Martial Arts fans/practitioners?
 

Hello.
Who here watches K-1, UFC, or competes or trains in any martial art style?
(Anyone who says they are self-trained will be laughed at).
;-)

lk

I end up watching them after the fact (UFC mostly, a little K1).

Boxed for 4 years. Most people I know who watch seem to have some background.

I watch all of the major organizations (UFC, PRIDE, and K-1) but I do not have any martial arts background. It's a little surprising to me how it hasn't evolved beyond a perceived "blood bath in a cage" in the US. Save for your Tank Abbotts, most MMA fighters are world class athletes and many are former Olympians. Guys like Randy Couture and Fedor Emelianenko are models for what the sport should be: well-roundedness, athleticism, and class.

Big fan, and amatuer martial artist that is way out of practice for the last year or so. Used to fight it out with my friends in college fairly often, took a bit of BJJ, and can punch a little bit too. Hate getting hit hard, though...

One of my close friends is the owner/producer of King of the Cage and Gladiator Challenge. I will watch MMA events from time to time but I don't go out of my way to do so.

A few years ago I used to practice Tsun Jo wing Chung Kung Fu,
I also trained in grappling.

I loved both of them so much, really wish I never stopped.
I was in great shape doing both then I moved accross country and stopped.

The 2 really complimented each other well.
The Wing Chung is a very brutal fighting style absolutly no sport to it, it is a fighting style , no sport to it.
Where as Grappling is brutal in it s own right but it is very much considered a sport medium as well.
You see it a lot in Ultimate fighting.

Wing chung is the foot work and grappling is all ground fighting.
So you get the best of both worlds.

My Sijo was brilliant (and I am sure he still is) he always started class doing heavy calistetics and then moved into stations and classes.

Even the weakest person could learn how to do this martial art because it really relies on the programming of your nervous system, everything is fast direct combat moving forward and fighting from your center.
Basicly every movement is also a defensive movement as well as offensive so you are always blocking as you are striking.

In short I loved it and miss it very much, I just can't imagine anyone else out here who could match the program that he provided for us.

Practiced for a couple of years in Sho-Rin-Ryu. Got up to a greenbelt.

Did it because my kids started and it was about the only exercise that this 39 year old body could do. ;)

Havn't been officially been doing it for about a year, but try to keep it up at home every now and then.

Ive been doing Muay Thai for just a bit over a year. We also do a class which is straight boxing, which i think i enjoy the most. No, i havent really seen that much televised MA.
Chauncey, yeah i find Wing Chung interesting aswell. One of my good friends is a full time practitioner and always shows me very interesting concepts.

Wado-Ryu (a "soft" style of Karate) has been a big part of my life for about 26 years now, and I've been semi-active in Judo for about fifteen years too. With the family and career, I haven't had time for Judo much in the last few years, but still train several days a week in Wado.

I used to follow the Pancrase, K-1, UFC, and others quite often. I still enjoy them when I catch them on somewhere, but don't follow them near as much as I used to.

I did Judo for 6 years when I was younger. I outgrew my teacher and was having trouble finding a new one so that sort of faded away. I'm sort of looking into starting a new martial art now but I'm not sure what I want to do.

Learn to grapple--learn fighting. I like to look at martial arts as one big field--I don't want to stick to one art and then move on. There is always something new, and it all fits together like one big puzzle. Most people now-a-days can look past the mystical part and get into it for the health/competition/and *occasionally* practical benefits. Honestly, though, a sprinter is gonna come out more unscathed than a blackbelt in any discipline.

Grappling includes takedowns!!
 

I've wrestled for 10 years (freestyle, now submission) and currently train with a club that provides open training space for martial artists of all backgrounds.

Its cool that I get to meet and train with people from different types of karate, kung fu, arnis, etc..

I'm always amazed at how similar all of these different martial arts really are.

Only two things bother me:
1. No one respects the stand up skills of a wrestler (huge mistake!)

2. Certain grappling styles start beginners on their knees during sparing and drilling (the biggest mistake you could ever make!!)

Anyways, I say get out and find a style that excites you, 'cause in the end we all end up learning the same things.