Since most people prefer to associate MMA with MT, boxing, or JJ, I must acknowledge that I am a supporter of any Karate style receiving attention.

Shotokan and Kyokushin are in the outset what one may deem to have a more substantial foothold in MMA (Machida, horiguchi, Raymond Daniels, GSP, Rutten etc.)

However, nobody discusses Goju Ryu.

Giga Chikadze, a third-dan Goju Ryu fighter who is a vicious striker and has competed to great success, is one fighter in whom I have taken an interest.

Gunnar Nelson and former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker are two further names worth mentioning.

I looked for Goju ryu videos and discovered several forms of it.

This one's sparring mimics sport karate.

Then there is the one where Giga Chikadze is competing in what resembles a Kyokushin-style tournament and involves punches to the head.

Edited July 7, 20224 yr by Shojiko

South Africa is doing some good stuff

Then there’s these people

This might be giga’s home or original dojo

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCqS3Y0LkDuKlrwvcvzxuFHg/featured

An interview with my late shihan and some footage of the local state games with our people(and me) from many years ago

Also your second link doesn’t work.

Ill repost the link again here (hope its working) if not, type "giga chikadze in UKRAINE 2008" on search and it should come up

I appreciate you sharing those links. And may your Shihan RIP

I like what I see; I especially appreciate how it emphasizes all facets of combat, including headshots (done while wearing protective gear), the body, the ground, throws, and the fact that they are all employed in sparring.

The Goju Kai organization, which is affiliated with the JKF, seems to have a little distinction.

Compared to the Goju Kai/JFK, your and Chikadze's styles are more comparable, gritty, but slightly different. The JFK guys look like the pull their punches back more(sport) as opposed to your style with punching through all the way

It's amazing to note that Chikadze is throwing hands in those matches just as he does in the UFC, lol, in the link I posted; he doesn't even hold back and is going for the knock out.

But yeah in my dojo I grew up essentially doing something between MMA and current KC rules sparring.

But yeah in my dojo I grew up essentially doing something between MMA and current KC rules sparring.

That is a significant plus.

I've only ever engaged in standard Shotokan-style sparring. With Shorin Ryu, we didn't do much else outside one-step drills, so I had to branch out and learn grappling techniques outside of the Karate schools I studied.

The dojo I grew up in also did mostly MMA/KC rules when sparring. The CI reasoned that it was because he wanted us to be prepared in the event that a fight didn't end due to some self-defense technique we learned, but I think a big part of it was also that he's a fan of MMA and just wanted to take part in it. Whatever the reason, the tournaments we went to did continuous sparring and we always took first in our respective age/rank groups.

Almost forgot Eric higaonna is a pro mma fighter.

Seems to only fight at upper end of low level and mid level promotions, but he has a record of 8-3.

Also does anyone know what ever happened to the goju ryu philosopher on YT?

OP hope you don’t mind if I just turn this into a goju appreciation thread.