Last Updated on March 24, 2013.
Self-Defense At The Highest Level
By: Thad Campbell – TSMMA Feasterville
When the UFC debuted in 1993 it was essentially a marketing tool for Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. The Gracie family were the initial owners of the league and it was Royce Gracie who won three of the first four events (an injury costing him his shot at UFC 3).
Royce Gracie Wins UFC 1 Using Self-Defense Style of Gracie Jiu Jitsu
Now over 200 events in, the UFC continues to be the place to see which Martial Arts techniques work the best in a real situation. While there are some rules that don’t exist in a street self-defense situation, it is the closest we can come without being in a real fight.
It has been interesting to watch the evolution of the sport in that time. It was easy to see in UFC 1 how Gracie’s knowledge of Jiu-Jitsu allowed him to take down more talented strikers and submit them, using techniques which they had never seen, let alone practiced. Over the last twenty years we have seen a steady decline in the ratio of jiu-jitsu used successfully in the UFC, at the same time seeing kickboxing play a much bigger role in determining the winner.
Jake Ellengerger Uses Cross, Hook, Cross Kickboxing Combo To Win Via KO
The UFC gives out bonuses to it’s fighters in every event. The four “of the Night Bonuses” are for the two fighters who put on the best fight as well as the best knockout of the night and the best submission of the night. For the second time in a row there was no submission of the night.
“It highlights the importance of kickboxing as a self-defense tool.”
What does this mean to you as a training Martial Artist. Someone with a rudimentary understanding of submissions can defend submission attempts. Someone with a high level of kickboxing will still get knocked out by a similarly trained fighter! It highlights the importance of kickboxing as a self-defense tool. The Gracie’s are famous for claiming a trained Jiu-Jitsu fighter doesn’t need to know much about striking to survive a self-defense situation, but with the proliferation of MMA in the mainstream, more and more people are gaining a basic understanding of the techniques involved.
What separates TSMMA from any other Martial Arts school is our expert instruction of both of these facets of MMA, grappling and kickboxing. Our kickboxing instruction is unparalleled and our grappling curriculum has led to literally dozens of Elite Division Grappling Champions, including our own Joshu Craig Alexander here in Feasterville. Between Joshu and I we have gone 9-1 in Amateur Kickboxing Competition (you’ll have to do research to find out who the loss belongs to) and of course I competed in Chuck Norris’ World Combat League, kickboxing against the likes of World Muay Thai Champion and UFC competitor Anthony Njokuani and undefeated 19-0 professional boxer Abraham Han.
Our instruction will take you to the highest levels of both these arts!
UFC 158 GSP V. Nick Diaz
UFC 158 featured a long awaited matchup between long time Welterweight Champion George St-Pierre and much traveled Nick Diaz. Diaz has been agitating for this fight for a couple years and despite losing his title eliminator a year ago to Carlos Condit, still talked his way into the fight. Diaz is known for being less than reliable and it may have been the fear of him not showing up that led to a fight card with two more premier Welterweight match ups. Four other great fighters ready to fight just in case they needed to replace Diaz.
George St-Pierre Uses Superior Kickboxing Technique To Defend Title
That didn’t turn out to be the case as Diaz made it to the cage and even put up a serviceable fight, but still not enough to win even a single round from St-Pierre. The champion dominated all but a few seconds of the 25 minute bout using superior kickboxing and a great ability to control where the fight happened. It was his superior movement, an important part of kickboxing training, that ultimately earned him the victory.
Earlier in the night there were a number of fights that highlighted the importance of using kickboxing techniques to secure victory. Our aim is to highlight those techniques and show you how they were used. The idea of kickboxing corner is not to demonstrate how to do the techniques. You won’t learn to use the techniques these fighters used in 15 classes, let alone one fifteen minute video, but we do want to show you how important an understanding of kickboxing is at the highest level of Martial Arts.
Hope you enjoy this edition of Tiger Schulmann’s Kickboxing Corner.
