeps his arms wide, but when his opponent throws, Liddell quickly takes advantage of the opening he created and attacks from the sides to get a couple of good shots in. This is often how he initiates the fight. Should one of those punches land good and hard, he quickly goes on the attack and is much more linear with his approach to punching (i.e. with jab cross combinations). This often confuses his opponents. Where most fighters usually throw hooks from the outside or jabs and crosses from the inside, Liddell utilizes both very effectively which keeps his opponents in the dark about what kind of an attack is going to come next. Some heavyweights such as Sylvia and Arlovski are going to look much slower than their smaller counterparts- look up someone like Jens Pulver, Takanori Gomi, or Duane Ludwig and tell me those guys look slow. Besides, you dont have to throw fast in order to hit hard. Most of those types of fighters can take a lot of punishment, so they'll just stand toe to toe and walk through their opponents punches in order to get their own in. Its a battle of attrition. As far as kicks taught in TKD or Karate, they're taught speed because you're striking for points as opposed to power. Should you ever find yourself on the receiving end of a Muay Thai kick, you'll know what I mean. I've trained in karate and TKD- their style of kick is thrown AT you and designed to get in and out quick, at the expense of power. A Muay Thai kick is thrown THROUGH you- your opponent is literally trying to break you in half with his leg. Natrually, such a kick is going to require a bigger setup, but watch someone like Mirko Cro Cop who is devestatingly fast with his high left roundhouse and kicks like a mule. As far as grabbing a kick, its possible to do should you throw a kick at or above waist level. Any lower than that is dangerous- trying to grab a kick thrown at your knee drops your hands drastically, and if you fail to grab the leg, your opponent often is following up with a strong punch that you have no way to defend. Fast and powerfull guys do come in and win- they're just trained fast an powerfull guys. Such an example of a fast and powerfull guy is Kevin Randleman, who in my opinion is the most explosive fighter in MMA (but has an impressive wrestling background). Besides that, theres much more to a fight than being big and strong. Yes, the fighters are going 100%, but its not intelligent to give it your all in the first 30 seconds of a fight. Remember that if you're stepping into the cage, you're also fighting another (hopefully) well trained opponent who knows how to defend, attack, counter, and strategize. So, if you come out and use everything you possibly can in the opening seconds, a smart fighter may just wither the storm (roper dope style), counter punch (since your over aggressiveness will lead to mistakes and openings) or simply clinch up/grapple and hold you until you exhaust yourself. A street fight isnt often between two equally matched fighters, so a bigger stronger faster opponent who goes wild can often get away with doing exactly that. If you want to be a good fighter you have to fight with your head and not with your heart. To give an example of what an MMA fighter might do (as opposed to the crazy street fighter) hes thinking of strategizing the fight against his opponent. Its risky to just go out swinging, since either of you may get the upper hand, so you start to try to feel your opponent out, look for weaknesses or shortcomings in his game that you can exploit. You come out and test his hands, see how his striking is, how he reacts to yours- does he panic when he gets hit? Is he scared of clinching or going to the ground? Can he take a hit? Its kind of like an octopus that works its way around a clam shell looking for the soft part to attack, so let me give you an example of the mindset in an MMA fight: Suppose Im good with leg kicks, and my opponent is bad at defending them, but hes got good boxing skills and Im not good on the ground. I dont want to go down to the ground with him because Im not comfortable, and its risky to go in and throw punches with him because hes got good hand speed. I need an indirect approach (a good setup) rather than a direct approach (going toe to toe) in order to knock him out. So, I throw a few leg kicks and they start to add up. After a few kicks, his legs will start to really hurt him. Because of this, hes thinking more about protecting his leg than he is beating me up. After a few more kicks, he can stand the pain anymore and his technique starts to get sloppy- when Im kicking, hes trying to block the kick with his hands. This is exactly what I want, so now I can fake a kick to the legs and when he drops his hands I can come over with a strong right hand to his unprotected head and score a big hit, possibly knocking him out and giving me the fight. When someone makes a tournament between martial arts, some are bound to win and some are bound to lose. Muay Thai and other full contact striking styles saw much more success than did your karate and JKD styles and as a result are a much more popular training style for MMA. But just because they're more popular doesnt mean the others are non existent. If you look hard enough there are very few fighters who claim karate as their background, but often as they continue with MMA they switch to a muay thai training regiment.

Actually no- Ive worked in a bar for the past 3 years and Ive had my fair share of encounters. First off: Fighting an armed opponent is going to put you at a grave disadvantage no matter who you are- remember why weapons were utilized by people in the first place- to overcome anothers physical superiority and weapons such as knives do a GREAT job in doing that. A "Real" scenario is anything that happens in real life. Most altercations do not involve weapons and most are not a fight to the death. If somone initiates a fight with you, you're not going to have time to walk over to the billiards table to grab a pool cue- this isnt Road House where you've got 10 guys coming at you single file. Real fights are quick, brutal, and chaotic, and space is not a luxury you're going to enjoy. Seals and soldiers are meant to fight for armed combat- that is their speciality and that is what they're the best at. Unarmed combat is left to those who practice it the most (professional fighters). Once again, is it THESE people who are teaching the Seals and the other soldiers the very techniques they use for unarmed combat.

Absolutely correct. People in the armed forces, especially in the marines, are quite the physical specimens thanks to their rigorous physical training. They are trained to be weapons of war. Thing is that nowadays wars are fought with guns and almost never with fists, so hand to hand combat for a marine isnt going to be a big issue. Hes probably never going to have to resort to it. I teach a lot of guys who are marines, and even one kid who went into the Seals program. Very tough, very physical people, however the whole "Im just crazy" aspect isnt going to get you far in a fight. Everyone in this conversation is human, so just as the marine is going to handle the MMA fighter should they engage in a fight with firearms, so to will the MMA fighter handle the marine should they engage in unarmed combat. Afterall, who do you think is teaching the marines what to do in unarmed combat?

He was flat on his back, certainly in comparison with how upright he needs to be in order to pull that sweep off. Its still nothing short of a very poor setup. To effectively pull off that sweep, he needs to sit completely upright and scoot his hips back so that if you were to look at him from the top, his head would be closer to you than his hips. At this point he can fight his opponent when he tries to smash into him and sweep him over to the top.

This is a preview of some of the Gracie Self Defense Tapes http://www.gracieacademy.com/street1vid.html Speakman appeared to give up the clinch when he decided to jump guard. Jumping guard isnt exactly something you want to do often in a fight, especially if your standup is your strong point. The clinch does not equal a takedown, theres alot of fighting that can be done from there, and some basic wrestling is all he would need to help make his system alot better.

I can understand his attempts to incorporate ground grappling into his curriculum, however why must he insist on doing it himself when he clearly is at the level of a novice at best? That in my opinion is the problem with so many martial arts instructors who try to go outside their boundries- It will take anyone, regardless of who they are, many years of training in order to become adept at a particular phase of fighting. Speakman is a black belt in kempo, not jiu jitsu. For some reason, many of these black belts feel that because they are a black belt they can develop a couple of techniques and sell them right away, even though theyve only been working on the material for a few months. You dont exactly see World BJJ Champion Marcio Pe de Pano releasing his newest video in Muay Thai fighting, you know what I mean?

This is a serious question-Have you encountered any of their redirecting or pressure point attacks yet?

I ll second that the elevator sweep was executed rather poorly in that first demonstration. His attempt to break his opponents posture by circling from the outside isnt very good either. Against a resisting opponent, this technique will fail most of the time. To be honost, he would be better circling inside since hed be able to better defend himself should his opponent start to throw strikes. As far as the elevator sweep is concerned, it can work and work well in that situation, but the way it was demoed was horrible. Whenever you work from an open guard, you never want to be flat on your butt and to perform that sweep he needs to sit upright to prevent his opponent from merely smashing him back down on his back. Hes actually putting his opponent in a good position to pass rather than put himself in a good position to sweep. The details for the elevator sweep need to be refined, because it wont work the way he shows it. If I were to alter his sequence, I would make a simple adjustment- when he demos circling his leg inside, youll notice he puts the foot on the hip. All he needs to do now is lock that leg and he has a very good chance of getting up to his feet should he stand up in base. This would be a good option for the simple fact that hes probably much more comfortable fighting off his feet than on the ground. The first series is very plausible, the techniques are just poorly done. I also wouldnt want to abandon the mount position either until Ive finished the fight, for the simple reason that its such a dominant position. The forearm to the throat is a very common beginner mistake/attempted choke. A simple sleeve choke would be much better, or you could just opt to finish with strikes. The second technique showing the escape from the guillotine is also kinda bad. Striking from the position that he has been caught in (the guillotine) is a futile attempt to escape or manipulate your opponent. You lack any leverage to deliver a powerfull blow from this position, and you may anger your opponent to the point he starts throwing a few knees to your head. His strikes to the groin from there will be a nusiance at best, the knees to the head could be a fatal strike against him. As far as the drag step he demos is concerned, its not going to work if your opponent is throwing a guillotine of any worth. First off, at no point is he defending his neck from the actual choke (i.e. holding his opponents wrist). Guillotines and front headlocks work somewhat the same in the sense that they break your balance down and prevent you from getting any posture. By keeping his weight on your shoulders and keeping your head low, youre unable to get posture to perform moves like he shows. In the event you get enough posture to do the move shown, you simply need only to arch your back and look up at the ceiling to break the lock with your posture. The best way to defend a guillotine is a simple headlock escape. From the position Jeff is in, he places his left hand right above the elbow on the tricep and uses the right hand on the wrist. The right hand is critical, youve made the mistake to get caught in the guillotine in the first place, so if you dont immediately protect your neck youre going to get choked out before you have the chance to do anything. Then he turns his chin towards the wrist and can attempt to pull his head out. His knee in the belly is also very bad too. His balance and base in that position are far too bad for him to hope to deliver any strong blows, with the exception of the foot stomp. Overall I would say that he has his head in the right place. Hes working on defending grappling techniques by using grappling techniques, which is the correct way to go about it. The only problem is that he doesnt know the very techniques hes teaching, and as such they are filled with lots of flaws. He may be able to make them work on someone smaller and weaker than himself, but not against someone his size and certainly not against someone larger. This is probably the best grappling I would say youre going to find in a karate school, but its still not very good grappling in itself.