It has almost completed a full circle. From creating the worst (most delusional) fighters in the world to quickly becoming the best combat sport to prepare you for UFC.
I trained TKD for about 5 years. UFC popped up, showed me the light, I switched to MMA and I’ve been bashing karate ever since (20 years now).
This past weekend I found out Karate is back.
(Disclaimer: I know everyone will say the best way to train for UFC is training MMA. That is only possible for a small amount of people. For non-pros, kids and newbies the high level MMA training (equivalent to Junior Olympic/Collegiate/National) and widespread availability of (smoker/Kids) MMA fights is limited to small areas in Cali or Vegas. You can find super high level Boxing, Wrestling, karate, BJJ competitions and coaches in most areas. Unless you are lucky, if you want world class specialized training you must pick a base of Karate, Boxing, Wrestling or BJJ)
Proof of my epiphany in order of occurrence:
1. My kid lost a PointMMA match to a karate kid
My kid is a high level youth BBJ, Boxer, and Wrestler he should destroy a karate kid. Check out the video to see my little beast lose to Karate Kid in a PointMMA match.
2. Continuous Sparring
At the karate tournament I walked around and watched continuous sparring. Take a look at the video to see a couple quick shots I took of the action. It has completely changed. It looks like kick boxing. Most of the fighters wore kickboxing gear (instead of the crappy foam Karate stuff). They were good fights, they hit each other hard and each karate guy fought multiple matches far exceeding the one fight you get per two months in Boxing/MT. They put in years’ worth of ring time in one day.
3. Karate Combat
After the tournament I looked up Karate Combat in Athens, Greece. 8 fights 8 finishes, all black belt karate peeps, in karate stance, wearing MMA gloves, using boxing, wrestling, kickboxing and Karate to win the fight. The event was legit and the karate fighters were legit. It looked much closer to MMA than Muay Tia, K1, any type of Grappling event or other combat sport competition. Some of these dojo monkeys looked ready for UFC.
4. PointMMA
I researched local karate gyms and they have all started doing BJJ, and MMA on top of their karate curriculum. They even do PointMMA sparring were you get bracket tournament style modified MMA matches. The PointMMA tournament my kid was in had people fighting up to 5 times in one day. I saw Broken teeth, broken nose, shoulder dislocation, knockouts... it was brutal. The total opposite of what karate was before. It was raw and the closest thing to MMA I’ve ever seen in a local unsanctioned setting.
5. Wonderboy and Sage Northcutt
I re-watched Wonderboy and Sage Northcutt’s fights. I used to think their success was due to a switch to MMA training along with the distance management they learned from karate. After going to these Karate Tournaments and seeing how sparring has changed... i think they learned to fight though karate.
6. Henry Cejudo
I Listen to our new Flyweight champ Henry Cejudo on UFC Unfiltered talking about fighting in a karate stance, rather than a typical boxing stance . He says he’s switched to a karate style??? A boxer wrestler switched to a karate stance to win the UFC belt.
Karate is back and has evolved into a legitimate way to become a successful UFC fighter.
My current rank order of useful combat sports (with consistent completion participation) to become a UFC Fighter:
1.Wrestling
2.Karate
3.Boxing
4.Muay Thai
5.BJJ (has replaced karate as the new Mc dojo useless martial art)
What is your order of combat style usefulness?
I predict we will soon complete the circle:
Year 2010: BBJ own Karate
Year 2020: Karate owns BBJ
