In case you missed it, one of the big fights happened Saturday, November 7, 2009 – Fedor Emelianenko versus Brett Rogers! The other big fights for me (as I only get free TV and I am too cheap to buy pay-per-view) was Cyborg vs Carano and Mir vs Lesnar (I saw this over the Internet).

Strikeforce is one of the more visible organizations. They used to have kickboxing and moved to MMA. Strikeforce took over the EliteXE and aired fights on Showtime. I like that they are still having some fights on CBS.

In this post I’ll highlight some videos (not sure how long they will stay up) and talk about this fight and the middleweight championship Sheilds vs Miller.

Throw leather with mixed martial arts gloves by Everlast and CSI.

Lots of back and forth here but I learned that Brett Rogers can power out of ground attacks. Fedor really has some power in his punches – easy to see why he is so dangerous. That round was fairly even – Rogers landed an early left that had Fedor bloody. Rogers was really tired already whereas Fedor was seemingly pacing himself just fine.

What a decisive punch! I like that Brett was still in the game but Fedor was easily in control in the second round. I do hope to see a rematch but not too fast. Brett while being a great fighter, needs to work on his stamina so he can hang with the likes of Fedor!

Another fight I watched was Jake Sheilds versus Jason “Mayhem” Miller. Here is a link to that fight if you want to see it here. This was more of a jui-jitsu fight because Sheilds kept taking down Miller (I assume he was not comfortable trading punches).

This fight went the distance but Sheilds was saved by the clock as he was about to be submitted via a rear naked choke (middle round as I recall). Other than that near submission, Sheilds out jiu-jitsued Miller (they looked like a couple of pythons) and won most of the rounds and fight.

All in all these were a couple of fun fights. I hope you had a chance to see them.

Do you remember the last cool martial arts movie stunt you saw! I know there have been some digital animation or such to “enhance” some stunts but there seems to be a trend toward pushing the human body to new limits!

I just figured out that Extreme Martal Arts (XMA) exists as does newer iterations called Tricking. Both of these activities are not what one could call martial arts (read fighting arts) because they seem to focus more on showmanship and totally disregard self-defense and fighting. Still there are martial arts woven into these activities as well as the more traditional martial arts iterations of fighting stunts.

In this post I will briefly review Tricking, XMA and martial arts stunts and speak of the advantages and disadvantages to these disciplines. Here is a video of Pataman Gym Time Trickingschule Berlin for your perusal.

That was some cool stuff! On practical application might be if they ever had to fight a giant… you know, the cheerleaders do that kick to the giants chin!

Ok now seriously Tricking looks fun to me. If I was a teenager I would have enjoyed getting into an activity like this because I was already trying out stuff in gymnastics. One time the teacher was a way and we played king of the balance beam. It was fun because you could kick or punch but I soon found out that straight line techniques worked the best.

Save on your judo uniform by KD Elite.

The positives I see is Tricking does not limit itself to one activity but rather encompasses many activities! Dancing, cheer, karate, bar fighting, & gymnastics all seemed to have equal footing. The goal was not fighting but rather to show off the human body’s ability to do an extreme or beautiful move!!!  These moves are not for slouches and would keep you in good shape.

The thing I do not like about Tricking is there is no practical application to fighting that I can think of based on looking at this video clip. This seems to be more of a presentation art for show.

While researching video for this post I came on XMA videos. This seems to be more martial arts tricks that has a direct application to movie stunts. Take a look at this video first.

Alright now – from a martial artists perspective this is closer to something I can use! XMA seems to be the “Hollywood” stunt version of martial arts training.

The good thing is many of these flashy moves would really work in a fight but often times one would be ill advised to try them. What do I mean? Well kicking above the waist is foolish in a street fight because you can get your leg caught, nuts kicked or your legs swept easily. If you are fighting someone who does not know anything – it does not matter but that is not a winning strategy.

Another good thing about XMA is the fitness benefits. This is like practicing karate shadow boxing (in the extreme)! Tae Bo on seroids… good for the mind and body!

The disadvantage of XMA is you might get a big head and think you can really clean someones clock! This is like taking a karate aerobics class and looking for fighting take away… it won’t happen. Be happy it looks cool. I view an XMA practitioner like I would a kata champion. It is possible they could be a good fighter if they practice sparring but the fact one can do a cool kata at a tournament does not necessarily translate into fighting ability.

What about real stuntmen? One of my karate buddies, Kim Kimmel did a lot of stunt work and had a famous uncle in the business. He worked as a stunt man and security at the Big Oak Ranch (east San Diego county Western Theme Park) in the 80’s. I remember one conversation with Kim where we were talking about WWE. I was telling Kim that I did not think much of professional wrestlers in the WWE. I thought that if they wanted to really fight, why not just take up boxing, karate, or MMA? The WWE is all fake so I did not really see the point.

Kim told me that the reason he liked the WWE so much was as a former stunt man at the Big Oak Ranch in the 80’s – he could really appreciate some of the stunts/choreography! After hearing that argument, I gained a new respect for the WWE. I still don’t watch it but see the showmanship angle of it now.

Before XMA was ever dreamed of, individual stunt men/women were pushing the envelope of fight scenes in movies. One of the more famous stuntmen was known for doing all of his own stunts (until recently I hear) – Jackie Chan!

Jackie Chan studied martial arts stunts as part of the Chinese opera as a child. His mastery of stunts are truly amazing and probably inspired many an XMA practitioner. Here is a video I found of some of his top stunts.

Wow, that was some impressive stunts… some of them I had not seen before. While I have done some shoulder rolls on sidewalks to freak people out before – never have I done any stunts that approach Jackie Chan’s, XML or some of the tricking!

I have thought of the next extreme stunt I hope to see on a movie soon – the jumping kind of like Jackie Chan did in Armor of God but more like the new Birdmen do in their flight suits!

Now that was a stunt! Funny as I just learned about these birdmen I was poking around youtube and discovered a even newer iteration of birdmen’s flight suit…. rocket boots!

Wouldn’t it be cool to see Jackie Chan in the remake of the remake of Flash Gordon? How do you think the Hawkmen scene would look?

My take on Tricking and XMA is they are good for the martial arts. Anything that gets students into the dojo’s, wanting to be the next Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan is good in my book. Hopefully the sensi will be able to convey what is movie stunt stuff and what is real fighting.

One issue more than any other separate the various martial arts training. How much contact does your martial art (read karate, boxing, MMA, Muay Thai) train with and compete? Some might view this as a measure of machismo! I mean if you spar all the time with non-contact and then get into a real fight – how prepared will you be?

I am going to review three types of commonly used contact rules and some of the types of competitions you will find these contests. Before we start I would like to make my frame of reference clear. I have come from a semi-traditional point of view in my training. I have taken some Goju Ru and Chito Ru karate as a kid in Jr. high school and then some Lima Lama karate in high school but settled on Tracy’s karate teaching Kenpo karate in high school.

The style of kenpo I studied came from Japan (the Yoshida clan) through, James Mitose, William Chow, Ed Parker, Al Tracy/Ray Klingenburg,  and Richard Willett my instructor. I was taught some formalities as well as kata, self-defense techniques, and basics as part of my curriculum. To get us into the mood for this discussion, I found this video of the Village People with their hit, Macho Man.

How about you? Are you “macho” to the point of no pain, no gain? I mean do you feel silly if you get a point but did not smack anyone around?

The reason I keep asking these questions is perception is everything here. A little more about my background is I enjoyed semi-contact point karate in my day and got into plenty of self-defense fights as a bouncer and keeping bikers in line at my karate school (was two doors down from a biker bar). Now that I have hopefully piqued your interest… here goes.

Non-contact sparring would mostly be practiced in some formal styles of karate and in shadow boxing. The formal styles of karate that practice non-contact sparring sometimes do allow their upper-belts to use more contact but the idea is the kicks and punches are so dangerous that it is better to practice your power on a punching bag/board or break boards and bricks and use a lot of control in actual sparring.

What do you think of this approach? Is the idea that karate in inherently dangerous and not to be taken lightly really such a good idea while learning how to fight? Watch this video of some non-contact matches.

The thing I did not like here was the contestants obviously knew they were not going to get hurt so they edged right up to their opponent. In a semi or full contact match, some ribs would have been broken.

The thing I liked is the opponents were using some good form while trying to stay somewhat covered and delivering some good punches and kicks. Another thing I really liked is no one got hurt. Now some of you might be thinking how can someone learn to fight without feeling what it is like to actually hit someone or get hit back?

One way to look at this might be one already has to practice hitting the bag and spar without any contact… the only difference in a self-defense situation would be to actually hit someone. If you can break a board – you can break a jaw so whats the big deal?

Everlast heavy bags for less.

Taking a punch is a little harder to simulate because if you get the fight punched out of  you taking your first punch… you would not be prepared for that. I don’t have an answer for that… anyone have a good answer?

Now for the contact rules I learned initially, semi-contact or kiss-contact to the head (full contact to the body). In the lower belt divisions in kenpo I learned how to fight with full contact body shots. Sweeps, groin and body shots were open except for the kidneys and spine. No head shots either.

I definitely learned how to give and take body shots while not worrying about head shots. I soon became a body shot specialist even after getting my black belt. The cool thing with kiss contact, you can learn how to fight without getting your block knocked off so later in black belt division, head shots are just extra gravy! Here is a video I posted of me fighting Neil from Bob Whites school during a team fight. I think I may have lost on points in this match but you can see how a semi-contact match goes.

It is kind of hard to bridge the gap and convince two out of three judges that your strike was first and decisive. The poor judges in point karate matches have a tough job… kind of like some baseball umpires as of late but to be a good point fighter, one has to consider everything and decisively get your points!

The cool think about semi-contact fighting is it is real fighting (full contact) to the body! This means if the guy does not cover or step away from the power of your shot – he is going down. Often times a fighter will step inside or away and clash with his own moves. In those instances the judges will not call a point.

The bad thing about point fighting is all of the rules. You can kick the groin but not the knee cap! In a street fight where you are fighting for your life (the only good reason to be in a street fight), you kind of get used to fighting that way and might not transition to “real” rules if it came to a street fight!

It is true point or sport karate has less rules than boxing, kick boxing or MMA but a sport karate guy could no more transition (without a  lot of training) to a street fight than he could a boxing, kick boxing or MMA match. The rules are too different. I always ended up using a variation of my sport karate in the street. It worked fine because I did not fight any true fighters but rather just a bunch of guys that were full of themselves. I even got away with kicks to the face in street fights (that should not be able to happen if a figher knows how how to do a groin or leg kick).

What about full contact karate, boxing, MMA, Muay Thai, or other full contact contests? Are these the ideal? I mean if one is worried about not knowing how to take a shot, why not just practice with full contact to the head too?

While to be fair, most full contact type of sports practice at 50% to 80% intensity so one does not run out of sparring partners but yes, it is possible to get knocked out in a practice session in one of these matches. Boxing compititions for years have practiced the puglistics methods to a fine art. Other contests employing full contact to the head are coming into their own now too.

What do you think of the concept of no pain – no gain? When I was in jr. high school I remember practicing with a kid on my block that subscribed to practicing full contact. He wanted me to hit him (and of course he wanted to hit me) full-contact! I was the only “macho” karate kid on the block that would go toe to toe with him because his logic kind of made sense to me.

We worked out for a couple of months and would come out of the the practices in his garage bruised up some each time. I remember he broke my ribs at one point and I re-arranged his face some. We finally stopped doing that because I did not see the point to practice if I was going to get as banged up as much as getting into to real fight? What I wanted to learn was how to fight before I went toe to toe with an attacker (only in self-defense)!

Here are some old PKA full contact karate snippets from the 70’s I think. PKA karate was basically karate kicks with boxing hands.

Wow that brings back some memories. I did not ever compete in PKA karate but at one time – that was one of my goals… well life got in the way and six months into my training I changed gears. But what do you think of the full contact strikes to the head in any of the striking matches? Boxing, Kick boxing, Muay Thai, and MMA all allow knockouts in their matches.

Before I talk about my preference in martial arts contact rules, I want to highlight an issue 60 minutes reported on recently and consider it while you figure out what rules you want to train under. Watch this video.

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Wow, I remember reading about this on Nathans blog – TDA Training, a post entitled, “Brain Injuries in MMA and Boxing” where he opined that the head gear did not prevent the brain from injury and head gear obstructs vision. I commented about some links I found that repeated hard head shots seem to lead to dementia later in life. In boxers this is called Dementia Pugilistica  (DP) but nowadays this seems to go by the name Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE).

Well this 60 minutes piece has reinforced my view full contact shots to the head is not good in the long run. Are there acceptable contact rules that allow one to train hard but still target the head as an acceptable shot? Yes – semi contact rules seem to mostly fit the bill.

Before I launch into my opinion I want to say that if your goal is to compete in full contact boxing, kick boxing, Muay Thai or MMA fights – you will have to train the way you plan on fighting. There is no was around it. No game of touch football translates well in the NFL. Having said that, what if your goal (like me) is to excel at self-defense?

For my situation, practicing full contact karate or MMA would be crazy! I am 52 years old and have fought my battles in life. I have done semi and full contact karate and I have defended myself in countless street fights. There is nothing about practicing full contact to the head that would better prepare me for the limited (hopefully) battles I will face to the end of my life.

Having said that my preference is to do semi-contact karate sparring or bag work a little harder. I still approve of full contact to the body because it is relatively simple to teach someone how to protect their body. If they mess up they deserve to get the wind knocked out of them.

I am not one of these guys that think the only way I will learn something is to pay dearly (in recovery time for my injury) but rather smacking my nose and making my eyes water will let me know I messed the move up.

I also do not go for non-contact sparring but do practice shadow boxing to get the mechanics of a move down. While I see the logic of practicing moves with good control, I think it can tend to lead practitioners to a false sense of security that would not exist in real life. I mean if you just threw kicks and punches from the inside – you are totally open for anything and you would not have time to even cover! Perhaps one could have some good sparring partners that would point this out and practice bridging the gap but this is what I see as the obvious shortcomings of non-contact sparring.

Do you need full contact to learn self defense? NO. It does not take much to break a knee cap, kick the groin and follow up with a half-fist to the throat!

The other thing I would be remiss if I did not mention this (but I alluded to this earlier) is machismo. Young guys have an over load of testosterone to deal with and one good outlet is learning how to fight in a controlled environment.

Well some guys will practice what my mom used to call one upmanship! Meaning they will start out fighting with the agreed rules but then start upping the ante! I used to have a rule that it did not matter what rules we agreed on but rather what they did! So if a sparring partner agreed on kiss contact to the head and then tried to take my head off… I started trying to take his head off!!!

The point I am trying to make is you do not have any obligation to spar with anyone that does not go by the rules. I’ve never been hurt as much as I have been by sparring partners that were going by semi-contact rules that all of a sudden would end up taking my head out. I have been knocked out in semi-contact as well as have my jaw broken.

So keep your good sparring partners and blow off the rest. Your own best interest should be your primary concern… not being a macho man!

This is the time of year to beware! Monsters and goblins are soon going to be roaming our streets. When I was a child I remember watching the scary “Creature Features” on TV featuring the werewolf, the mummy and swamp thing but one of the most scary was Count Dracula!

Now that I have grown up I am no longer scared of the dark or any creatures that might be lying in wait because I learned karate! In this post I will try and answer the question will your martial art protect you from vampires?

Do vampires really exist today? I will even entertain some of hollywood’s notions of vampires in some cool flicks but most of all I would like your little goblins to have some good skills in case a “vampire” attacks them for their candy! Here is a scene from Blade Trinity where Jessica Biel is seemingly about to become a victim of vampires!

Vampires or just plain muggers have the same basic plan of attack – they are looking for opportunities to find victims alone. I guess the vamps in this movie did not do well with silver knifes? There have been so many good vampire flicks lately that trying to remember the rules for each movie is tough.

A few of my favorite movies with vampires have been Van Helsing, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. But before we start reviewing some fight scenes; are vampires today real? I assume the legends came from somewhere such as Vlad the Impaler, but what about today?

Wow! Isn’t that kind of scary? A bunch of modern day vampires looking for victims to milk for their blood? It does not make much difference if these vampires are real or not – they become just another killer (or serial killer) to me. So what can you do to protect yourself and your loved ones? The same things you already do!

The way to fight a modern-day vampire is to do exactly what you already do – learn self-defense, avoid walking alone at night, park in well lit parking lots, close to the store at night and so forth. Self defense against vampires is the same as self-defense against muggers or car-jackers. By the way it is a good idea to escort your little goblins for Trick or Treat this Halloween. Sell them on the idea by telling them you will cary the extra candy for them.

I have seen some cool vampire flicks that I cannot really review on this blog due to the rating. If you can stand the gratuitous language and nudity – Dusk to Dawn is one of my favorite vampire moves. Another favorite movie, the Matrix Reloaded, has some cool fight scenes where Neo fights some vampires.

I have always wanted to learn that trick with the bullets. Willing the sais into your hands is pretty cool too! In the move, the vampires were no match for Neo (because he is the one). I remember another cool vampire flick called 30 days of night where the vampires were really vicious and more realistic but unfortunately I did not find any good videos on youtube. One of my favorite (albeit short lived) TV shows was Moonlight where the good guy, Mick, is a private detective and goes after bad guys.

I don’t remember exactly why Mick when after the bad guy other than he deserved it. Watching Moonlight, one finds him/herself in the position of rooting for the vampire – a kind of strange place to be as a human.

I would say if there were vampires like Mick out there – we would not have to worry too much about them because they would be self-policing. I’ve watch movies like Queen of the Damned where Lystat was challenging the old ways and True Blood, and HBO series where the vampires are generally good guys. I’m not all that sure I would ever trust a vampire though. I found a karate flick, Blood of the Last Vampire, where a heroine halfling (half human and half vampire) goes after the vampires.

Finally a martial arts flick where there are apparent samurai vampires! This movie seems to be of the Crouching Tiger genre of karate flicks where they fly thorough the air.

Get a great BJJ gi by Atama.

So now that you know your martial arts will protect you from today’s modern vampires, I would like to leave you with an amazing video I found featuring killer bikini vampire girls! I did not know vampire  girls wore bikinis because of the sun thing… oh well, I guess you will have to suspend dis-belief to watch this.

That cleaning lady was really a cleaner! So this Halloween just remember that your marital arts skills can protect you against all manner of attackers including vampires!

According to a recent Justice Department report on ABC News, “1 million gang members belonging to more than 20,000 gangs were criminally active within all 50 states and the District of Columbia as of September 2008.”

That is a scary statistic that I think means that gangs outnumber our police in many cities. In this post I will try to take on a small slice of a huge problem in America (and probably the world over), is peace or violence a choice? If it is (and more to purview of this blog), how can one structure their lives to live the kind of life they want? If one wants a peaceful life, is there a martial arts solution?

Most people have already seen this shocking video about an honor student being beaten and killed in Chicago but I thought I’d open with a news story about this event to put these questions in the proper context of importance.

One point raised was that kids were seeing fights like this after school often. I saw another report where kids were taking buses through rival gang territories and praying for safe passage!

When I was a kid, we moved to San Diego but lived first in a house in National City. This was a poorer part of town and had lots of different cultures. For the first time in my life, I, as a white male of English, German, and Hungarian decent, was in the minority. I did not have too my problems as mostly kids dealt with each other on an individual basis but I witnessed my share of after school fights at that school.

Get your MMA gear at Elite MMA.

At times it was kind of scary as I witnessed a large male bus driver trying to break up a fight and for his efforts, he got beat up. In another incident, I was asked by a teacher were a student was, and I pointed him out. Later I was accused of being a narc. I remember well being cornered in the boy’s locker room with the coach watching (powerless to do anything), getting the third degree from the kids that got in trouble. I impressed them with my ability to stick to my story and they left me alone.

I was never so happy to move to a new house after I had gotten mugged later. So here is my first question, why are some neighborhoods considered safe and other ones not so safe? They can be just 10 miles away but be a world of difference!

Later when I grew up I remember talking to people living in those tough neighborhoods and finding out at night they laid on their floors whenever they heard gun shots! These people had good jobs so I asked them why they did not move? They responded that all of the people they knew lived there and that’s where they owned their home.

How come some people are violent and others are peace loving? Here is a video I found about why some people are peacefule and others are violent. I’m not sure if this Dr. Prescott is on to something but it might help explain how we got here.

There were a lot of interesting ideas put forth by Dr. Prescott here. For one that I think we already knew, violence in childhood is the beginning of a life long cycle that is hard to break. I’m not forgiving criminal behavior but just trying to understand how to break the cycle.

Dr. Prescott’s other ideas about how pleasure helps curb violence (his inverse relationship theory) makes some sense but I don’t see any real hope of this getting instituted in our prisons anytime soon.

Our prison population is very worrisome because generally speaking, a small number of criminals are responsible for a large percentage of crimes. If we are not trying to “fix” the problem, how are we going to come out of this cycle?

While researching this topic I found a video about a Peace Day. I had never heard of it but it sounded more like a truce day to me. I guess the idea would not hurt but I don’t see how other than by raising awareness, that this has a chance to make a real difference. But here is the video for your perusal.

I guess as a person that believes in peace, I’m going to have to try and remember this next year. But if there is not a solution for the larger issue of peace and violence, what about your own personal choice?

Is there a martial arts solution for peace? I just reviewed Urban Samurai’s eBook, “Street Smart” where he mentioned (paraphrasing) if you want to avoid violence, stop thinking about it. These are powerful words because our minds are incredibly powerful. We can create our own destiny if we choose.

So the question is how can we apply martial arts to solving our issue of trying to stay safe in an ever increasing violent world? One answer might be expanding the use of the principal of Critical Distance! What is that? Critical distance is the concept of putting distance between you and your opponent. A safe zone if you will.

Do you remember me mentioning that a safer neighborhood was a mere 10 miles away? Using the martial arts concept of critical distance, one can reduce the chances of getting attacked. I mean put your priorities in order and move if you have to. But what if you cannot afford to more? You might co-opt a move with a roommate or move farther away where rents/home prices are cheaper.

But what if your town is marginally safe? One method employed is to set up a neighborhood watch program where you live. Yes this means citizens getting involved and cooperating with the police for eachothers’ mutual benefit! Police will have a better understanding of the dynamics of a neighborhood and the residents will have a better view of this “neighborhood policing” model.

What if just watching out for one another is not enough? Well some martial artists have banded together for a more proactive approach. Watch the Gardian Angels video.

Some people have labeled the Guardian Angels as a vigilante organization but I would submit to you in some instances, a more proactive approach is needed.

So is peace or violence a choice? My answer is yes! You have to power to put yourself into whatever situation you want. While I will grant you it is very sad in inner-city life that there is more violence there and the police are overwhelmed in many instances. People can take steps through community organizations to make life better, set up patrols with volunteer organizations such as the Guardian Angels or just move away.

I want to tell you that if life in my neighborhood was dangerous to me or my family, the first thing I would do is move, whether or not I could afford it. I would gladly lose everything to keep my family safe. Perhaps this is because I know what it is like to be safe?

Failing this I would fully endourse that people take reasonable steps to make their neighboor safe even if this is just a neighboorhood watch program.

Until the day that we have a peaceful world existance, people will have to take responsibility to make the choice for peace or violence for themselves.