Any good full contact karate competitions to watch?

[RW]

I am looking for a sport to follow that's more akin to the old kickboxing competitions of yore, with guys like Superfoot Wallace or Joe Lewis.

MMA won't do it for me anymore (it's mostly wrestling with some BJJ nowadays) and K-1 is ok but it's become too much like boxing (lots of clinching) and the K-1 fighters have become so good and they know each other so well that the fighting can get a bit stale.

Thanks!

[sensei8]

You might not be able to find the likes of those days gone by that are similar to the PKA days with Superfoot and Lewis. I've not seen things like that since the PKA of those days, as well as the days of Theriault, might be difficult to find. Not saying that you'll not find it. But if you do, please let me know so we two can enjoy them together!!

[MatsuShinshii]

Ah the good ol’days.

I haven’t seen an old school match in quite some time. Unfortunately the likes of UFC, Belator and K1 have taken that spot.

Good luck and like Sensei8 said if you find it let us all know. I’d love to watch this again.

[JR 137]

I don’t know what it is, I just can’t get into watching MMA. It just doesn’t do anything for me. And this coming from a guy who loves (or at least loved) watching boxing and wrestling. Boxing isn’t like it used to be.

A big part of what turns me off is PPV and it’s outrageous prices for both sports. I used to have HBO primarily for the great boxing. Combine that with over the top personalities just to sell the fights, and I’m all set. Looking back, boxing had some characters, but it wasn’t every boxer, nor was it everyone all at once. The guys who were characters were just naturally that way, or they did a great job coming off as such. It’s like every single one of the guys today took a page from that book and ran with it. They all got so loud and dramatic that it seems more like the WWF than anything else. It’s turned into white noise to me. Where’s the guy that just gets into the ring/octagon without saying a word, dismantles his opponent, grins, and goes about the same thing next time? The guy who thinks “he can say and do whatever he wants, but when the bell rings everyone’s going to know the deal?” I miss that guy. The guy who comes to fight and just “brings it.”

I watch some Kyokushin tournaments on YouTube every now and then. I wish Enshin karate would post some full length stuff from the Sabaki Challenge and have the production quality of UFC and the like. It’s just not big enough for that though.

Reminds me... I haven’t watched any good high level wrestling (not pro wrestling) in a while either.

[RW]

@Sensei8 , @MatsuShinshii thanks guys!

[RW]

I don’t know what it is, I just can’t get into watching MMA. It just doesn’t do anything for me. And this coming from a guy who loves (or at least loved) watching boxing and wrestling. Boxing isn’t like it used to be.

A big part of what turns me off is PPV and it’s outrageous prices for both sports. I used to have HBO primarily for the great boxing. Combine that with over the top personalities just to sell the fights, and I’m all set. Looking back, boxing had some characters, but it wasn’t every boxer, nor was it everyone all at once. The guys who were characters were just naturally that way, or they did a great job coming off as such. It’s like every single one of the guys today took a page from that book and ran with it. They all got so loud and dramatic that it seems more like the WWF than anything else. It’s turned into white noise to me. Where’s the guy that just gets into the ring/octagon without saying a word, dismantles his opponent, grins, and goes about the same thing next time? The guy who thinks “he can say and do whatever he wants, but when the bell rings everyone’s going to know the deal?” I miss that guy. The guy who comes to fight and just “brings it.”

I watch some Kyokushin tournaments on YouTube every now and then. I wish Enshin karate would post some full length stuff from the Sabaki Challenge and have the production quality of UFC and the like. It’s just not big enough for that though.

Reminds me... I haven’t watched any good high level wrestling (not pro wrestling) in a while either.

I used to love MMA. They really had some very interesting fights, like Machida vs Rua. That was basically a karate vs kickboxing saga!

Guys like Rampage, Chuck Lidell, Randy Couture, Machida, GSP, etc made it the sport great and very fun to watch.

Then Fox took over and tried to turn it into football, and the new generation of fighters are pretty much all cut by the same mold, their gameplan is to try to take each other down and sit on top of the other guy for the entire round *yawns*

[bushido_man96]

Reminds me... I haven’t watched any good high level wrestling (not pro wrestling) in a while either.

Do you have a TrackWrestling account? You can get some access to great wrestling there. My folks have been able to watch my son's state matches the last few years with that site. Its a really good one.

RW, you might look into some of the different streaming channel services that are out there, like Pluto. I've only glanced at it, but it has some streaming fights, I think, and some channel like that may give you access to some Muay Thai competitions, which might be what you are looking for.

[Bulltahr]

I loved the K-1 series. You got fights like this one:

The commentary is an added bonus. Ray Sefo struggles to keep up with the excited commentator.....

[MatsuShinshii]

I loved the K-1 series. You got fights like this one:

The commentary is an added bonus. Ray Sefo struggles to keep up with the excited commentator.....

Wow! Full power to the end. I guess they got their batteries charged up prior to the fight. Like two power packed energizer bunny's.

The fighter that lost should have kept up the leg kicks. It was effecting the other fighter quite a bit. May have been a different outcome.

Thanks for the post. That was a good fight.

[Bulltahr]

Was a great fight, they both deserved a win IMHO.