Tameshigiri - Slow Motion

Outstanding Slow Motion Sword Cuts

Tomato



Plastic Bottle



Egg

UFC to buy Pride

from ESPN.com

"The majority owners of Ultimate Fighting Championship have agreed to buy their biggest mixed martial arts rival, Pride Fighting Championships, in a deal that will establish megafights among the outfits' titleholders and possibly attract huge pay-per-view audiences."

"This is really going to change the face of MMA," Lorenzo Fertitta said. "Literally creating a sport that could be as big around the world as soccer. I liken it somewhat to when the NFC and AFC came together to create the NFL."

You only need to look at the huge size and success of WWE professional wrestling to see that this will eventually be mass market and big - and this is real :)

Defend against a Haymaker

Glenn Zwiers show us how to defend against a common hand strike. He's a Aussie and produces nice simple clear instructional material.

Bruce Lee Foundation Website

Ok - I promise I am not going to turn this into a Bruce Lee site, but I stumbled across the Bruce Lee Foundation Website

It is worth having a look at, not for the content, but purely as an example of a website where the design really reflects its purpose. It is all built using Macromedia Flash which has it's good and bad, and I wouldn't encourage everyone to go this far. However it has a feel to it which is simple powerful and meaningful - All in all a nice site. Visually appealing and nice to use.

"Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless, like water. Now put water into a cup, it becomes a cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes a bottle. You put it into a teapot, it becomes a teapot. Now water can flow, or it can crash. Be water my friend."

Avoid the Hard Bone

In Bruce Lee's Book, Striking Thoughts: Bruce Lee's Wisdom for Daily Living, he tell a parable about a butcher (page 107). In this story, this butcher uses the same knife for his entire meat cutting career. That's right; the knife lasts just about forever, it never loses its fine edge. One day, someone asked him how he kept such a fine edge all those years.

He responded: 'I follow the line of the hard bone. I do not attempt to cut it, nor to smash it, nor to contend with it in any way. That would only destroy my knife.'

UFC 69 Full Card Announced

UFC® ANNOUNCES FULL CARD FOR UFC 69

ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP®
ANNOUNCES FULL CARD
FOR UFC 69: SHOOTOUT

GEORGES ST-PIERRE vs. MATT SERRA
DIEGO SANCHEZ vs. JOSH KOSCHECK
ROGER HUERTA vs. LEONARD GARCIA
MIKE SWICK vs. YUSHIN OKAMI
ALAN BELCHER vs. KENDALL GROVE
BRAD IMES vs. HEATH HERRING
THALES LEITES vs. PETE SELL
MARCUS DAVIS vs. PETE SPRATT
JOSH HAYNES vs. LUKE CUMMO

SATURDAY, APRIL 7"

Defense against a Right Cross

Nice Technique blow by blow from Combat Centres Australia (features Si-Bak Alfredo DelBrocco).

Defense against a Right Cross

One of the interesting things about this is that if you remove the uniforms and the description and any reference to Wing Chun - it could be almost any art.

Refined street technique which is simple and functional is universal :)

Concrete Block loses

More from the don't try this at home section.

I find it fascinating watching people break things



Particularly graceful

Vitale Wins

"Falaniko Vitale defeated Mavrick "Soul Collector" Harvey with a controversial first-round TKO and Wesley "Cabbage" Correira lost a grinding match to Texas fighter Chris "Monster" Marez last night at X-1 World Events' Xtreme Fighter 2 at Blaisdell Arena.

A crowd of more than 3,000 watched as Vitale shrugged off a vicious kick to the head and wrestled Harvey to the canvas. Vitale then maneuvered onto Harvey's back, where he delivered nearly a dozen blows before the match was called."

excerpt

MMA Clipshow

Interesting variety of finishes



from savage to elegant

China MMA: Bernstein (USA) vs Haomiao (China)

Good MMA fight from Beijing - minimal western hype :)

All Martial Arts are Mixed

Traditional, Freestyle, Classical, Mixed - what does it all mean?

The Martial Arts are fundamentally about shaping the individual to fulfil their potential physically and mentally. So why would you keep doing the same thing over and over again if you had new information or techniques that you make you better.

I postulate that all Martial Arts are fundamentally mixed - they draw inspiration and innovation from each other and observation. All they styles I have looked at build upon others and have junctions in their history where they adopted new things or changed what they did based upon other styles or individuals (or animals for that matter).

Now before I hear the arguments their in nothing wrong with branding a style, codifying and standarising a curriculum or mandating that students follow this. This is a critical part of the instructional process and is every instructors/sifu/masters right.

But we could all benefit from an open mind regarding each others brands/terms/logos and consider them for what they are. Every individual has the responsibility to do their best and find out what is best for them. Obviously if they go to an instructor for instruction they should accept instruction within the boundaries set for them.

Where a lot of Arts vary is the style of the instructional process. Many stick to a standarised curriculum until you attain a certain rank then you are encouraged to express you individuality. This is to give you repeatable fundamentals as a strong basis. Other arts encourage experimentation and flexibility from day one, but even these have the instructors fundamentals to draw upon.

Every man and his dog quotes Bruce Lee, and I can't resist - his philosophy is profound and intelligent but you need do dig beneath the one line quotes to get the real sense.

"Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it."

"Accept what is useful, reject what is not."

"Learn the principle, abide by the principle, and dissolve the principle. In short, enter a mold without being caged in it. Obey the principle without being bound by it. LEARN, MASTER AND ACHIEVE!!!"

All Arts have and encourage these basic characteristics, often in different ways. We just need to investigate and inform ourselves before we judge.

Plyometric Training for Speed and Power

One of the keys to MMA success is conditioning - technique will only get you so far. But conditioning is much more than just pushups and crunches - the way you do them is just as important and subtle changes can make all the difference to what you can do with your body. Are your pushups building strength, endurance or power.

excerpt below from an article on bodybuilding.com - it discusses plyometrics - modern science to get fast twitch muscle fibres strong so you can punch and kick FAST and HARD - worth a read

"It hardly takes much convincing to conclude that having blinding speed of punches or bone-cracking power in kicks are the most desirable assets for Martial Artists to possess.

Remember Miyamoto Musashi stated in his famous text "A Book of Five Rings" that one ultimate goal of the warrior is to learn to end the fight with a single blow! That's exactly where speed and power come in!"

In striking competitions it is often just one blow that turns the tide or wins the fight.

MMA is for everyone

and before anyone asks it isn't just for the guys

MMA week

This weeks theme will focus on Mixed Martial Arts, linking to a few cool clips and some info.

Stickman Fighting Game

Ok this is a bit of a bonus. Flash games are playable in your browser and some of them are pretty cool. This one is sort of Tekken meets stick figure :)

Check it out

That post grading feeling

"One of the most amazing things about Aikido is the way it can take one scrawny person and change them into something that’s well, interesting, like they can take on the whole world, at least that’s how I felt after my first grading to white belt-a bit like walking on air out of the dojo."

excerpt from a great article

talks about Aikido but the feeling is the same in any Martial Arts.

There is always a lot of other people telling you how good it is for you but to experience it yourself is the highest benefit I feel.

Why children need Martial Arts

excerpt from a great post about the benefits of martial arts for kids.

"In many oriental nations, martial arts are taught to school children how P.E. is a part of our children's school day. If we would make the shift from general P.E. to a martial arts curriculum, we would be giving our children all the benefits of a general P.E. class and so much more. Here's why:

General P.E. classes aim to teach many different skills that promote physical fitness and a healthy lifestyle. Along with this important life skill, P.E. also aims to teach cooperation, taking turns and following rules among other social skills. Martial arts teach all of these and more.
It's obvious that martial arts are a great form of physical fitness just as the activities in P.E. are, but martial arts have an advantage. Martial arts are exercises that children, adolescents, adults and even older adults can practice regularly - it is an activity that can continue through life. Unlike "pickle ball" or the "shuttle run", school children won't outgrow the ability or desire to practice martial arts as they get older. It is a lifestyle rather than an exercise.

The social skills taught in P.E. can also be enhanced through martial arts. Because of the nature of martial arts, people often find that practicing martial arts requires concentration and focus and these skills carry over to other parts of life as well - including school work and, later, jobs and family. Additionally, martial arts tend to focus on respect (both for self and others) which is a great asset for any school child and will give the child the skills needed to cooperate, take turns and follow rules appropriately.

Some people worry that teaching martial arts in schools will foster a sense of violence and give bullies the skills they need to continue harming others. Martial arts do the opposite, however. A common characteristic of bullies is that they lack impulse control and also don't know how to manage their anger. Martial arts can solve for that because it helps reduce stress, it improves concentration and control and it teaches respect of others. In this sense, it also helps children who are bullied because it gives them the confidence they need to combat bullying before it even starts.

Just think about the change in society if everyone had martial arts as part of their daily lives. We'd be more physically fit, but we'd also have a greater sense of respect towards one another as well."

Martial arts helping kids avoid school violence

Great article in the Bermuda Sun

on the positive influence Martial Arts can have for kids, excerpts follow

"School violence has always been an enormous problem and there are no easy solutions to combat this dilemma. The fact of the matter is one solution may work with one child and be detrimental to another. Every child has different emotional needs and dreams. That's why this problem is so massive and needs everyone in our community to help curve this negative behavioural problem."

"Parents are the first lines of defence. Ensure that you are actively finding your children positive activities to do and make sure the organization is a positive source and role model for your child."

This is critical - parents need to make the effort to ensure that the organisation is appropriate and that the child (and parent) as comfortable and standards are upheld.

"Martial art programmes teach children to be more disciplined and focused. These two attributes alone will assist parents to shape their children to be more goals oriented."

"The martial art classes also teach students to avoid violence and further more how to identify it before it is too late. Bullying is a huge problem in schools and martial arts provide the willpower to teach children to be more confident and to look a potential bully in the eye and identify their traits and avoid them. Confidence is a huge trait our children need to have in order to avoid peer pressure and to tell their friends no when it will involve a violent act or bullying. In addition, martial arts also teach self pride. If our children are proud of themselves they will not need to depend on someone else to make them feel good about themselves. In other words, they don't need to prove who they are to anyone. Being different is good and acceptable."

"Also, let us not forget respect for others. It is very important that our children learn respect for their parents, grandparents, teachers, friends and themselves. Martial arts are a perfect parenting partner to help raise awesome children who ultimately will be our future leaders."

Amen

UK to ban Samurai Swords

from the UK Telegraph

"The sale of imitation samurai swords could be banned by the end of the year, the Home Office announced today. Importing or hiring the weapons could also be made illegal following a string of samurai sword attacks in recent years.

Breaching the ban, which is targeted at cheap imitation samurai swords rather than the more expensive genuine collectors' items made by licensed swordsmiths in Japan, would result in up to six months in jail and a £5,000 fine."

They cite a number of cases where some nutjob with a replica sword starts brandishing it and freaking people out - so fair enough, find a way to stop any looney on the street using one.

"At present there are 17 weapons, including knuckle-dusters and batons, on the Offensive Weapons Order. The exemptions would be for groups such as the To-ken Society of Great Britain and the British Kendo Association."

but the rub is always how do you provide for legitimate usage - licensing or some club based restrictions.

Realistically I think the boat may have already sailed on this one - I image there are millions of replica swords floating around the UK so at best this will largely be a nuisance for martial artists. Fingers crossed down under authorities don't jump on the bandwagon - there have been a few similar cases here.

Amazing Monkey Style demo

I am continually fascinated by the power of martial arts to develop the human potential. It is a path to help people do amazing things.

As you transcend the punch/kick stage and develop inside and out it becomes art - the real basis of "martial art".

Making it Personal - with a Coconut

Why do people study the Martial Arts?

I think this has part of the answer :)

About OZ Combat

Welcome to OZ Combat, an Australian Martial Arts Directory. Let me clarify - there are some great Martial Arts publications in Australia and some great martial arts websites, but for a long time now I haven't found what I really was looking for.

OZ Combat is a steady stream of the best online martial arts news and information. It has a slight Australian bent but brings you the best the Internet has to offer worldwide.

The goal is to serve and educate the Australian Martial Arts community.

I hope you enjoy :)