Fedor studying Taekwando

[Cardio]

Fedor is now taking up Taekwando:

I took this from Masakatsu Funaki #1 in the grappling forum, but thought it relateds to standup.

Russian Prize Fighter Is Learning Tae Kwon Do

I am learning Tae Kwon Do to make myself stronger," says Emelianenko Fedor (30), aka the "Ice Fist," who has come to Korea for the first time. Pride FC's heavyweight champion said in a press conference at Seoul's Lotte Hotel, "Personally I think that Russian Sambo is the most powerful martial art, but to increase my kicking ability, I am focusing on Tae Kwon Do now." And he added, "In competitive fighting practice, Tae Kwon Do is indispensable". Fedor and his younger brother are in the midst of a five-day trip to the country to promote Sambo at the invitation of the Korean Sambo Alliance. An acronym of the Russian words "SAMozaschita Bez Orujiya", which means "Self-Defense Without Weapons", Sambo is Russia's unique martial art.

Fedor is expected to give a Sambo exhibition match with his brother Aleksander on Friday at the campus of Kyungnam University and attend a Sambo Festival in the weightlifting gymnasium in Seoul's Olympic Park on Saturday.

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/h...0601180031.html

 

[Gregster]

Wow...someone must have forgotten to tell him that TKD is nothing but a bunch of pretty-looking Korean sissy-boy slap-boxing that's worthless for MMA. Maybe he'll drop by Sherdog in time for some MMA know-it-all to set him straight (no doubt there are dozens of pinheads here who would actually tell him off).

 

[Takhti]

Yes he is. I mean its definatly not a publicity stunt or anything like that...................

 

[killer_kicks88]

zomg

 

[Gregster]

Yes he is. I mean its definatly not a publicity stunt or anything like that...................

Please tell me you're not serious...I can't tell.

 

[OpethDrums]

everyone on sherdog just got owned by TKD

 

[Takhti]

He is in Korea to promote Sambo. While he is there he mentions that he would like to train TKD wich is their national sport. I mean that couldnt possibly draw attention to his presence there would it? I guess if you train TKD you get your panties wet that finally someone is giving recognition that TKD is worth training. The rest of us take this with a grain of salt. But if Fedor starts throwing tichagis in his next fight then im a believer.

 

[HeyHEys]

this is only to promote sambo

 

[sha]

Unless korean TKD has evolved a lot in recent years (could have, with the influence of hapkido and MMA), I don't think it's very well suited to Fedor's body type, or MMA for that matter.
I'm not bashing TKD, just wondering what part of this martial art a guy like Fedor could use in his fights.
I don't see him throwing high kicks.. Maybe spinning back kicks (tichagi), or maybe he could study tkd footwork..
But most probably he'll just stick to low and maybe middle kicks, and maybe ask the tkd masters over there to correct his posture, help with his flexibility, etc, small details that won't show up in his fighting style.

 

[Cameron]

its not usless look at david louiseau he uses tkd. there arnt many usless martial arts there are usable things in every martial arts and if you do let your self be limited to that style and alow your self to look out side and mix things of other arts together , then every and every martial can be effective. its when you only confine your self to that arts ideas and practices that it become usless. the stupidity of people here that think because somthing hasnt been proven effective its worthless, its only a mater of modification.

 

[Gregster]

He is in Korea to promote Sambo. While he is there he mentions that he would like to train TKD wich is their national sport. I mean that couldnt possibly draw attention to his presence there would it? I guess if you train TKD you get your panties wet that finally someone is giving recognition that TKD is worth training. The rest of us take this with a grain of salt. But if Fedor starts throwing tichagis in his next fight then im a believer.

I see your analysis of the article is in no way influenced by having actually read it. Either that, or you're simply illiterate. Let me draw your attention to a couple of key phrases contained within:

"I am learning Tae Kwon Do to make myself stronger," says Emelianenko Fedor

Could that possibly be any more plain? "I am training Tae Kwon Do." Not "I would like to train TKD" as you claim, or "Gee, TKD is really neat!" or "Golly, maybe one day I'll give this TKD thing you guys do a try." He is training TKD.

"...to increase my kicking ability, I am focusing on Tae Kwon Do now."

Again: he is currently "focusing" on TKD. Not considering or dallying or looking into or giving mad props to TKD to make the Koreans happy.

"In competitive fighting practice, Tae Kwon Do is indispensable"

Funny he'd say something which apparently every MMA fighter...well, every keyboard warrior on Sherdog, anyway...accepts as utter nonsense. But I guess when you're a B-list nobody like Emelianenko Fedor, you need to kiss the asses of whatever people populate whatever country he visits by nut-hugging the local MA in a brazen display of attenion-whoring.

But believe me, I understand where you're coming from-- God fucking forbid anything comes along to challenge the idiot orthodoxy that so many people cling to like a long lost relative. Kinda ironic, too, since part of that school of thought is that not deviating from a certain set of immutable principles and regarding them as being above question (i.e. "TKD/TMA is worthless bullshit because nobody in MMA does it!") is for McDojo douchebags while *real* fighters seek out new approaches and try new things.

Did it even occur to you that maybe Fedor is not looking to start adding flying sidekicks to his arsenal but instead, being a skilled fighter who can critically analyze other styles, is training TKD to add speed, focus, and accuracy to his kicking repetoire and/or hoping to benefit from the excellent footwork that TKD is known for?

Nah, of course not.

 

[Gregster]

Unless korean TKD has evolved a lot in recent years (could have, with the influence of hapkido and MMA), I don't think it's very well suited to Fedor's body type, or MMA for that matter.

TKD fighters come in a range of sizes, body types, weight classes, et al. As long as the training is tailored to his strengths, he'll be fine.

I'm not bashing TKD, just wondering what part of this martial art a guy like Fedor could use in his fights.
I don't see him throwing high kicks.. Maybe spinning back kicks (tichagi), or maybe he could study tkd footwork..
But most probably he'll just stick to low and maybe middle kicks, and maybe ask the tkd masters over there to correct his posture, help with his flexibility, etc, small details that won't show up in his fighting style.

Entirely likely.

 

[Takhti]

Gregster im not bothering to take the time of answering each and one of your statements. But Fedor is going to be in Korea for 5 days. Now if you STILL think he is actually going to pick up any skills in that time while at the same time promoting Sambo wich is why he went then you are clueless. He wants to promote Sambo and did the smart thing by getting newspapers attention by mentioning TKD wich is their national sport. When he went to Holland. He did not go to promote Sambo. He went for a training camp for 3 weeks at Vos gym. Am i saying TKD is useless and has nothing to offer? No. Stop reaching for straws just to defend your sport from getting bashed.

 

[aaron_mag]

Heh heh.

Fedor and I are doing things in reverse! There is hope for me. I will be the Pride 183 champion!!!

Now if only I didn't have the day job and the family to support. Oh yes...and the fact that I am severely out of fighting shape. Oh yeah...and I'm unfortunately not a world class athlete. I'm only good enough to shine in high school and small college type stuff.

Ah well. A shortlived dream....

Okay. Now I'm going to get serious.

Fedor is a guy who adds anything useful to his arsenal. When he prepared for Crocop he studied kick boxing (and did those awesome shin blocks). He is a guy who doesn't want to be predictable. He wants to throw things from out of nowhere. Basically all he is saying here is that he is going to add a variety kicks to his repetoire. What is wrong with that?

 

[Takhti]

He did not prepare for Crocop by studying "kickboxing". He prepared by training with Hoost who fought him 3x. He was studying "kickboxing" since the day he started in Pride. His standup trainer is one of Russias San Da/Draka trainers. He dropped Fujita with a left body kick, right hook combination. Just correcting you. I agree with your overall post though

 

[elmono]

Fedor expanding his kicking arsenal? ... He should first develop a kicking arsenal!

I mean how many kicks against a standing opponent has fedor given in all his PRIDE fights ... i remember 1, dont ask me which fight and dont take my word for it .

I think Fedor just hasnt got the build nor the style to incorporate kicking. And preparing for his crocop fight he prepared a lot against the opponent kicking.

The statement is obviously just for attention.

In the defense of TKD...

If you are flexible, have fast legs and learned to fight/defend from your back so a takedown wont kill ya .. sure why not use some elements of TKD to better your fighting.

Just as someone else said look at the canadian fighter who is using more esoteric kicks and winning with it...

The original problem with TMA wasnt that ALL of their moves were bad ... they just mist the essentials: submissions, boxing, takedowns and a lot of sparring

 

[TwIsTeD&BrOkEn]

nothing is useless.....but dont get carried away.

 

[Evil Eye Gouger]

Fedor doesn't strike me as a person who would lie at a press conference for publicity. Many other fighters would do that, but I can't see Fedor doing this.

My take on it is, if he repeats three times that he is studying TKD to improve his kicks, then that's exactly what he is doing.

But hey, that's just me.

 

[aaron_mag]

He did not prepare for Crocop by studying "kickboxing". He prepared by training with Hoost who fought him 3x. He was studying "kickboxing" since the day he started in Pride. His standup trainer is one of Russias San Da/Draka trainers. He dropped Fujita with a left body kick, right hook combination. Just correcting you. I agree with your overall post though

My point is he doesn't really limit himself. He is pretty opened minded (or seems to be) about throwing stuff in, shaking it up, and using it as he sees fit.

Personally I am mostly a TMA guy. I do Sambo as well, but come on! I train like 2 hours a week and we don't even wear Kurtkas. It is basically dabbling in submission wrestling.

TMA guys get hammered a lot on Sherdog and so it is a natural reaction to say, "See...this fighter trains in it as well." But what I find funny is that it should matter at all. Most of us, even the guys who go to the local BJJ gym a couple times a week, aren't really training the way these fighters train. It is kind of like me playing flag football with the guys. We might get competitive, but we still aren't NFL players. It doesn't make playing flag football useless or a waste of time.

Same with training in martial arts as a way to stay in shape and also as self defense. Put me in submission wrestling with even crocoop and I'd probably get subbed repeatedly. That shouldn't be surprising. He is a professional fighter and I'm a guy with a day job who dabbles in the hobbies he likes.

Fedor is studying some TKD. Cool. I guarantee you that the way he uses it and trains in it will be different than a guy like me (who actually, shock of all shocks, likes the hyungs (forms)).

 

[TwIsTeD&BrOkEn]

My point is he doesn't really limit himself. He is pretty opened minded (or seems to be) about throwing stuff in, shaking it up, and using it as he sees fit.

Personally I am mostly a TMA guy. I do Sambo as well, but come on! I train like 2 hours a week and we don't even wear Kurtkas. It is basically dabbling in submission wrestling.

TMA guys get hammered a lot on Sherdog and so it is a natural reaction to say, "See...this fighter trains in it as well." But what I find funny is that it should matter at all. Most of us, even the guys who go to the local BJJ gym a couple times a week, aren't really training the way these fighters train. It is kind of like me playing flag football with the guys. We might get competitive, but we still aren't NFL players. It doesn't make playing flag football useless or a waste of time.

Same with training in martial arts as a way to stay in shape and also as self defense. Put me in submission wrestling with even crocoop and I'd probably get subbed repeatedly. That shouldn't be surprising. He is a professional fighter and I'm a guy with a day job who dabbles in the hobbies he likes.

Fedor is studying some TKD. Cool. I guarantee you that the way he uses it and trains in it will be different than a guy like me (who actually, shock of all shocks, likes the hyungs (forms)).

I think I could do alright against cro-cop. so long as, ya know...no hitting.