.... bantam rooster fighting. Particularly from my dad, actually. He was watching a sparring match with me and commented, "gee, they look like a bunch of bantams. No arms, just feet." And at first I thought Dad was just being silly (he grew up on a farm and we used to have a few bantams running amok on the property so I knew what he was talking about). Yet after watching a few more matches on dartfish, then heading over to Youtube to find bantam rooster fights... it really DOES have similarities. Both face off crowing/doing kihaps. Both jump up in the air to take headshots at each other with their feet. Both attack quickly, then break apart to size each other up before going in again. Injuries happen in both. Your thoughts? * note: I'm not condoning rooster fighting in any way. I am simply making an observation.
Heh, most of the people I spar with at Tae Kwan Do solely do kicks. The keep their opponents from coming to close with front or side kicks, and try to score with round kicks as well. Very few have the habit of punching.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRTUuo68iSo"]Taekwondo Sparring - Feinting - YouTube[/ame] Watch 0:35-0:38. That's seriously the only time I've ever seen punching being instructed for point-scoring (and personally I really like the technique but that may be because I like to get in close and stay close since I get put against taller people most of the time).
man, that audience looks like a bunch of space cadets this is what i was refering to: http://www.fightlinker.com/human-cockfighting
He means this sort of thing -- [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D99A_595luA&feature=related"]ITF tournament highlights - YouTube[/ame] ie iTF style.
Ah I see. So is there absolutely no punching in WTF at all? I thought you could throw punches to the torso in WTF?
i didnt even know what a "bantam" was (even though i raised fighting chickins as a kid) so when they say Bantam weight for boxing or so , that means chickin wieght? lol i always did think that TKD sparring looks like chickin fighting or an ostrich shodown. even though face punches are allowed, Kyokushin and ITF for example remind me of chickin fighting too. WTF at least does torso punching, but theres gonna be more kicks in the olympic sparring side. the combative self defense side does alot more punching, kneeing, elbow, headbutt etc.
Haha I always wondered about that. See and that's what I like to do; WTF torso punching. I've had sparring partners come at me with kicks but they'd almost always leave their torsos unguarded. Hence why I like to throw punches. Easy targets. And though they're only 1 point each, each point adds up.... I don't bother with throwing punches to the head. I'm generally too short to get a good swing, anyway (and it sounds like WTF won't allow that sort of thing). I still leave my hands up when I go into a sparring practice match, though. Makes it easier to fend off kicks to the head and side. At least that's how I approach sparring for now. Maybe my style and technique will change with more training. Heh, it does give that impression, doesn't it? At least a little. Anyway, it would be cooler if each weight class had some sort of animal attached to it. I mean "heavyweight" doesn't sound nearly as cool as "bantam weight". "Heavyweight" in my mind first translates to "the fatter fighters". Then I think of really burly fighters that can knock a building over with their hits.
sometimes for WTF we do "TKD Smokers" tournaments where face punches are allowed as well as sweeps and takedowns. thats the only instance i can think of for WTF
This is the problem for most of the MA styles. They like to test their skill against their own style only. There is no question that a boxer is good in punching, a TKD guy is good in kicking, an eagle craw or Aikido guy is good in locking, and a SC or Judo guy is good in throwing. IMO, that's only the beginner level training. In the intermediate level and advantage level training, the integration of kick, punch, lock, and throw is important. Unfortunately such integration style just doesn’t exist on this planet. That's why the cross training is important. But cross training still does not help you the integration part. A new style that has perfect integration of kick, punch, lock, throw, and ground game will be need in our generation. So far the MMA is moving toward this direction. The reason is simple; the true integration MA system does not exist before our generation and we need to create it in our generation. A TKD guy will feel comfortable in their kicking range. A boxer will feel comfortable in their striking range. A SC or Judo guy will feel comfortable in their clinching range. It's the other range that they may not feel comfortable with. The question is "should we try to train in such a way that we'll feel comfortable in all ranges?"
I think it did exist and we lost it when Okinawan Karate moved to Japanese Karate and the residual Okinawan styles followed it onto the tournament scene. Mitch
