Over the last several years I’ve talked a lot about how I believe that the way aikido is taught falls drastically short of modern practicality. This has led to many misunderstandings. I’ve been accused of saying that aikido doesn’t work in modern times. That’s ridiculous. I wouldn’t waste 25 years of my life on something that doesn’t work. What I am saying is that I believe in the principles of aikido. Where today’s teachers fall short is in the presentation. If aikido is to survive, even to evolve we have to address the modern fighter. We have to train against hooks, jabs, uppercuts, knees, elbows, the groundfighter as well as modern weapons. I recently dug up an article discussing this and these next video clips will go along with those themes.
If you want more examples of aikidoka doing this, check out Lenny Sly A former Tenshin practitioner, Sly is advancing his own aikido with what he refers to combative concepts. It’s great stuff. A word of warning, his videos aren’t always safe for younger ears or if you are at work. Regardless, his stuff works.
–Sensei Gary Boaz
Reposted with Permission from Facebook
The other side of the coin to the traditional munetsuki kotegaeshi. Please don’t think I’m saying that kotegaeshi doesn’t work. That’s not what I’m saying. Quite the opposite. Apply the principles to a modern attack and see what happens. Get your butt outside the freaking box folks!
Boxing is one of the oldest sports and martial arts ever. It has been in evolution since ancient Egypt but it’s modern form started around 1867 when the introduction of gloves and the removal of wrestling from the sport happened. The picture on the left is a Greek fresco painting depicting two youths boxing with gloves – the earliest documented source of ‘gloved’ boxing. Since then boxing has kept evolving and each generation improves on something from the last.
Yet some things are still lost in the process.
Modern boxing, like modern fencing, and many other martial arts seem to only want the most athletic and naturally talented, and those qualities are the most prized now. There has been a diminishing in the amount of science put into the “sweet science” of boxing. Most people agree that a fighter reaches his/her prime between 25-28 years of age. These same people agree that most fighters should consider “putting up the gloves” around 34 or 35 years of age.
Fortunately there are still people like Bernard Hopkins (age: 50), Floyd Mayweather Jr.(age: 38), and Juan Manuel Marquez (age: 42) who seem to carry on some of the old traditions, and incidentally they seem to be the longest lasting champions around.
So maybe there is some merit in learning some old school boxing.
It may not always put on the “blood bath” that so many casual fans want to see, but it is better boxing.
First let’s hear from one the most popular boxers that ever lived; Jack Dempsey. The Manassa Mauler was the hero of the twenties – known for an aggressive, smothering and powerful style of boxing. As if he had dynamite in both hands, he fought heavyweights much bigger than him, and chopped them down with his skills.
“Tall men come down to my height when I hit’s in the body.”
-Jack Dempsey
We can learn from him many principles of developing power and proper punching technique (book link). As someone who started as what one might call “The bouncer of the wild west,” he has a technique to fight with or without gloves and importantly, how to keep ones’ hands safe.
From his book Championship Fighting he tells us about the power line of the arm. What is the power line?
“The power line runs from either shoulder straight down the length of the arm to the fist knuckle of the little finger, when the fist is doubled. You might call that pinky knuckle the exit of your power line.”
This may seem strange as we seem to be told to use the first two knuckles to punch with, but (bear with me) there is good reason in Jack Dempsey’s technique. He goes on to say:
“Unfortunately, however, the hand-bone behind the little knuckle is the most fragile of the five. It can be broken the most easily. You must not attempt to land first with the little knuckle. Instead you must try to land with the ring finger knuckle first.”
I have tried this myself in my boxing training, and it works well. When the front two knuckles are used even when the hand is fully rotated it bends the wrist, so it puts stress on it in addition to allowing power to leak out (via the bending of the wrist). Strikes leading with the ring finger knuckle allows a straight shot down the arm through the hand and into the target. Also it protects the thumb from getting jammed as easily.
image: bleacherreport.com
Let’s move on to what we can learn from possibly the greatest trainer in history; Jack Blackburn. He trained the two greatest fighters of all-time; Joe Louis and Sugar Ray Robinson. Both of the these dominate champions learned the sweet science from Blackburn who was quite the boxer himself in his younger years. He retired from boxing with a record of 99 wins, 26 losses, and 19 draws with notable fights with Joe Gans, Sam Langford and Harry Greb. The classic stance (the Blackburn crouch) is used by both these champions and offers great defense.
The Blackburn Crouch
image: ianstreetz.com
The head is tucked and tilted off the centerline so it automatically harder to hit and the tucking of the chin helps absorb the blows that do get through. The right hand is up in front of your jaw and mouth and is used to catch, and sometimes reach slightly to parry incoming shots while countering with the jab. You are controlling the opponent with both hands. The crouch promotes ease of head movement as well. Blackburn also emphasized footwork. And yes, it is possible to have good footwork that doesn’t look like Muhammad Ali. There are many types of footwork and the one that Blackburn taught Joe Louis helped his style of fighting. He turned Louis into a boxer-puncher using small sliding and shuffling steps that allowed Louis to plant his feet quickly to deliver his stunning power shots. He used short steps to move around his opponents so even though his feet may not have been as fast he used them efficiently to make angles quickly.
A great modern example of these principals in work is Bernard Hopkins. He has a very similar stance, and way of fighting as Joe Louis and Sugar Ray Robinson. He has beaten more athletic and talented fighters consistently through his use the “Sweet Science.”
Great boxing still exists. And if you look hard enough you can see the nuts and bolts, the years of toil, blood, sweat and tears. If you are keen enough on the combative sciences, you may even see the interweaving of boxing’s past in the present.
In the mixed martial art world, people are still buzzing from Conor McGregor’s phenomenal 13-second victory over featherweight, undefeated champion Jose Aldo in UFC 194. Some people may still be mumbling under their breath with distain, others may be scratching their head in confusion, but talent truly shines and at the moment, Irishman Conor McGregor is the beacon of mixed martial arts. Currently he is 19-1-2, with his last defeat being 5 years ago/14 fights ago.
“…I see these shots, I see these sequences and I don’t shy away from them.. (if you do this) you are creating that Law of Attraction and it will become reality… I knew he’d (Jose Aldo) over-extend and I knew I’d catch him.”
But as crafty, confident and technical he is – there’s a higher level of skill that is being seen by all. Easy to quote, easy to grasp (an understanding of), but hard to possess, is this melding of confidence, self-assuredness, courage, visualization, movement variation, and adaptability (to name a few). So many people have put the mental aspect of fighting aside from “the game.” The MMA world is full of fit and conditioned bodies, all striving to climb the ladder of success. Few fighters strive to be different, try different things; some lack the courage or belief. Perhaps with the growth of this 27-year old fighter from Dublin, the level of competition will reach an even greater height.
“If you can see it here (points to his brain) and you have the courage to speak it, it will happen.”
Bruce Lee said, “The way you think is the way you will become.” He also said, more famously, “…Be (like) water.” If you internalize what many of these teachers have said, believe it, and strive for perfection – success will come. This is a lesson for all of us and something applicable to many factors in Life like; relationships, business and (in this case) sport & performance.
“Doubt is only removed by action. If you’re not working, that’s when doubt comes in.”
Belief is not enough. Anything that we require in life requires work. But even when you’ve got belief and put in the work, how many of you continue to visualize failure? How many people continue to harbor the stressors that come with thinking “What if…”?
“…winners focus on winning. Winners focus on what they can control. …Losers focus on winners. People ask, did you learn anything (from Ronda, etc)… although I learned from watching the contest, the technical aspect of it… I already felt like the top before tonight.”
One thing that many people saw from the video that the UFC put out prior to the Dec. 12th event, was the huge amount of psychological warfare that Conor placed on Jose. By watching the video (posted below), you can see the eagerness and tension building between the two combatants – but Conor, the aggressor, remains calm (if you want to call it that). It’s the same taunting and prophesizing that helped give Muhammad Ali the legendary status he has today. The only problem is you now have two fighters vying for the title “Greatest of all-time” (Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor). Floyd has a good argument as to why he should be (and we’ll explore that in another post), but with Conor, time will tell. Even in an interview, LA Media Scrum (by MMAfigtingonSBN), Conor’s girlfriend wrote on his water bottle, “G.O.A.T.” Conor believes it, Conor’s girlfriend believes it, and in due time the world will as well.
But somehow it seems destined with Conor “Mystic Mac” predicting outcomes so precisely. Here is what he said in UFC 194 : Exbedded on FOX (timestamp 3:10) –
“We’ll collide at that first exchange and that will be it.”
There have been many fighters to predict rounds, but how many have predicted one to the amount of exchanges? It’s quite alright if you want to chalk it up to luck, that for someone who speaks so much will stumble on some truth – even a broken clock is right two times a day… but at some point, it goes to show you that mentally, if you open up and fully embrace this formula of success and are prepared to put in the hard work, the universe will manifest itself to you.
“Precision beats power, timing beats speed.”
When I heard this last quote, I immediately thought of Bruce Lee. Then I remember thinking, did this just come from a 27-year old fighter? Because it sounded like it came from a physicist, or movement coach trying to boil things down to a simple understanding. I was told that it came from Goethe. Whoever said it first doesn’t matter. The mark it makes does; and now it’s on the lips and minds of many.
But the more I thought about this, the more I loved this quote because of its truth and relevance to the 13-second fight I just witnessed. In Conor’s training we saw him playing body shots with The Mountain (aka. Gregor Clegane – real name, Hafthor Julius Bjornsson), from Game of Thrones (6’9, 400 lbs.), movement pattern work with Ido Portal and even snuffing out the flame of candles set about the room, with his punches (and kicks).
(Regarding the candles) Anyone who has ever tried this knows that it requires expert precision and tremendous quickness in order to pull this off. In fighting, timing/rhythm will greatly disrupt, or stop an opponent’s effectiveness in attack or halt the opponent’s ability to start an attack. If your timing is refined to the point that it enables you to move (and in this case, move and counter) at the very beginning of your opponent’s attack, the quickness of your attacker becomes of little concern. It brings me back to Bruce Lee’s clip on Longstreet in which he says, “This time I intercepted your emotional tenseness. From your brain to your fist, how much time was lost.” {CC article}
“When you face me, it’s a whole other ballgame.”
The message that Conor delivers in this statement, punctuates his determinedness, skill, undeniable confidence and flair – at the same time, alluding to the fact that those that face him are better fighters afterwards. It depends on how you take it (losing). But win or lose, there is something to learn, something to gain. But what you should know is that when you fight Conor McGregor, you getting the whole Conor and you better not come to the fight with a singular approach – because that is just not going to work!
For the first time, there is a complete video on YouTube regarding a martial, practical form of Push Hands (they way it was meant to be*). Of course the late, great Erle Montaigue has dvds, and video clips on this extraordinary method, however now, his son Eli has put the movements together in one video whereby we can observe the progression and gain insight on how and why certain things are done.
Obviously many taijiquan practitioners are going to differ on this, but this important video is for those students and instructors who wish to impart an approach that more closely resembles the realities of combat, while at the same time testing your balance, posture, technique, etc.
Lee Morrison is one of the world’s best when it comes to teaching Combatives. We’ve been in communication lately and after he finishes his workshops in Australia, he’ll answer our questions.
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RT @MentatThe: One of my favorite quotes from MLK - one that has a great relevance today. People today don't want to sift the evidence... t… 4 years ago
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First let’s hear from one the most popular boxers that ever lived; Jack Dempsey. The Manassa Mauler was the hero of the twenties – known for an aggressive, smothering and powerful style of boxing. As if he had dynamite in both hands, he fought heavyweights much bigger than him, and chopped them down with his skills.
But the more I thought about this, the more I loved this quote because of its truth and relevance to the 13-second fight I just witnessed. In Conor’s training we saw him playing body shots with The Mountain (aka. 
combativecorner.wordpress.com 