One nasty Karateka...

[ninjer]

He was quick, that was for sure.

What I can't understand is why in the world no one ever kept their hands up in those fights.

Because there's no point waving your hands in the air if your opponent is too far away to hit your head. And you discourage them from coming close enough to hit your head by hitting them if they do. Their guard tends to be mobile; the first instinct is to increase distance between yourself and your opponent to not allow them to hit you, then if they do manage to close the distance, you strike aggressively to drive them away and then try and guard your head as a last resort. Standing there with your hands in front of your face isn't a spectacularly good tactic - you're just inviting a boot to the ribs or a punch to the torso. It's easier to guard your head with distance.

Its not a good tactic, its probably the best there is. Of course its easy to guard your head with distance, but in order to hit your opponent you're going to have to get close enough for him to hit you as well.

With your hands down, you're not going to block any punches or any kicks. If you attempt to block a roundhouse kick with your forearm, its going to be broken. With your hands up, you can block and parry incoming punches to the face, dropping your elbows helps protect your body- tiip kicks are blocked utilizing your hands, and any other kicks to the body/legs are blocked by your shins.

[bushido_man96]

I would much rather have the boxer or Muay Thai stance of having the arms up, protecting myself.

Even if your opponent's miles away?

i agree with bushido man. your hands are absolutely useless at your sides so you should either protect your torso or head.

These guys aren't rank amateurs and they're not WTF taekwondo competitors - they know what to do with their hands. Elwyn Hall wouldn't be duking it out with a guy in the street and trying to absorb blows into his forearm. It's bang, bang, bang and down they go. That's what karate's about.

I would keep my hands up if they were a distance away, because I can still move them to use them, or just cover if I can't.

When you get into combat, you don't rise to the occasion; you sink to the level of your training. That said, I train to keep my hands up.

[lordtariel]

Not to mention the position of your guard usually dictates where your opponent is going to strike. If you have a high guard, odds are you can be sure your opponent is going to go low. Knowing where your opponent is going to strike is a useful thing.

[boyo1991]

he scares me

[Montana]

he scares me

I like your signature!

About the vid...GREAT sweeps, very fast and powerful and yes, he'd be very hard to defend against. Not knowing the rules, I would be using more lateral movement against him. Everybody he fought stood straight on to him.

He'd still kick my butt though!

[nijushi]

He looks like a lot of fun. My teacher, who was on the US Nat'l in the 80's didn't get to fight him, but did his competitors, like Brennan.

I love this type of fighting.

[NightOwl]

Well, he KO'd one of his opponents with a punch to the head- had they been keeping their guard up then they might have fared better.

[bushido_man96]

Well, he KO'd one of his opponents with a punch to the head- had they been keeping their guard up then they might have fared better.

I agree. Just doesn't make sense to me.

[Jay]

Because they do shotokan generally our guard it long and open which is terrible i think you will find that they guy who wins doesnt have much of a guard either its just the way we are taught. Also he telegraphs quite a bit so he isnt unbeatable i liked the way how he mixes up his techniques and feints i didnt see any of the other guys feinting as much which made it very nice to watch and caused them problems. Although he was good i think the poorness of his opponents made him look better.

[Soheir]

That's nice fighting.