1. KS, I'm curious: how would you, as a Karate expert who wisely eschews the use of focus mitts, have dealt with Matt Brown's takedowns in that bout?
2. Because clearly the focus mitts hampered Stephen Thompson's innate, Karate-based takedown defense.
3. So your comparatively untainted response to such an attack would have been...?
1. First, I'm not a karate expert. I have some really good skills I will call being at the
BONA FIDE black-belt level. Most black-belts do not have my level of mental ability. That's what distinguishes me. The opportunity to do karate as a mental discipline the way it was intended is open to anyone....
My ground game is not strong. Traditional karate does not emphasize ground fighting. The ground game objective in traditional karate is to never go to the ground.
2. Again, it's not the form of the focus mitt training that I'm taking issue with. One of the things I do, as a professional, is to take the other's position, examine and accept the legitimacy of it.
From a strategic standpoint of basic fighting style, WONDERBOY should have put 90% of his efforts into developing his grappling game.... against a seasoned grappler in Matt B, no less. Your recognition of this colossal coaching snafu, a tarfu, I applaud.
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KarateStylist facing Matt Brown, my goal is going to be a TKO ASAP. My grappling goal is Matt Brown is never going to get anywhere close to the ground game. 'cause I'm going to KO him when he gets close. Traditional karate kumite, really....
My standup weapon is not the athletics of focus mitt-pitter patter. My standup weapon is high-level mental discipline and the physical power & agility driven by it.
[**looking for vid**] Hey, under the boxing, Muay Thai, etc. approach, even sport karate, focus mitts trains you to be a good, even dangerous striker. So by all means, do your focus mitt thing. Be advised, though, it's not on the mentally disciplined plane of my striking capability.
In conclusion, WONDERBOY made 2 fatal errors against Brown: (1) The ERROR you pointed out--the failure to concentrate on his weak link, the grappling game, including the, "I trained with the big-name BJJ bS I so often encounter here; (2) The choice ERROR (IMO) of training sport karate versus the mental discipline of karate, aka focus mitts over what I do.... TSD Ill Soo Sik Dae Ryun.
KarateStylist
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