NightOwl

What's the difference between kickboxing, Muay Thai, TKD, and Kyokushin? Granted, I think that there is more diversity between some one those than say, SAMBO and Judo. However they are all styles which could be filed under 'kickboxing' and would all be allowed under kickboxing rules. There are cross over techniques, but how they are applied, what is focused on, and the sparring rules distinguish them.

Jigoro Kano- Founder of Judo and top class martial artist- great training philosophy Wong fei hung- Anybody who has been portrayed this much in Kung fu films had to be one bad dude. SHADOWLESS KICK!!! Masahiko Kimura- Seriously. THE KIMURA. The only guy whose very name rises up from the grave and shoulder locks any judoka, wrestler, or Bjjer who dares to challenge him. Widely considered one of the best Judoka of all time. Anderson Silvia- One of the best MMA fighters out there, who has no signs of slowing down after his recent win in the UFC. Both a BJJ and Muay thai master, he is one to contend with. George Foreman- Both a really nice guy and a former Heavyweight pro, he had a mean punch that is only matched by the delicious food that he grills. Mas Oyama- The karateka who took on the world and created the famously hardcore 'kyokushin' branch of karate. Teddy Roosevelt- There's no way around it; Big 'T (as his friends called him) was probably the coolest American president since Honest Abe in his old catch wrestling days. No, you don't have to agree with his politics- just that he probably could beat you up while making a quip about some African proverb. The man was a winning boxer no doubt, but he knew he was weak on his clinch and ground game (terms he used...look it up). So what did he do? Become a judo master and singlehandedly scare the Russians and Japanese into a peace agreement that's what! Afterwards he set up the National park system because girls dig a nature sensitive guy. He promptly made up for it by shooting up half of Africa. Awesome.

M-1 is still around isn't it? I'm getting so confused with the vacuum that was left behind by PRIDE.

I love fedor, but more and more the MMA world is getting crazy with all sorts of free agents and fighters switching and leaving orgs left and right- from the new M-1 and DREAM orgs to UFC and IFL. Hopefully it will mean that cool matchups like these will be able to happen more often, but I am afriad that it will just end up making so much red tape that things will get even more restricted. Fedor is very popular on the world MMA stage, but not so much Coutore. Likewise somewhat the same with Randy. It's be great to see these legends battle it out.

I just voted that Cung lee will win...I hope I am right

Excellent, excellent fight. If you haven't seen it, you really need to check it out as it definitely lived up to the hype. Hopefully now the Cung Lee bashers will quiet down for a bit- Shanmrock isn't a AAA fighter anymore, but he isn't a no namer who acts as cannon fodder either. I think two big factors influenced this fight: Lee playing to his strengths and Shamrock not playing enough to his. Shamrock said beforehand that he wanted to change strikes with Lee, and from the looks of it he stuck to that plan too much, not getting in enough take downs and being pitted up against a top notch striker. Lee on the other hand showed his strategy best when he swept Shanmrock but instead of following him to the ground, walked away and let him get back up in a smart (and cool looking) move.

Although his style is usually simplified to 'kung fu', I believe he started out in a Vietnamese MA, not to mention that he has a background in TKD and wrestling to boot. Yes, he has used kicks and techniques in the ring that have not been used before (or at least very successfully), however he isn't exactly a kung fu stylist per se. Kung fu will get more respect when a mainstream group decides to integrate resistance training, get away from too much wushu style form over substance, and dispel a lot of myths and legends around it. For instance, I've seen taichiquan groups that are very dedicated to preserving the art's original purpose as a fighting style. However on the whole they are not well thought of in the taichi world. Harder training (usually) = less students, more people would rather put on a neat training uniform and do forms that are fun to watch and learn self defense drills that they don't need to test than come home bruised and worn out every night. You could argue that Sanda fills this role, however it is a modern CMA and many practitioners do not consider themselves 'kung fu' stylists.

However you have to keep in mind that if you act scared, it boosts the morale of your attacker AND vice versa. If you act calm and collected on the other hand (or go on a HULK SMASH! rampage, your choice), you don't give your opponent the psychological benefit. Likewise I have always been told that if you are tired during sparring not to let it show to much for the same reasons.

I came across some really nice muay thai shirts which look cool but don't scream: 'Look! I do martial arts! Show me your best crane kick!'. Unfortunately I don't do Muay Thai but they look really cool. http://www.tuffboxing.com/shop/cart.php?m=product_list&c=1 Now if I knew my stuff and REALLY wanted to be a jerk/ubercool guy (maybe a bit of both), I'd get a shirt from one of the 'submission' series here: http://gracieacademystore.com/store/ and then proceed to win with whatever technique was on my shirt

My Dad's friend had the best idea ever- Whenever he went to a bar he always carried some extra cash which he called (imaginatively enough) 'bar money'. Whenever somebody started acting tough and wanting to start something, he would slap the money on the table and say, 'I'll give 100 bucks to anyone who will take this guy for me'. That usually settled the problem.

If someone has you in mount, you aren't going to really be able to knee them in the groin, nor is clapping going to do much (the amount of noise you would be able to generate wouldn't create sonic waves strong enough to bust someone's ear). Against someone in a grappling style with submissions (Sambo, Judo, Jujitsu, etc) putting your hands up for the eyes with them in mount would likely to get you arm barred, however I am assuming that this is looking at it from the point of view that the attacker isn't an expert.

Any group of people sharing an interest and pursuing it together is going to form communal bonds of sorts. That could be anything from wine enthusiasts to ultimate Frisbee clubs. Martial arts are the same. Having said that however being involved together in something grueling (like martial arts or a competitive sport can be) can create stronger bonds at times IMO. However unlike the original poster, I haven't had to much luck kicking people in the head and asking them to be my friend

I would be willing to translate your name for you if you wouldn't mind PMing it to me. As for the rest of the certificate you probably won't be able to translate it just using the Japanese alphabet, as there are about 4 different writing systems they use here: Hiragana Katakana Romaji (English Alphabet) Kanji (Chinese characters) There are thousands of Chinese characters, so you will need a special kanji dictionary to translate them since they are not made up of individual letters. Most certificates contain a lot of kanji to make them look fancy, so that makes translating these things bothersome.

When was the last time you killed someone in martial arts? Martial artists have engaged in sparring contests since forever. That could be boxing, kung fu, or anything else. Its a form of training and the closest thing to actual combat- the fact that it falls under the definition of sport is irrelevant. The issue that I have with TKD in the Olympics is that I belive that the ruleset is detrimental and bad for training (or at least not very efficient) as opposed to good sparring which will help you greatly in fighting. A knockdown style rule set would be much better in my opinion, but doing so would make the constant jumping action and light on feet kicks not nearly as common. This makes it less 'interesting' to watch and thus isn't as marketable. Same thing with Olympic Judo rules and boxing rules, however on the whole the general martial arts communities train Olympic boxing and Judo when they have it in mind to get into the Olympics and have different rule sets for competitions otherwise. WTF/ATA/ITF rule sets on the whole though are still very similar whether you are in the Olympics or not and produce bad habits in my opinion.

Sounds like it was pretty good. Where did you attend these seminars? Where they hosted by your school?

Don't know about camps per se, but seminars are always popular. Since you do BJJ you could see if you could catch one from one of the Gracies etc. as they travel around. SBGi has a special training course too I believe for MMA, and local gyms like to offer things up around summer time. It all depeds on your local area and how far you are willing to travel.

I saw a 10th dan in Judo once- a fairly old man with the only red belt that I've ever seen in judo. I think 'master' is more or less an honorary term for someone who through their lifetime has devoted themselves to the art and mastered the curriculum and beyond for many, many years. Also perhaps someone who knows it inside and out, has been practicing for decades, and who knows how to teach it well to boot.

woah- where do you get one of those things? I am assuming that it is one made specifically for recording hitting power? The thing that I have always wanted to play around with were crash test dummies and ballistics gel...I watch too much Mythbusters

All data shows when citizens become more or less armed, crime levels are inversely proportional. Nobody ever tried to hold up a gun convention. To get a concealed weapon permit you need to have training and a clean criminal background. There are cases of people slipping through, but the crime rates for those with a concealed weapons permit are lower than the average person. Otherwise it is as you mentioned a case of risk vs reward and what you are comfortable with.

I've been shown it getting hooks under both arms/ riding up on their ribs a bit to help. Either way it isn't a static position- you'll have to adjust yourself as your opponent moves. Nevertheless it can lead to a transition to a better position but I am not that experienced at ground fighting so I usually take what I can get

So basically the only people who would stop brining knives and such are those who obey the law, and the criminals carry them anyways? Tough luck mate- Crocodile Dundee was way off...

Well to be honest I was gunning for BJJ as I found a really nice gym not too terribly far away and wanted to brush up on submission work for judo. However the goal for cross training was that the GF wanted to train too but classes are separated by gender at the kodokan. She wasn't too interested in the BJJ, but liked a local kyokushin dojo a lot so it looks like some striking may be in my very near future.

Cross, The weapons laws are pretty strict for Aussies yeah? The prospect that someone could pull a weapon is why I prefer to carry one if I am in the states. I really don't have the ability to disarm someone barehanded.

Well it looks like I'll be cross training in one of the arts that I listed

I love this hold! While the grip is different, the body positioning is pretty much the same for no gi. You just need to clasp behind their arm and head. Anyhow, you can get a great deal of control with this and it is a great setup for something like a kimura if you so wish.