Combat Sports Historian and Martial Artist
Posts about martial arts concepts and history.
I was watching the UFC Fight Night prelims on Facebook Saturday night. The fights all ended in before time expired. One ended in the third round, one in the second round and three in the first round. One of the things that I notice was that none of the fighters in the first four fights were attacking from guard. They
Judo enthusiasts may be unaware that one of the greatest Judo fights ever film occurred in a movie from 1945, Blood on the Sun (affiliate link). James Cagney, who was a brown belt in Judo, stars in the film as Nick Condon, an American newspaper editor for the Tokyo Chronicle prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. A few Japanese government officials
When I was a kid growing up in St. Louis, the only martial art that I had heard about was Karate. Taekwondo was considered Korean Karate. I did not know about any of the grappling arts at that point. However, KPLR Channel 11 ran a series of films on Saturdays for a month featuring Mr. Moto, played by Peter Lorre.
3 times over the last 150 years, martial artists created more modern versions of older martial arts. Unlike many prior systems, the innovators of these modern martial arts chose to share this information with outsiders and spread their arts around the world. Jigoro Kano’s dissemination of Judo is the best case study for how to develop and spread a martial
Why do traditional martial artists continue to despise the lessons of mixed martial arts? I am amazed that twenty years after Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 1, some traditional martial arts still feel that they have nothing to learn from MMA. One of the Taekwondo tournaments, where I used to referee, has a submission grappling division. When I had a break, I
I have spent a lot of time studying different rank systems. The rank system seems to be a modern concept started by Dr. Jigaro Kano, an educator, who wanted a system of grading to separate students. Over the next century, numerous styles adopted the belt rank system but the only commonality was the belt systems meant what the creator decided
One of the things that always impressed me about the Gracies is how they were able to turn out generation after generation of top-notch instructors. After reading a number of articles about their original belt system, etc., I started to adapt some of their methods with our own students. Once the student reaches Green Belt, we allow them to start
While watching the Facebook Prelims for UFC 161, I observed a trend that happens often in mixed martial arts competition. One of the competitors would get a dominant position but would sacrifice it to chase a submission. He caught the other competitor in close to ten submissions but the other man escaped all ten and one a close split decision.
On April 27, 2013, on what would have been his grandfather and namesake’s 71st birthday, Ken “Trey” Zimmerman III became the first black belt in the Zimmerman Self-Defense System under his father Ken Zimmerman Jr. “Trey” began studying martial arts shortly before his fifth birthday. “Trey” has trained in Taekwondo, Judo, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Gojo Shroei Weapons System. His goals
Theodore Roosevelt served as the twenty-sixth President of the United States from 1901 to 1909. TR is famous for the “Strenuous Life”. He practiced boxing and wrestling through his twenties and thirties. What is not as widely known is that he practiced Judo around 1904, when he was in his mid-40s. Roosevelt would eventually earn a brown belt in Judo. Yoshiaki