My 2 cents:
1. If training for competition, train in the striking art that is best for the rules you are competing. MT and boxing seems better for MMA.
2. I trained in boxing first and then karate and was told that I had better hands then most of TKD and Karate gym mates at least starting out. However most had better kicks. My kicks suck and still do. 3. Throws, clinches, ground game etc may be practiced in some of the Karate gyms. When I trained in TKD, we went hard to the head with those little gloves in sparring. Tournaments were lighter impact although my Shidokan instrucor competed years ago as a TKD fighter and the tournaments were hard blows. During sparring at my TKD gym, we had several broken noses and one person got a fractured face. You did have the option to wear a face shield and some students should have done that. My instructor even did a kickboxing tournament with TKD black belts. One black belt got a broken rib hanging loose inside his skin by a spinning side kick. My instructor started training us in throws, grappling and boxing as he saw the limits in our art. However most TKD dojos I went to were easy to medium in intensity and focused strickley on TKD ITF or WTF rules.
2. In most self defense situations you will probably not face a good ametuer or profesional fighter of any of the striking arts if you are respectful. Every good fighter I met was nice. Therefore a good hard form of Karate or other striking arts will work just fine in most self defense situations provided you train hard to face such situations. Of course grappling and throwing would be a bonus. I would hate to face an experienced bare knuckle karate fighter in an enclosed space especially those karate styles with grappling and throws.
3. When at home, I mix my boxing training with my karate training. I throw a punch or kick and follow with a throw, knife hand strikes to neck or throat, spear thrust to eyes or throat, hammer and back fists, kicks to groin, groin grabs, head butts, forearm strikes plus the stable of kicks, elbows, knees, cliching and throws on my full size suspended dummy. Hard to do this at sparring so I just do it at home. I do this for self defence purposes only to ingrain those techiquies so they are automatic without thinking. Normally these type of combinations are not done in boxing and MT gyms; at least the ones I vistited. Yes, some karate schools do throws and some ground game. The thows are even in some of the Katas although I agree they need a lot of modification, speed and skill to work which will be never in my case.
3. Saying Karate or other arts are an easy workout is wrong. Depends on the gym. Some gyms are brutal. Go to Japan and train at the elite Karate gyms.Some styles are said to be hard training. I heard Oyama karate has that reputation (just sweat) but I have not witnessed a workout.
4. Saying Karate just trains to punch to the body is wrong. We train to punch to the body and the head and circle using footwork although more linear attacks. Like I said, we did this at my last TKD dojo. However the punching to the head is lighter but the body is hard espcially sparring bare knuckle but their has been injuries to the face. Also even with limited training to a head, a good karate fighter will just cover up; not the best but certainly does not make them an easy mark to defeat. Depends on the fighter more than the art.
5. Based on what I observed in the majority of the various striking competiions, the fighter that can dish out and handle the violence has best chance of winning. Athletisim and being in shape second and the striking art third. I have seen MT guys with a long winining record beaten in bare knuckle competitions althougth they held their own and could handle the violence.
I posted this video on another thread but shows how hard Karate can be. I had a Okinawan style karate instructor tell me about years ago he broke someone's jaw in a tournament. However there current karate tournaments are point style. I agree that TKD and Karate has gone downhill as far as good for fighting. I believe the majority of MT and Boxing Gyms are more hard core than Karate gyms; at least in my experience so better at fighting. I train in Shidokan so our Karate is close to MMA although we separate the bare knucke karate, MT and grapping instead of combining like MMA. So Shidokan is more modernized with current reality of self defense and competion than most other karate disiplines.
1. If training for competition, train in the striking art that is best for the rules you are competing. MT and boxing seems better for MMA.
2. I trained in boxing first and then karate and was told that I had better hands then most of TKD and Karate gym mates at least starting out. However most had better kicks. My kicks suck and still do. 3. Throws, clinches, ground game etc may be practiced in some of the Karate gyms. When I trained in TKD, we went hard to the head with those little gloves in sparring. Tournaments were lighter impact although my Shidokan instrucor competed years ago as a TKD fighter and the tournaments were hard blows. During sparring at my TKD gym, we had several broken noses and one person got a fractured face. You did have the option to wear a face shield and some students should have done that. My instructor even did a kickboxing tournament with TKD black belts. One black belt got a broken rib hanging loose inside his skin by a spinning side kick. My instructor started training us in throws, grappling and boxing as he saw the limits in our art. However most TKD dojos I went to were easy to medium in intensity and focused strickley on TKD ITF or WTF rules.
2. In most self defense situations you will probably not face a good ametuer or profesional fighter of any of the striking arts if you are respectful. Every good fighter I met was nice. Therefore a good hard form of Karate or other striking arts will work just fine in most self defense situations provided you train hard to face such situations. Of course grappling and throwing would be a bonus. I would hate to face an experienced bare knuckle karate fighter in an enclosed space especially those karate styles with grappling and throws.
3. When at home, I mix my boxing training with my karate training. I throw a punch or kick and follow with a throw, knife hand strikes to neck or throat, spear thrust to eyes or throat, hammer and back fists, kicks to groin, groin grabs, head butts, forearm strikes plus the stable of kicks, elbows, knees, cliching and throws on my full size suspended dummy. Hard to do this at sparring so I just do it at home. I do this for self defence purposes only to ingrain those techiquies so they are automatic without thinking. Normally these type of combinations are not done in boxing and MT gyms; at least the ones I vistited. Yes, some karate schools do throws and some ground game. The thows are even in some of the Katas although I agree they need a lot of modification, speed and skill to work which will be never in my case.
3. Saying Karate or other arts are an easy workout is wrong. Depends on the gym. Some gyms are brutal. Go to Japan and train at the elite Karate gyms.Some styles are said to be hard training. I heard Oyama karate has that reputation (just sweat) but I have not witnessed a workout.
4. Saying Karate just trains to punch to the body is wrong. We train to punch to the body and the head and circle using footwork although more linear attacks. Like I said, we did this at my last TKD dojo. However the punching to the head is lighter but the body is hard espcially sparring bare knuckle but their has been injuries to the face. Also even with limited training to a head, a good karate fighter will just cover up; not the best but certainly does not make them an easy mark to defeat. Depends on the fighter more than the art.
5. Based on what I observed in the majority of the various striking competiions, the fighter that can dish out and handle the violence has best chance of winning. Athletisim and being in shape second and the striking art third. I have seen MT guys with a long winining record beaten in bare knuckle competitions althougth they held their own and could handle the violence.
I posted this video on another thread but shows how hard Karate can be. I had a Okinawan style karate instructor tell me about years ago he broke someone's jaw in a tournament. However there current karate tournaments are point style. I agree that TKD and Karate has gone downhill as far as good for fighting. I believe the majority of MT and Boxing Gyms are more hard core than Karate gyms; at least in my experience so better at fighting. I train in Shidokan so our Karate is close to MMA although we separate the bare knucke karate, MT and grapping instead of combining like MMA. So Shidokan is more modernized with current reality of self defense and competion than most other karate disiplines.
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