Bujinkan documentary of Anthony Netzler plus MMA fight

Two words - Morio Higaonna.

 

Doesn't this guy also study the avoidance techniques etc: making all the knife arguments pointless? I could see the MMA just being part of his training.

 

I find both Judo players and MMA guys are very good sportsman and all around nice guys.

When it comes to weapons and violence you need to be more vicious and merciless than your opponent. Most people aren't like this so it takes a special kind of conditioning to become the mindless killer.

I believe the mind set and conditioning of good sportsmanship will put most athletes at a disadvantage in a situation where the rules fly out the window.

 

There's a Judo club around my parts that has earned quite a bit of fame and notoriety over the years.
They used to have summer camps where the kids where shot at with paintball guns, forced to drink glass of waters with tics in them, and were buried up to their necks in sand whilst the leaders poured gas on the ground around them and set it on fire. A year later, one of the leaders of the camp was sentenced to four years in prison for manslaughter when he and two others stomped a guy to death for having the audacity of telling them to stop urinating at the front door of an apartment building.

A year after that, I arrested one of their coaches (at least I think he was) for stealing. He did so in the company of his wife, his brother-in-law and his adult, mentally challenged wheelchair-bound son.

 

I think we can safely assume whatever the art studied they'd be nutters.

 

I agree. I think a big part of the problem is that people are teaching "defenses" in the first place. Memorizing one-steps or rotations comes to mind for me.
I'm also with you in that awareness, avoidance, and mindset are the first thing, since the serious fights usually aren't the ones you're warned about.

I'm speaking from a purely technical standpoint. I have almost no experience with actual knife fights. I've come within a gnat's ass of getting into it with a homeless person with a boxcutter and a few times with nuts friends, and my partner has stabbed me twice (once with a pen, I don't think he thought he could really hurt me with it, and another time just goofing around and having an accident), but never any actual physical conflict.
I just know that it's hard to lay knife to them without getting disarmed and mangled. That's a vital component, and frankly it's the hardest one to develop. The willingness to throw down when it's time to either is there or not, and the mind and eyes to cover your arcs is easily learned, if difficult to maintain.

 

Completely disagree. The only way you could be better conditioned than by sparring would be to actually practice fighting with no rules. Or practicing decapitating prisioners like they used to do in Japan. If you can't then hard sparring and grappling is your best alternitive for building a strong will.

Geoff Thompson's a nice guy, and I'm sure very sporting when he spars/rolls, but I shudder to think how vicious he could be in a life or death situation.

The conditioning, both physical and mental, of an althete is a huge advatage in a situation where the rules could fly out of the window. See the cross dressing MMA fighters who were attacked recently, the Judo BB who tackled an armed robber and Roger Hueta who's recent street fight got a lot of publicity. I'm at work but the links are easy to find if you haven't seen them.

 

Most sportive martial artists are very friendly and considerate during training because of what they can do. Moreso when dealing with strangers and the mostly defenseless.

This doesn't mean they won't take it home with them if the threat of the submission isn't enough. During competition and in fights, the onus is on the reciever to let the attacker know when they're done fighting, and that's a rule most I've met adhere to. Most of the people at my school, myself included, have had occasion to make good on that too, so I know it's not just an idea. They'll really hurt someone if it's called for.

 

There are other methods which can do that just as well. But a lot of people in the Bujinkan don't like them either.

 

Can't believe I missed this thread.

 

Not if it was announced as a Bujinkan 10th degree. That's what you get if anyone and their dog can get a 10th dan just for showing up. If being a 10th dan and getting your ass kicked disparages the art, then the one handing them out like candy is the cause of the embarassment.

8 - 8 is better than most people here would achieve in a ring probably.