Shotokan the combat art

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Shotokan the combat art

The art of shotokan karate-do can be a lot of different things to a lot of different people, it offers many options and various different pathways to fitness, self confidence, well being and self defence that can be taken by its participants and is an art that can be studied with never waning interest for a whole life time or more.

You don’t have to be a fighter to study shotokan and it doesn’t matter whether you are young or old, man or woman, shotokan the art offers something for everyone.

For those with fire in their veins and an indomitable competitive spirit the skill set that shotokan provides are great attributes not only for self defence but for ring and mat sports as well.

Some martial artists who step into the ring or on a mat abandon the striking principles and fundamentals of their martial art and take up kickboxing or Muay Thai.

Is this because their coach has ordered them to do so, or is it that their previous martial art skills cannot be transferred to the ring or mat, I’m not sure about this one best decided by the reader.

As we have seen with karate athletes like Lyoto Machida, Chinzo Machida and Leon Walters, stepping into a ring or mat doesn’t require that you have to completely overhaul your shotokan skills.

Shotokan the combat art is very transferable to ring and mat sports or self defence with minimal adjustment, these athletes have taken their shotokan skills coupled them with a bit of ring craft and the result is there for everyone to see for themselves.

For those who are familiar with shotokan one look at Lyoto, Chinzo, Leon and others in action and you instantly recognize that they are shotokan karateka.

A lot of people who think traditional martial arts are a thing of the past will be quick to step up and to point out that Lyoto for example in the UFC is also a black belt in Brazilian jujitsu, while this is true and he does have the grappling element added to his stand up striking game which is karate.

The spine of his strategy and tactics in the UFC is shotokan karate and definitely not Brazilian jujitsu, it’s his shotokan karate that does the setting up and knocking out not his Brazilian jujitsu, coupled with the excellent footwork found in shotokan his elusiveness has made him the least hit UFC competitor.

The trend in the UFC in the last few years is that most athletes learn grappling so they can deal with it if their opponent is trying to take them to the ground or they happen to allow themselves to be put down on the mat.

Strikers have dominated the UFC in the last few years not grapplers, strikers like Machida don’t have a grappling strategy where they want to take their opponent to the ground and finish him off there using BJJ but these strikers certainly know what to do if they end up there.

The strikers in the UFC know enough grappling to keep themselves standing where they would prefer to be and finish the opponent of with strikes.

The techniques found in shotokan encompass all of the techniques found in Muay Thai (MT) and kickboxing (KB), so shotokan can be an alternative to both MT and KB.

Below Lyoto Machida, Chinzo Machida and Leon Walters show us how shotokan skills work in UFC, MMA and K1 kickboxing.

SHOTOKAN IN UFC

UFC - Full Length Documentry - Lyoto Machida Career Fights - UFC