It pretty common that somebody asks me which martial art is best. The next most common thing is somebody essentially telling me which martial art is best, usually by attempting to illuminate me about a particular system’s shortcomings (“Your eastern tiger style is nothing compared to my crane form!”). Yes, I do know that kickboxing doesn’t teach about ground and pound, and trouble will ensue once a double leg occurs.
In particular, I’ve been musing over the debate between Mixed Martial Arts and Traditional Martial Arts. Old vs New, in all its arguable glory.
A lot of movies play off this riff; an old grizzled veteran gets paired up with a new spunky greenhorn. The new kid on the block is bothered by the old-school methods, the senior complains about novice’s know it all attitude. Humor ensues. Above, Will Smith from Men In Black II explains it:
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Tags: aikido, debate, karate, karate vs mma, tkd vs mma, tma vs mma, traditional
Try to see yourself as you truly are and try to adopt what is meritorious in the work of others. As a [martial artist] you will of course often watch others practice. When you do and you see strong points in the performance of others, try to incorporate them into your own technique. At the same time, if the trainee you are watching seems to be doing less than his best, ask yourself whether you too may not be failing [in that same area]. Each of us has good qualities and bad; the wise man seeks to emulate the good he precieves in others and avoid the bad.
- Gichin Funakoshi, founder of Shotokan Karate,
There is a lot of wisdom in this quote. One part in particular has been enlightening for me – when you see a fighter make a mistake it is easy to criticize instead of checking yourself to see if you too have the same malady. I’ve been told that the faults we possess are easy to see when they are exhibited in others, but elusive in ourselves.
Know yourself. See what is being proven effective. Evolve.
Tags: advice, karate, tips, wisdom
I am peeing my pants, right now. I’m yelling at the T.V screen.
Second round, Lyoto cleans Rashad’s clock. It’s a knock out.
First round, very slow. Machida lands a glancing roundhouse kick to the head, and a shot or two that stings Rashad, knocking him down. Lyoto pounces, dealing a bit of damage, but Evans stands things up and the round ends.
Second round, a couple of similar back leg round house kicks, a couple of tie ups. During one tie up, Lyoto puched Rashad in the head with 3 strong punches, then Rashad answers with 3 stiff shots of his own. These are the only shots that Evans will cleanly land on Machida.
Rashad on the defensive, Lyoto is chasing him down, scaring him with stutter-step rush-fakes. Cutting off some of the octogon, the karate champ get in distance and explodes into Evans, knocking him down again. Rashad shows some toughness, eventually getting up, but he’s wobbly. Machida takes advantage, landing punches on the chin, whipping Evans head to the side. Rashad slumps to the ground like a drunken failed attempt at the limbo.
During the post fight interview, Lyoto screams:
KARATE IS BACK!
Tags: karate, knock outs, lyoto machida, rashad evans, UFC 98 results