Originally Posted by Dave
What do you mean "all this means nothing to UFC"?
14 years old with a black belt? Complete McDojo. Doesn't mean you can't learn a lot from it all the same.
I had about a year of karate but it really wasn't for me. While I liked contact sparring, finding my timing etc. and got a lot from the stretching and stamina benefits, I didn't like anything about the style. Having your back hand by your side is terrible technique. My sensei said "It's okay to have your hands up in boxing, but in karate we need to defend body kicks". Has this guy never seen kickboxing, muay thai etc. etc.? He was amazing at what he did, but he was terrible at teaching it I found.
I've been doing a "traditional" yet modern martial art for a while now, I think 2 or years. I'd probably say it's like a slightly more basic form of Wing Chun. Wrist Locks, Leg Locks, Throws, Chokes and Form is basically what it consists of. I like how our basic kicking techniques are fairly original ones, so our foundation is somewhat unorthadox. White belt is stomp kicks, front kicks, round kicks, round knees and front knees. Yellow belt is inside/outside crescent kicks, push and side kicks. Green belt is spinning side kicks. Blue belt is hook kick. Red belt is spinning hook kick, front ball kick. Some techniques in there that aren't the most common in MMA, so it would be good to translate (absolutely NOTHING on freestyle kickboxing's originality all the same).
With in the next few years I'm hoping to be competing in something. It depends on what I end up doing. It could be amateur boxing, kickboxing, Thai Kickboxing, Jiu Jitsu, Judo or MMA.
I see a few people mention Krav Maga, I'm not big on it. It's hailed as "the best martial art", but it's very similar to military training (well it IS military training I suppose). The focus isn't on form and technique, but more so on being able to defend yourself with minimal training. That's pretty good if you're attacked a month into your training, but if you've been at it for like 5 years I'd prefer to do something that builds you into your techniques. I'm Blue Belt in mine so far, and really the philosophy is that we're not supposed to be using our techniques right now. We're being given the building blocks to put the pieces together once we reach our 1st Dan. It doesn't mean they aren't highly applicable but you're not being thrown in the deep end. I want some contact sparring though.
---------- Post added at 01:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:13 PM ----------
Oh and WTF TKD is a fucking joke. It'd have you believe that TKD practitioners don't know how to throw a punch. There are loads of great fundamentals TKD can bring to someone but the WTF style is a ridiculous.
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