Fighting Without Thought

A lot of times when students start sparring, they get tense and then get intense as they start swinging for the fences. It is hard to relax and stay relaxed (especially when someone starts to hit you back). In all combat sports there is a time to use technique and a time to "Squab on 'em". Going toe to toe right of the bat isn't the way to go. If your opponent is weaker and can't hurt you, then it's OK. But, the goal is to win with minimum effort and maximum efficiency. You can't go for the knock out until your opponent is ready to be knocked out. You have to pick your shots, find the opening, and get him into the deep end (where he's tired) and then go for the knock out. There is no emotion involved because they cloud the mind and ruin the game plan. When I fight, my goal is to find the easiest way to win. I am stoic and no matter what my opponent does, I ignore it and stay with my plan. Within the first round of fight, I learn his strong points and weak points. The first thing I do is check his defense and feel his offense. Once I determine his hurt potential, then I decide when the right time to engage is (without getting me hurt). Remember anybody can duke it out, but in a tournament you have to use brains and not just brawn to keep winning (for multiple matches). You movements should be instinctive because you've put the hours in training, but you have to think while your techniques flow.

Six Time Shidokan Champion Jerry Morris

Jerry Morris is the most dominate champion in Shidokan Triathlon history. He is from St. Marteen and came into Shidokan through Shihan Christian Pujol. He won the Shidokan World Open Champion 6 times! In addition to that he is a mulitple championn in Muay Thai and Kickboxing. He has fought the best of the best in the world. He is one of the few to defeat the Legendary Ramon Dekkers. Here are some of Jerry's KO in Shidokan. He was know for being a durable, tough and incredible finisher. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usNSUP88--s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1MfKx3pXEM&feature=related

The Martial Artist and the Martial Athlete

Does being a fighter make one an artist too? The answer is no. A combat sports athlete is one who trains for an event. His or her motivation is winning a contest. Competition is about challenging yourself to attain a goal. It is a selfish quest the feeds ones ego or builds confidence. A martial artist is one who trains for the sake of training. His or her focus is about an endless quest to perfect a craft. An Artist is training when there is no tournament or fight coming up. A lot of athletes do nothing unless they have something to fight for. A professional fighter fights because he or she enjoys fighting. They like hitting people and get a rush out of engaging in hand to hand combat with another athlete. Now, one can be an artist and an athlete. The artist is the one who will still be training and learning when he stops competing. He won't rest on his accomplishments from yesterday and will continue to perfect skills and learn for the rest of his life. I once asked world champion kickboxer, Jerry Rhome a question. I said, "Hey Jerry, I have see you drop a lot guys in the gym and in fights.  It must be easy for you to do that". He said, "No. I feel like I can always get a little sharper, improve my timing, and I still have to practice". And then he went back to hitting the bag. Always be a student. Study, practice, and never think it's over.

Practical Experience Vs. Theory

The debate over practical experience and theory goes on and on in martial arts. Combat sports provide a way for martial artists to experiment and learn what will work in a real confrontation. We now have the reality self defense experts telling us that sport fighting does not prepare you for real fighting. Now of course combat sports have rules (like no eye gauging, fish hooking, biting, hair pulling etc.) and the self defense expert will have you believe that he can teach you to do these "dirty" fighting techniques under pressure. But the truth is, that by training and competing against a noncompliant opponent with full force is the only way to develop that ability. In the martial arts world of combat sports, we have full contact competition where you apply a skill set to it's full potential. Let's use MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) as an example. In this sport you can throw punches, kicks, knees, elbows, throws, takedowns, and apply joint locks and chokes. You have to be in shape, you have to be well rounded and you have to deal with pressure and stress. You have to be able to fight through fatigue and pain. You have to condition your mind to always look for a way to win even when your losing. The problems I see with those who argue  that "Well, it's not real and in a real fight this and that will happen", is that, first of all they don't have any real fighting experience (real or sport) and secondly they will never fight in any combat sporting event. They want to hide behind their theories instead of entering the lab and testing them. The so called reality defense expert, self protection experts and traditional martial artists who never fight, have never gone into a boxing gym, a judo school, or a ju jitsu school and trained with guys who knock people out, throw people on their heads, and twist limbs day in and day out. When you seek out an instructor to teach you how to fight, ask them how many people have they knocked out before you give them your money to show you how to punch or kick.

Old School Shidokan Highlights

Came across this awesome clip of some mid to late 90s Shidokan fights. These fights aired on ESPN, ESPN2, Fox Sports and Pay-Per-View. There are a lot of knock outs here (the triathlon tournaments have a 80% KO ratio). A lot of well known fighters from around the globe are in this video (Kestutis Arbocius, Shonnie Carter, Fredrick Aguilar, Jerry Morris, Joseb Ioboredzie, Tomaz Kurchareski, Zolt Letner, Peter Angerer, Johen Gieb, and many others).  Shidokan is known as "The Triathlon of Martial Arts", where a champion has to compete under 3 disciplines (bare knuckle karate, kickboxing, and grappling) and win 3 matches in a night. The point system during this era of the sport was based on knock down karate rules. A fighter had to be stunned or hurt in order for a point to be awarded (instead of a 10 point must system which is now used). If nobody got hurt, matches would go into overtime. This way the fighters determined the outcome of the match. This is the evolution of the sport and (and martial arts) in showing why a fighter must be well rounded and demonstrate the spirt of the Samurai. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmq61MwBP8A

Sweet Pea

For those of you who don't remember Pernell Whittaker, I wanted to share this highlight with you. In all of my years of watching fights, I would say he has the best defense in the boxing game (that I've seen). Watch and go practice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw1t2yAK_wU

There Is No Triumph Without Struggle

People see a champion or anyone who acquires success and wish that they were like those they envy. They don't think about the years of struggle that goes into being good at something. Years ago at the Warehouse Gym (the first gym we had), we'd get young guys coming in wanting to be fighters. They saw fighters on TV and Pay-Per-View and wanted to be like the fighters they watched. All was good until they had their first fight. Most of them quit afterwards and some lasted a few more fights. What happens is that they realize that it's hard work. In many facets of life people don't want to work hard. Sure they will go through the motions with minimal effort, but only a few will push it to their limits. Whatever it is that you want to do, you have to give it your all. When you fall, you have to get up and push on. When people tell you that you can't do it, you have to do it anyway. When you doubt yourself, you have to ignore all negative thoughts and replace them with thoughts of victory. If it was easy everybody would be doing it. Believe it to achieve it!