#nak muay things

[thrvshmonkey]

Going to fight again soon. I need to. I’m significantly more disciplined in all aspects of my life when I have a fight lined up.

[vasyandii]

PHAYVANH "NAK" SOTSVAHN 🐉🌺

Old Introduction

Nak Reference Sheet

Nak IRL Gear References

NSFW Alphabet (TREAD LIGHTLY)

GENERAL INFORMATION

Status: ACTIVE

Year of Birth: 2000 (Aged 20)

Day of Birth: September 13

Place of Birth: Vientiane, Laos

Race: Lao

Nationality: Laotian

Languages Spoken: Lao, Thai, English, Russian

Occupation: Tactical Assault Operator, Close Quarters Combat Specialist (Chimera Member)

Affiliation(s):

Golden Triangle Cartel (Formerly)

Lao People's Armed Forces (Formerly; Dishonorably Discharged)

Allegiance

Chimera

Physical Appearance

Eye Colour: Brown

Hair Colour: Black

Height: 5’2”/159 cm

Build: Lean Muscular

Scars: None

Tattoos/ Markings: Large tattoos on left upper and Center of back

BIOGRAPHY

Born in Vientiane, Laos. Living the first 15 years of her life off her uncle's fortune, partaking in the trafficking of illicit narcotics at a young age. The two were close due to them being family, not having many friends due to her uncle's line of work.

Enlisted in the LPAF by her Uncle's wishes to "Carve a better path for herself". Was not liked by her peers for her cocky attitude, overly aggressive tactics, and habit of prioritizing her personal safety over the team.

After 3 years of service in the LPAF, excelling in Close Quarters Combat, dishonorably discharged due to repeated physical altercations among teammates. Spent the next 6 months back to working for Kapano Vang despite his reluctance, eventually fleeing to Urzikstan after an argument with Vang about difference in beliefs, multiple people injured; their relationship has been strained ever since.

During her time her path crossed with Nikolai, in search of work she signed a long term contract with Chimera, with one year of service.

Shown to exhibit signs of social anxiety and difficulty forming close relationships around people her age. Inherited Kapano Vang's short temper in combat, though more relaxed outside of it.

Developed a bond with Syd, seeing her as an older sister. Often paired up with Sebastian Krueger in order to keep them both in line.

Skills and Abilities

Fighting Style: Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

Weapon(s): Whatever is heavy

Distinct Weapon: SCAR FN PDW, Dual Push Blades

Shortcomings: Overly aggressive tactics, focus on personal safety, short temper

Family

Familial Status: Adoptive Niece

Siblings: None

Mother: Adoptive sister of Kapano Vang; (whereabouts unknown, records not found/withheld)

Uncle: Kapano “Naga” Vang; (Former warlord drug trafficker, formerly in Warsaw Pact)

Relationship with Family: Nak still idolizes her uncle to an extent, but the more that she's out in the world,the more she realizes that he isn't a good person. Nak’s mother wasn’t present in life. Her uncle took her in after mother wasn’t able to care for her. Naga trained her at a very young age; he thought it was best if she was strong in their lifestyle.

Pet: Cat person, never was allowed to have pets but she would throw scraps of food to strays.

PERSONALITY

Myers Briggs Type: ESTJ-T

Nak is an extroverted introvert, she likes and enjoys talking to people, however it drains her energy quickly since she's not used to talking to people in such a casual manner. Things like talking business she’s more used to.

Adaptable

A quick thinker, Nak is able to carry out missions by finding creative solutions to make sure her operations are successful. Outside of the battlefield her adaptability allows her to have better communication with people, even with her social anxiety.

Pragmatic

Nak strives to make the most effective solutions so it’s easier on her in the future. Her decision making skills ensure that she’ll survive in the field and outside of it.

Responsible

Living on her own, Nak is responsible, she can’t relax unless all her work is done beforehand. As she starts forming close relationships with people, she realizes that she likes taking care of people.

Negative Traits

Stubborn

Starting out Nak isn’t a very good teamplayer. She doesn’t like others telling her what to do or how to do things so she’s stubborn in a way that she’s adamant about what she wants but adaptable with what methods are needed.

Judgemental

Her formative years with Naga didn’t allow her to trust people, because of the Golden Triangle Cartel she has a habit of being overly critical of others.

Paranoid Perfectionist

Nak is self-demanding, she doesn’t take failure lightly. This leads to her paranoia of not being properly prepared. She becomes aggressive out of frustration if her ability isn’t to her liking.

TRIVIA

Nak is a shortened version of “phayanak” the mythical water serpent in Laos, it’s also the Lao pronunciation of “Naga” which is her Uncle’s name in the field.

Her face paint draws reference to how snake teeth are shown in Phayanak statues. There are multiple snake motifs in her design. Is the design practical? No, she just likes standing out in that way.

Nak cuts her own bangs (long blunt bangs) she doesn’t trust anyone with cutting them.

Has a lot of upper body and lower body strength; she can lift things heavier than her and calisthenics skills (handstands, full planches, etc.)

Often, most people's First impressions of her is that she's "Unsettling."

[melikedraw]

Something something I think gaolang and Kanohs rematch was useless and just made both characters feel... Idk

Especially gao, I feel like the fight really undermined his training like wdym kanoh wins with not much obvious damage on him? Excuse me? He's just walking off? Literally striking the same pose as he did before (sweeping his hair up out of his face)? Are you trying to make gao look like shit? Please, I get that kanoh is strong, and I'm not at all against him winning because, yea, he's really strong. But gaolang is made to seem so... Garbage. Idk how else to put this ok

Also, what does gao vs kanoh rematch bring to the table, let's be fr

-Does it show how gaolangs years of training up his fist helps him finally overcome the one obstacle he's been so focused on? Not really, no

-Does it have even a sliver of the hype that their original match did? No? Not at all?

The fight scene doesn't hit as hard, the was the fight is drawn doesn't look as dynamic, dramatic. It's not a match that gets my blood pumping, it doesn't look as good either, noticed gao and Kanoh's body proportions being off more often than in the first match, thought that's just visual, it shouldn't affect the match much. Though I can't say the match would be good if the art style was different. Because it wouldn't.

-Does it make kanoh feel like a "I had a sad flashback backstory that is shittier than gaolangs and therefore I get a power up" type bitch? Kinda, yea. Unfortunately

Y'all, it was literally like *insert flashback* and then kanoh dragon shots him. And wins. Um.

Oh don't even get me started on the unnecessary flashbacks. Kanoh? Okay, yea I guess we don't have his backstory, which means we were getting it sooner or later and I don't mind a backstory, but having kanoh just suddenly win right afterwards, damn idk man it feels forced, like a "I had a backstory, so immediately power up"

And I've already talked about why I hate gaolang's backstory, don't even make me repeat myself with that shit. What I didn't add in the linked post though, is actually lore inaccuracies. Like, that post was about visual inconsistencies, but oh, there's more. In ashura, gaolang was scouted by Rama's dad at the age of 5 after showing a lot of promise as a Muay Thai practitioner. In omega, he's at least a preteen, looking around 10-13y/o, and alright the top nak Muay before Rama's dad found him and hired him. Did Sandro forget? Probably

-Does it make gaolang feel a LOT weaker than in the original match? HELL yea.

At least in that first match, kanoh felt FEAR. He felt threatened, because gaolang is STRONG. And gaolang SHOULD be strong, he IS strong, and kanoh knows that, and is intimated by that. That's good, even if gaolang lost, kanoh gained the experience of fear, the feeling that he's lacking, which pushed him to improve, be BETTER. It led Kanoh to become stronger and less cocky, which is hella awesome. And gaolang isn't undermined because yea, he is strong, even the man who he lost to knows it

That first match LED to something, it made both of them strive to improve, something that the rematch absolutely didn't do. It felt like a punch in the gut like "Kanohs still stronger lmao" I don't even mind of kanoh was still stronger, let him win, if he deserves it. But the rushed fight made it feel like their rubbing gaos loss in your face

Rematch? Kanoh beat gaolang. Again. Yea. What else is there to it? Hmmm well gaolangs years of training up his fists, at least they didn't break again. But what else? It doesn't feel to me like he's improved per say, and kanoh doesn't seem to be having a harder time with him. Kanoh literally takes SO MANY elbows/hits to the FACE and you're telling me, he isn't even slightly phased? Their first match had gaolangs strikes making him blank OUT. Gaolangs obviously had to have gotten stronger right. So why are his hits having near to 0 effect? It's not like kanoh can just stop his brain from shaking, that's not really a thing you can train. Like, how do you train your nerves or whatever right? A concussion is a concussion. A blackout is a blackout. Even if Kanohs gotten a hell lot better at tanking hits, blows straight to the face? And all he gets is a nosebleed? No hindrence to his movements whatsoever? I'm calling bullshit. Ok so kanoh does actually "reel" a bit at the start after getting hit in the face (as he should) but after that one frame where he was like that, it's not like he was reacting any slower to gaos attacks, still able to counter and stuff like that, which makes me question how gaolangs strikes are supposed to be stronger, when obviously they aren't quite doing it. They don't "hit as hard" as they did before

There was literally one of those x-ray frames where you'd see inside of the characters head and like KANOHS FREAKING BRAIN WAS SHAKING. But that doesn't do anything much, kanoh was still able to block gaos next elbow, and kanoh wasn't even reeling from that one.

In their first match, I can't remember who but someone said something along the lines of "kanoh is taking hits from the world's best striker, his bones could break any moment" coupled with gaolang's strikes obviously having improved, making his hits (supposedly) even stronger than when he first fought kanoh, which means his strikes SHOULD be pretty fucking hard, and definitely doing DEEP damage, like I mean BONE deep, all over his body (yea, remember that one frame when they were talking about how Kanohs bones could shatter at any moment. His boneS PLURAL). Heck, I've seen other characters get multiple fractures and shit for LESS. Yes, kanoh is the strongest fang (allegedly), and obviously he's gonna be able to take one hell of a beating, but it's not like he has magical bones or something so??? How is he walking outta that arena with just a broke-ish arm that didn't even affect his performance in match because he was just spamming dragon shot?

Also I hate how gaolang isn't using kicks. BITCH. YOU'RE THE MUAY THAI TOP ONE??? FUCKING KICK YOU. YOU HAVE LEGS. USE EM.

That match made BOTH of them feel a lot less intimidating to me, and made gao seems like less of a threat. Plus I still don't get what it did for the plot, really. Did the plot move forward? If kanoh was to be crowned champ, it wouldn't need gaolang to be the fighter right? Sure it works because gao wants his rematch, but honestly, was that rematch good? The plot really didn't need those two to Duke it out and maybe it would've been better if they didn't because wow I can't take gaolang for real. That loss was embarrassing. Also the choreography and pacing of the match... Pheww...

The match was honestly such a nothing sandwich, which makes me sad because I love gaolang, and I love kanoh. Crazy how this match makes me feel ashamed for gaolang, like damn boy...

[lordmartiya]

I'm starting to wonder, am I the only Miraculous fanwriter to take advantage of how Nora and Felix have been (likely by accident) coded? I mean...

Nora Cesaire practices either Muay Thai or ita predecessor Muay Boran. She's wearing Pra Jiad armbands, typical of Muay practitioners, and insists to be called by her ring name, a fundamental part of Muay culture (in Thailand they often change their legal names to match). She is a Nak Muay... But outside my own stories I've seen that only once, in a Secret Santa to me.

Felix is an Eton student. I know that because he's wearing the uniform. Granted, he ditched the overcoat and top hat, but his outfit is still recognizable, he's English, and has the right money and age. I plan to use that, but I haven't seen that in a story yet.

Am I really the only one that noticed those things?

[princess-of-the-corner]

Just show the crew going to the occasional kickboxing class or something.

You just reminded me of another thing the show did that irks me as a martial arts buff: they coded Anansi as a Muay Thai practitioner completely by accident. The arm bands? They come from Muay Thai. The insistence on using her ring name? In Thailand a Nak Muay is likely to change their legal name to match. Said ring name being Anansi? You don't choose the ring name in Muay Thai, your teacher gives it to you and you can't change (most of) it, she was given the name by someone who thought they were clever. Her boisterousness? That's how a Nak Muay should be, a boisterous hero.

They coded her completely like a Nak Muay... And I know it was a complete accident, they just put together a lot of cool things that when put together any martial arts buff reads as proof she does Muay Thai.

I don't know enough about martial arts to know if other practices have similar things?

[quirkycombatants]

"Well, then you're already showing problems. You can throw muay thai kicks from a kickboxing stance, in fact it became popular for a while like thirty years ago when muay thai exploded onto the mixed martial arts scene, but you're going to have real problems."

"Namely, the reason why muay thai kicks are so powerful is because they move quickly in a very short distance. That's why nak muay take that upright, bouncing stance. They also need to be able to do kubi sumo to deal with clinches. Kickboxing uses a more grounded stance; that means that the kicks are slower and more telegraphed. You can mix the two but you'll never be as good as either if you don't fix the stance problem."

Only in martial arts did Noburu ever sound like he understood things. It was the single thing he knew a lot about.

"Muay thai also doesn't have much use for punches. Not only do they not give many points in that sport, the fist isn't made for punching anyway, and when you can use elbows and knees, it's more effective to use those."

"Anyway, let's step back a second. Show me your punching and kicking form."

" muy tai actually. But close. Learned when I was about... 17. In new york. It was rough for my first martial art- but at least I can use my legs and elbows more effectively. She said, streaching her legs as they made small pops.

" luckily for me, I'm a quick learner- trained for about 4 years when I had to skidaddle- was tracking somebody down and they moved locations- thought they went to Chicago. Was wrong, but spent two years there fine tuning my punches and kicks. "

[enniewritesathing]

The real question I haven't quite answered myself is -- when John talks about himself being a nak muay farang* (foreign Thai boxer), is he boastful? Humble? Humble brags? Little arrogant? Confident?

Maybe when he was growing up he was a little brattish. Get a big head about things until that big ass ego gets taken down a notch.

Now? Not so much. He knows not to underestimate, because it's happened to him too. Keeps his ego in check, but there's moments he's really feelin' it.

[realerecho]

How much is too much and how should structure be?

Hello,

I am a beginning yogi and at the same time, an avid Nak Muay (Thai Boxer).

I have stopped all weight lifting minus pull-ups in an attempt to structure my weeks around yoga and thai boxing, as I am bored lifting weights and yoga gives me all the stimulation and resistance I need.

My question/problem is, how should I structure? How much is too much? Is it bad to do challenging full body flows every other day? Should I find a routine that hits what I want (crow, dolphin, lots of chatarangas) and just stick with that?

I’d like the advice of some serious yogis that juggle multiple things. Please feel free to message me!!!!

submitted by /u/OpenelonmuskAI [link] [comments] from yoga https://ift.tt/3izJ432

[vasyandii]

Phayvanh "Nak" Sotsvahn 🐉

UPDATED INTRO!! (Old Ver.)

GENERAL INFORMATION

Status: ACTIVE

Year of Birth: 2000 (Aged 20)

Day of Birth: September 13

Place of Birth: Vientiane, Laos

Nationality: Laotian

Race: Lao

Languages Spoken: Lao, Thai, English, Russian

Occupation: Tactical Assault Operator, Close Quarters Combat Specialist (Chimera Member)

Affiliation(s):

-Golden Triangle Cartel (Formerly)

-Lao People's Armed Forces (Formerly; Dishonorably Discharged)

-Allegiance

-Chimera

Physical Appearance

Eye Colour: Brown

Hair Colour: Black

Height: 5’2”/159 cm

Build: Lean Muscular

Scars: None

Tattoos/ Markings: Large tattoos on left upper and Center of back

Biography

Born in Vientiane, Laos. Living the first 15 years of her life off her uncle's fortune, partaking in the trafficking of illicit narcotics at a young age. The two were close due to them being family, not having many friends due to her uncle's line of work. Enlisted in the LPAF by her Uncle's wishes to "Carve a better path for herself". Was not liked by her peers for her cocky attitude, overly aggressive tactics, and habit of prioritizing her personal safety over the team.

After 3 years of service in the LPAF, excelling in Close Quarters Combat, dishonorably discharged due to repeated physical altercations among teammates. Spent the next 6 months back to working for Kapano Vang despite his reluctance, eventually fleeing to Urzikstan after an argument with Vang about difference in beliefs, multiple people injured; their relationship has been strained ever since. During her time her path crossed with Nikolai, in search of work she signed a long term contract with Chimera, with one year of service.

Shown to exhibit signs of social anxiety and difficulty forming close relationships around people her age. Inherited Kapano Vang's short temper in combat, though more relaxed outside of it. Developed a bond with Syd, seeing her as an older sister. Often paired up with Sebastian Krueger in order to keep them both in line.

Skills and Abilities

Fighting Style: Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

Weapon(s): Whatever is heavy

Distinct Weapon: FN SCAR , Dual Push Blades

Shortcomings: Overly aggressive tactics, focus on personal safety, short temper

FAMILY

Familial Status: Adoptive Niece

Siblings: None

Mother: Adoptive sister of Kapano Vang (whereabouts unknown, records not found/withheld)

Uncle: Kapano “Naga” Vang; (Former warlord drug trafficker, formerly in Warsaw Pact)

Relationship with Family: Nak still idolizes her uncle to an extent, but the more that she's out in the world,the more she realizes that he isn't a good person. Nak’s mother wasn’t present in life. Her uncle took her in after mother wasn’t able to care for her. Naga trained her at a very young age; he thought it was best if she was strong in their lifestyle.

Pet: Cat person, never was allowed to have pets but she would throw scraps of food to strays.

PERSONALITY

Myers Briggs Type: ESTJ-T Nak is an extroverted introvert, she likes and enjoys talking to people, however it drains her energy quickly since she's not used to talking to people in such a casual manner. Things like talking business she’s more used to.

Adaptable: A quick thinker, Nak is able to carry out missions by finding creative solutions to make sure her operations are successful. Outside of the battlefield her adaptability allows her to have better communication with people, even with her social anxiety.

Pragmatic: Nak strives to make the most effective solutions so it’s easier on her in the future. Her decision making skills ensure that she’ll survive in the field and outside of it.

Responsible: Living on her own, Nak is responsible, she can’t relax unless all her work is done beforehand. As she starts forming close relationships with people, she realizes that she likes taking care of people.

Negative Traits

Stubborn: Starting out Nak isn’t a very good teamplayer. She doesn’t like others telling her what to do or how to do things so she’s stubborn in a way that she’s adamant about what she wants but adaptable with what methods are needed.

Judgemental: Her formative years with Naga didn’t allow her to trust people, because of the Golden Triangle Cartel she has a habit of being overly critical of others.

Paranoid Perfectionist: Nak is self-demanding, she doesn’t take failure lightly. This leads to her paranoia of not being properly prepared. She becomes aggressive out of frustration if her ability isn’t to her liking.

Favourites

Colour: Golden Yellow

Food: Fried eggs

Drink: Lemon iced Tea

Flower: Plumeria

Animal: Giant Anteaters

TRIVIA

Nak is a shortened version of “phayanak” the mythical water serpent in Laos, it’s also the Lao pronunciation of “Naga” which is her Uncle’s name on the field.

Her face paint draws reference to how snake teeth are shown in Phayanak statues. There are multiple snake motifs in her design. Is the design practical? No, she just likes standing out in that way.

Nak cuts her own bangs (long blunt bangs) she doesn’t trust anyone with cutting them.

Has a lot of upper body and lower body strength; she can lift things heavier than her and calisthenics skills (handstands, full planches, etc.)

Nak is significantly more patient to small children than adults because she can understand why they would do the things they do.

[chromacomaphoto]

Somebody Else's Recent Bangkok Film Work That I Really Like:

Can’t quite remember exactly how it happened but I found myself looking at a lot of my Bangkok film work on a Google images search. I also can’t recall the exact keywords that lead me there but the general gist of the situation is that I can never find enough, recent film work of Bangkok that appeals. There’s just not thatlarge a pool of it to draw from. Amongst my efforts, and probably using keywords like ‘Bangkok tri x’ I did however catch more than a fleeting glimpse of some really nice work with some recurring themes that was clearly well executed. It didn’t take long for me to spot that this work was probably all shot by the same person; there was a consistency to the eye involved. Funny how you can just sort of guess that for yourself if you look at enough of the work after a while.

This led me to find Doug Kim’s work which is currently shown HERE (select places and then 'Bangkok' as your starting place perhaps):

There’s more than one page of this lovely work so keep clicking through the page numbers at the bottom. I see he also has a lot of Thai stuff that is newer, in some cases just in recent months.

There’s a number of things that I would like to say drew me in. Firstly, the shots are of course really interesting and well done, secondly the tags of ‘Leica MP’, ‘Summicron’ and ‘Kodak Tri X’ in relation to Bangkok shooting revealed that this was a man after my own heart and obviously worthy of further investigation. I reached out to Doug and had some chats with him; he strikes me as being a really decent bloke. I would love to actually meet him one day. He’s currently based in Brooklyn, New Yawk (I believe) and is American Asian. I was interested in his take on Bangkok shooting.  The work shows some good street, a keen eye, beautiful young Thai femininity without the stereotypical bargirl clichés and some great off the beaten track forays into subjects such as poverty, youth, Thai boxing and well exposed nighttime shooting too. The variety of the work and the way in which he shot it made me certain that he must be resident here. I was most surprised to discover that this clearly isn’t the case. My surprise was rooted in the fact that I can’t see much of the tourist photo element in his photo essays at all really. Sure, there’s the odd clue in the form of a skytrain station shot here and there maybe if you wanted to be hyper-critical about it but it’s not like I never shoot up on those platforms as a big mango denizen myself now is it?

The suburbs over in Thonburi, the wandering, the little potential of the would-be ‘Nak Muay’ slugging it out on the pads, street vendors and their dogs, an occasional messy electrical overhead wiring shot….it all points to a more experienced eye of somebody looking beyond the immediately obvious and searching for more authentic detail of a less trite nature. I really appreciate all of Doug’s work. Turns out that Doug wasn’t perhaps completely updated on the best places for developing and so he opted to carry all his Tri X back to the States with him for developing instead. I’ve since pointed him in the direction of my ‘Ultimate Photographer’s Guide to Bangkok’ page (click banner at top of this page) so I think he’ll be even better equipped if there’s ever a round two. In fact, scrub that Doug…next time you are in Bangkok shooting, drop me a line and I’ll dev it for you myself!  

I was also wondering if perhaps Doug’s ethnicity gave him any advantage for wandering and shooting incognito in Bangkok. This was something of an interesting afterthought for me. I know of one or two British citizens here with Chinese heritage who basically walk around in full ‘stealth mode’ and are assumed to be local by the locals. Suffice to say, this is a feat that I will never be able to achieve. I have found other ways to put people at ease in any uncomfortable situations when Thai street shooting over the years I guess. It is certainly possible that if dressed to blend in and not carrying excessive luggage, an Asian-faced Westerner in Bangkok could have a different experience to somebody of another ethnicity. Looking at the ‘gotcha’ faces of Doug’s subjects on the shots where they just catch him in the act (sometimes he obviously intended for that to be the case I would say) I am trying to see if they are different to the faces that I get in my work. I might be imagining it but I can almost see there might be a discernible difference. It’s as though in addition to the ‘Why is he taking my photo, better smile and be cool in public’ quizzed Thai face that I sometimes get looking back at my in my own negatives….there’s also another debate going on in their heads maybe. ‘Is he a tourist or not?’ I might be projecting this or just completely imagining it but I find it interesting to compare nevertheless.

The other nice angle for me is that I personally recognize many of the places that Doug shot and have frequented them myself on occasion. It’s really cool to see how somebody else would see it walking along with a film camera of the type that I might also carry around there on any given day. This is easy to do in a city like New York where there is just so much great film work from talented people upon which to base your compare ideas but the corpus of film work in the City of Angels that we find is so much less extensive. Nice that Doug has been able to add to it and show the way for others.

My favourite of all Doug’s work on his blog is probably the floating market series as it should have all come out looking like a stereotypical touristy nightmare but he makes it look more like classical ‘National Geographic’ of yesteryear. It’s really well done and a joy to look at. Would make for some great prints I’m sure. I also like the moody shots of the model, really tasteful and with an original sense of mystery and intrigue, I am impressed to say the least.

For a real ‘down the rabbit hole’ experience, there’s the veritable myriad of other locations around the world that this man has also shot with aplomb. I highly recommend having a look and I am grateful to Doug for sharing his lovely Bangkok film work online with the world and also for being friendly and welcoming when contacted to talk about it.

CCP

[thegrouchyrj-blog]

The Beginning of my Journey

I am starting this blog to track my progress with multiple different super important things in my life. I am sure you can relate, even possibly give me advice throughout my journey. To be honest, I really have the slightest idea of where to start. Hence why I the title of this first entry is "The beginning of my journey". In order for it to make bit of sense I will pick it up from a few months ago...

I woke up one morning and decided that I needed to start a solid morning routine. I was pretty sick of waking up tired, lethargic and needing to be the soul energy providing to my seven year old daughter for her to get to school. Something sort of a power routine, a way to get my mind and body warmed up to start my day. To be honest it almost felt like for the first time in my life I've actually needed to "wake" up. Is it strange for a 29-year-old man that’s married with two children and has a promising career in something he absolutely loves to do? I guess sometimes things come a little slower for others ha-ha, I'm sure your reading this and hopefully you have experienced something along these same lines at one point in your life. Or maybe you are going to experience it. Well, in this search for a morning power routine I came across a video on YouTube where a man by the name of Jim Kwik had a video documenting his "10-morning habits geniuses use to jump-start their brain". Now, I in no way think that I myself am a genius (which now I sort of do, real metaphysical thoughts being processed right about now) but I decided to give the video a watch. There were very simple things that made sense and I was able to adopt it pretty easily but one stood out to me like a glaring light bulb. Reading 20-30mins a day at the start of my day. Now, I am not going to lie I have not taken reading the least bit serious since leaving college. In fact, the only reads as of recent were Facebook feeds and Instagram notes. I also associated reading with nighttime to help get settled in for bed. I mean this was what I was doing with my children before they went to bed. This was something I wanted to conquer so I gave it a try.

I wanted to really target books that were a part of the self-help genre, real uplifting powerful stories that one could use as a catapult to success. Tony Robbins, Robert Kiyosaki, Napoleon Hill, Wallace D. Wattles and Daymond Johns books were all heavily in my new found reading routine. In fact, I still haven't been able to put these books down. If you are familiar with these authors I am sure you feel the same way. It’s also brought me to a realization that the people that choose to read my blog notes understand the above mentioned books material already so I wouldn't even have to mention the titles.

Long story short, their books have helped my thought process immensely, to the point I feel like a genius (metaphysical thinking back at it again). I have begun to exit out everything in my life that is negative and consequently (yet thankfully) caused me to think so differently about what I want out of life.

Now, my post began with “I started this blog to track different things...blah blah blah". I guess I should try to explain....attempt to explain what these “different things” are. So (deep inhale) here we go. My family, which consists of my lovely wife, my 7 year old daughter and my 3 year old son, my job, being an amateur nak muay, my introduction into minimalism, my new found love for reading, my new thoughts on wealth and happiness, my leanings of the stock market, my love for combat sports, my focus on acquiring assets, my hand at entrepreneurship... this can go on forever and ever.

In a nutshell. This is for me to find me. In order to do that, you have to start somewhere. Why not here? I mean, I've technically already started in other ways like reading and writing in my journal. No matter what I read or who I look to as mentors in where I want to be. I would always hear "it is not real until you write it down". Well I've made it real then, this is my goal at making it more real? Writing it down for the world to see...

Reg

[princess-of-the-corner]

Something most ML fans miss on Nora is that she isn't just a kickboxer, she's a Nak Muay, a Muay Thai practitioner. The proof is in her pra jiad armbands and insistence in being referred by her ring name, both fundamental parts of Muay Thai tradition.

It's also why her ring name is so wrong: she didn't choose it, she was bestowed it by her teacher, who likely saw how good she was at using all eight limbs (arms, legs, elbows, and knees) and gave her a spider's name without knowing Anansi is a trickster and not a bulldozing fighter. And since she's a Nak Muay she just rolled with it.

Of course there's the chance Astruc, Zag, and the others just gave the pra jiad and insistence in being called by her ring name because it made her cool without realizing what they meant to a martial arts buff...

-

Honestly that's interesting but also like.

If you know the name 'Anansi' as a spider god, shouldn't you also know it's a trickster type?

But either way while that could be an in-universe explaination, it is still a show made by people who chose some weird things

[sabaliyokonte-blog1]

Relevance of quality to safe training

Muay Thai & Thai Pads Coaching

While a lot of us are familiar with kickboxing, even some could confuse kickboxing with Muay Thai, these two arts of fighting are different from one another, though. There is a thick line dividing Muay Thai and kickboxing.

On the other hand, kicking and punching thighs, legs, and elbows are permitted in Muay Thai.

As the name implies, Muay has got to do a whole lot with Thailand. It is practiced in many parts of the planet. Muay Thai is a form of hand martial art that's known as the Art of Eight Limbs. This is because palms, elbows, shins, and knees all are broadly used within this sport. The professional strikes utilizing eight points of contact. A practitioner of the Thai art is called Nak Muay. 1 thing which sets this game apart from all the others is the use of Thai pads in instruction. These pads assist in sharpening the goal and speed of a Nak Muay's kicks and blows.

Muay Thai Technique

To have a detailed look at the Thai boxing gear, it is first essential to know the techniques which are followed in the game. By having a previous idea of this technique, one will have the ability to grasp the stuff that would be required from the game, therefore, comprehend the boxing gear better.

Here's a peek into the Muay Thai artwork technique:

Punching Punches were initially constrained in this artwork. With increasing contact with western boxing and martial arts, full-fledged punches have become a component of the sport.

But, hammer fists back fists, uppercut, hook, lead jab, and corkscrew punches are a few titles of punches among the list that have not come to be part of Muay Thai artwork.

Elbowing Elbowing is the most dangerous form of assault in the sport. The attack may be executed in several ways including diagonal-upward, diagonal-downward, uppercut, downhill, horizontal, backward rotation, and flying. Among the methods of attack, diagonal is the quickest but not so powerful.

Kicking Common kicks in the Muay Thai art comprise the kicking upwards in a triangle shape cutting beneath the ribs and arms along with the roundhouse kick. The Thai roundhouse kick employs the rotational motion of the full body.

Foot-thrust Mainly, it is used as a defensive method in Muay Thai as a step to restrain distance or block attacks. These should be thrown immediately and with sufficient force as to knock an opponent.

In Muay Thai, knee and elbow techniques are employed from the clinch technique. For both defensive and offensive purposes, small amounts of stand-up grappling are used in the clinch. Intertwined fingers aren't used as they may incur harm. Hence, front clinch is done with the hands of one hand on the back of another one. Variants of clinches at Muay Thai comprise: Side clinch Arm clinch Swan-neck Low clinch

Boxing Gear

It isn't rocket science. The meaning of the term is rather common sense. By what we see and observe from our normal boxing shows and championships, most of us have a small inkling of what boxing equipment are. Even if we can't put in words, we pretty much have the thought.

What do folks in a ring wear? They wear shorts as straightforward as that. And the shorts are not ordinary ones like the one you would wear on Sunday afternoons. These are produced with high-quality material which soaks the sweat and fits well enough to allow free and maximum movement.

Gloves are the second gear which springs to mind when we observe a match. Some folks also like to wear a cap to keep out the perspiration from trickling down their forehead and in their eyes. This blurs vision so it can be a must for some people.

Likewise, the boxer needs a groin protector and if it is a she, then she will need a chest protector too. Similar is the boxing gear employed in the Muay Thai artwork.

Muay Thai Boxing Gear

The Thai boxing equipment includes many things very similar to boxing of the western style. Some of the Principal equipments are highlighted below:

Gloves Gloves are the simple equipment for boxing. A top notch glove should fit your hands nicely around the wrists and palms. It shouldn't feel like a burden that tires you out or forces your hand to have a specific shape. Comfort is essential. Another sign of a good glove is that it doesn't lose its stable cushioning even after a couple of blows. It has to be sustainable and shouldn't flatten very quickly.

Muay Thai Shin Pads Shin pads protect the professional's shins. A thin layer of the mat that does not absorb the shock of the blow is totally useless. Also, good shin pads are durable. If the cushioning dies after several kicks, then it's a poor-quality shin pad.

Muay Thai Belly Pads A Muay Thai gut pad is used to help absorb the shock of kicks, punches, and effect from knee strikes that are aimed at the practitioner's midsection. With this, you'd go home feeling that the full implications of the blows thrown at your stomach. The goal is to train, not punish. The aim is best achieved by employing the Muay Thai tummy pads during training sessions.

Shorts are must. When there is one thing which you need to learn about Thai shorts, it's that they are shorter than the standard shorts for different games such as boxing. While the style and size are your preference, you need to keep in mind that a good set of Muay shorts has to be comfy, and ought to allow maximum mobility. Additionally, it has to be lightweight and of course, durable.

The aim is to withstand the blow of an immediate hit aimed below the belt. In order to get a good protector, be sure it protects well and fits nicely. In addition, it does not lessen your relaxation.

Another essential of the Thai boxing equipment is the headgear that protects against acute head injury. For one, it has to be comfy. For novices, getting used to this equipment can be somewhat harsh. You would not fall in love with this the first time you attempt it on. Second, it must fit nicely. Otherwise, with a blowoff, it will reduce its standing and hinder your performance. Visibility is another important aspect to consider when selecting a headgear. It should allow enough visibility to see the punches coming your way. Coverage is still another factor. Also, check in the weight before getting a headgear.

[hardcore-procrastinator-blog]

Importance of quality for Secure training

Muay Thai & Thai Pads Training

Though a lot of us are familiar with kickboxing, although some could confuse kickboxing with Muay Thai, these two art of fighting are distinct from one another, though. There is a thick line dividing Muay Thai and kickboxing.

Kickboxing has rules that allow fighters to kick and punch above the waist. On the flip side, kicking and punching thighs, knees, and elbows are allowed in Muay Thai. Additionally, clinching and grabbing the opponent's leg which cries the kick will also be permitted in Muay Thai.

Buy Century xxl Wave master What is Muay Thai?

As its name implies, Muay has got to do a whole lot with Thailand. It's practiced in many regions of the planet. Muay Thai is a sort of hand martial art that is referred to as the Art of Eight Limbs. This is because hands, elbows, shins, and knees all are extensively utilized within this sport. The practitioner strikes using eight points of contact. This can be different than just two points of contact, i.e. fists in western boxing; and four points of contact, i.e. fists and toes in additional sport-oriented types of martial arts. A professional of the Thai art is named Nak Muay. Something that sets this sport apart from all the others is the use of Thai pads in instruction.

Muay Thai Technique

To get a detailed look at the Thai boxing equipment, it's first essential to be aware of the techniques which are followed closely in the sport. By having a previous idea of the technique, one will be able to understand the stuff that would be required from the sport, so, comprehend the boxing equipment better.

Here's a peek into the Muay Thai artwork technique:

Punching Punches were initially constrained in this artwork.

But, hammer fists back fists, uppercut, hook, direct jab, and corkscrew punches are a couple of names of punches one of the list which have not come to be component of Muay Thai artwork.

Elbowing Elbowing is the most damaging kind of attack in the sport. The attack might be executed in several ways such as diagonal-upward, diagonal-downward, uppercut, downhill, horizontal, backward spinning, and flying. Among these methods of attack, diagonal is the quickest but not so powerful.

Kicking Common kicks in the Muay Thai art include the kicking upward in a triangle shape cutting under the ribs and arms and the roundhouse kick. The Thai roundhouse kick employs the rotational motion of the full body.

Foot-thrust Mainly, it is used as a defensive technique in Muay Thai as a step to control distance or block attacks. All these should be thrown immediately and with enough power as to knock off an opponent.

In Muay Thai, elbow and knee techniques are employed from the clinch technique. For both offensive and defensive purposes, small amounts of stand-up grappling are used from the clinch. Intertwined fingers aren't used since they may incur injury. Therefore, front clinch is performed with the hands of one hand over the back of another. Variants of clinches at Muay Thai include: Side clinch Arm clinch Swan-neck Low clinch

Boxing Gear

It is not rocket science. The significance of the term is rather common sense. By what we see and watch from our usual boxing shows and championships, most of us have a slight inkling of what boxing equipment are.

What do folks in a ring wear? They wear shorts as straightforward as that. And the shorts are not ordinary ones such as the one you would wear on Sunday afternoons. All these are made of high-quality material that soaks the sweat and fits well enough to permit free and maximum motion.

Gloves will be the next equipment that springs to mind if we observe a game. Some folks also like to put on a cap to keep out the perspiration from trickling down their brow and in their eyes. This blurs vision so that it can be a must for many people.

Likewise, the boxer needs a groin protector and if it's a she, then she'll need a chest protector also. Similar is the boxing equipment used in the Muay Thai art.

Muay Thai Boxing Gear

The Thai boxing gear includes many things very similar to boxing of this western fashion. Some of the Principal equipments are highlighted below:

Gloves Gloves are the basic equipment for boxing. A good-quality glove should fit your hand well around the wrists and fingers. It should not feel like a weight that tires you out or forces your hands to have a particular shape. Comfort is essential. Another sign of a fantastic glove is that it does not lose its stable cushioning even after a couple of blows. It needs to be sustainable and should not flatten really fast.

Muay Thai Shin Pads Shin pads protect the practitioner's shins. They need to ben't only comfortable but also super protective. A thin layer of the mat that does not absorb the shock of the blow is completely useless. Additionally, good shin pads are durable. If the cushioning dies after a few kicks, then it's a poor-quality shin pad.

[flauntpage]

Ronin: Kyoji Horiguchi, UFC Contender in Exile

The nostalgic fans were on tenterhooks. The opening to the first day of Rizin’s two day spectacular was relatively tame. Nobuhiko Takada, PRIDE FC’s first headliner and the man who almost knocked out Rickson Gracie, showed up looking dapper but underwhelming in a tuxedo. The alternate MMA fan found himself worrying that Rizin was cutting back on the staggering production values for which PRIDE FC was known. Nobuhiko Takada’s opening ceremony appearance in a fundoshi, or "sumo diaper" for the Westerner, had become a grand tradition in PRIDE. In his Reddit AMA a day earlier, PRIDE founder Nobuyuki Sakakibara had teased fans by stating that he didn’t know if the old style opening ceremony was planned but he knew that the fifty-five year old Takada had been working out.

PRIDE nostalgia is Rizin’s whole trip and it brought back the memories in force when the second day’s broadcast opened on a darkened Saitama Super Arena, a quartet of torches lit on the entrance ramp. Eight men entered in latex robes and in a scene which evoked memories of Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut and the steel mill from The Simpsons, the eight began banging on drums assembled on the stage.

The pyres were extinguished and the arena plunged into darkness once more. The central caped figure stepped forward to raise his hands and reveal that his elbow length latex gloves contained flashlights in each of the fingers. A drum sounded and the entrance way was spotlighted. Two of the drummers began to undress the man with the luminescent fingertips, stripping him down to a latex hakama or "Aikido skirt" and revealing him to be Nobuhiko Takada, inexplicably heralding a gasp from the silent crowd. A drumroll and a fanfare began as Takada marched down the entrance way.

At the end he extended his arms and gazed skyward, before tearing off the skirt to reveal…the diaper.

As the camera cut to a view of Takada’s glistening buttocks, the crowd let out a mild cheer. Takada entered the ring and stood before a giant taiko drum, suspended in the middle of the ring with the Rizin logo on the skin. He paused, waiting for his cue, then missed it and drummed wildly while out of time with the music being played through the arena. This opening ceremony perfectly encapsulated just what Rizin is. It tries new things, and they are often very intriguing, but the old things that just don’t quite work any more are the things which actually bring in the ticket sales and the stream purchases. This writer would rather not linger on a 50-year-old Tsuyoshi Kohsaka coming out of retirement to fight the Mirko Cro Cop who just stopped King Mo and won the Rizin Open Weight Grand Prix, which could only be described as "fucking disgusting." Or on Gabi Garcia missing weight by twenty pounds when matched against a 50-year-old woman. Or on proven world class bantamweight kickboxer, Tenshin Nasukawa, being fed easy knockouts.

No, that is the "bad" and the "ugly" of Rizin. The "good" of Rizin is five feet and five inches of karate fury. His name is Kyoji Horiguchi and he is one of the greatest fighters in the world, serving out a period of self-imposed exile.

The Ronin

Kyoji Horiguchi is the best and most proven fighter today outside of the UFC. There have been plenty who never made it to the big American shows or arrived too late, but Horiguchi is in his athletic prime and currently the most glaring omission on the UFC and Bellator rosters. A flyweight, Horiguchi fell victim to the sausage factory that is the UFC’s flyweight title picture. Why does no one care about Demetrious Johnson when he has defended his title a dozen times? becomes Quick, find someone from the undercard to fight Demetrious Johnson which again becomes Why does no one care about Demetrious Johnson when he has defended his title a dozen times? Horiguchi was green as a goose turd when he was thrown in with the flyweight king and while he showed Johnson some interesting looks on the feet, he wound up losing just the same. Horiguchi still had some serious holes in his game back then and before moving to American Top Team, Horiguchi gave up his back in almost every fight he had, despite being considerably better than most of his opponents.

Working with ATT, Horiguchi has looked better from fight to fight. After picking up his best win to date, over the top ten ranked Ali Bagautinov while stuck on the undercard of a UFC Fight Night event, Horiguchi decided he’d get better treatment in Japan. At the time, we described the move as “perhaps the UFC's greatest failing in recent history,” showing zero anticipation of the year to come. But letting as highly ranked a fighter as Horiguchi go, when he was one of the most exciting and hardest hitting men in the division, was a break with UFC tradition. The aforementioned Bagautinov made the same decision and jumped ship to the Russian promotion, Fight Nights Global.

After making his Rizin debut in April, Horiguchi was entered into the Rizin bantamweight grand prix, ten pounds heavier than his usual fighting weight. He smashed the aged Hideo Tokoro in the opening round back in June, then stopped three men in two nights last weekend to become the tournament champion.

Life After Ippon

The discussion of karate styles is a sticky area where you will always offend someone. You say something like “karate doesn’t really have elbows” referring to karate competition and someone will get offended and say “there are elbows in our kata!” As with every martial art, karate tapers down to whatever the rules of its competition permit. There might be some old geezer out in Thailand declaring that real Muay Thai has headbutts, but you don’t see many Nak Muay who claim half their style is out the window when the headbutt is banned. So for our purposes there are only two styles of karate—points and knockdown. Points is about tagging the opponent first at all costs before the opponent can tag you. Knockdown is a gruelling battle of body punches and high kicks. Andy Hug, Semmy Schilt, and the many top guys from the golden days of K-1 were knockdown stylists. Horiguchi is a points stylist and he might be the best example of it in MMA today.

Points karate is largely built around the reverse punch, gyaku-zuki. Typically to score in competition this comes from about chest height and has to come back to the hip in hikite to score. This leads to the low hands of karate competition. As we noted back in Lyoto Machida and the Double Edged Sword of Competition Karate:

The point sparring system just produces an atrocious attitude to exchanges. A fighter will dive in with a straight punch to the midsection, then pull his hand back to his hip, and turn his back while shouting, to convince the judges that he totally did just score. Often both fighters will pirouette around the mat, mouths open, “selling the point.”

If you do that in MMA you stand a great chance of being cracked after you have landed your punch. As Holly Holm showed the other night, you can land your rear hand perfectly and still get hit with two shots while you admire your work. The old karate mantra of ikken hissatsu or "one strike, certain annihilation" is a good training philosophy, not a guaranteed outcome.

What Horiguchi does so well is burst in to score the point, then continue into something more sensible and "real." Adding a little bit of head movement has made his karate far more reliable in the wild world of four ounce gloves. Most often he’ll blitz in on the 1-2, then weave out to his right side. Many coaches, including Freddie Roach, like weaving out to the right side off right-handed punches because the left hook is an expected counter when the fighter closes the distance to fire his right straight. Or he’ll burst in and immediately stiff arm out to range.

Or he’ll burst in, push his man back and skip up into a left high kick. It’s using that traditional karate burst to get to the inside, and then building off being on the inside before the opponent has time to swing back that makes for that beautiful combination of karate and boxing.

Horiguchi has had a ton of success connecting his right hand, stepping out to his right side and weaving into a left hook. A simple counter punch but one which normally you would see in extended mid-range exchanges in boxing. Closing the range and moving into it as Horiguchi does and as T.J. Dillashaw did to spark Renan Barao the second time is essentially starting the counter without concerning yourself about reacting to the opponent on the inside. In fact, curiously enough during his Shooto run, Horiguchi’s left hook was his main lead and he was considerably wilder in his leaps across the floor.

One of the more interesting differences between Kyoji Horiguchi and other points karateka in MMA like the Machida brothers, is that he doesn’t often switch stances and he seems to prefer being in closed position to open position. Where Lyoto Machida constantly looks for that southpaw counter left straight while leaning outside the lead foot, and Stephen Thompson retreats to throw the southpaw counter left straight through the open side, Horiguchi is always in an orthodox stance, looking for his right hand. And where Machida is often kicking straight into the open side with his rear leg, Horiguchi uses skip up lead leg kicks to attack the body and head on the open side. Very few fighters can get the same pop into a skip up body kick from such a side on stance. This kick forms a double attack with the high kick should the opponent’s right hand get a little low or close to their head.

In the tournament quarter final, Horiguchi was matched against Gabriel Oliveira, a 10-0 fighter from Brazil fresh off a knockout of Tatsuya Kawajiri. Against Oliveira, Japan’s littlest bantamweight looked a class apart.

In karate there are three initiatives—Sen, Sen-no-sen, and Go-no-sen. To hear more about those, check out Ringcraft: The Three Initiatives. But to summarize: Sen is to attack, Go-no-sen is to defend and then attack—or a delayed counter—and Sen-no-sen is to attack as the opponent attacks—a simultaneous or intercepting counter. Horiguchi burst in on Oliveira, weaved his head out after his right hand, but Oliveira had run a mile. As Oliveira stepped back in to kick, Horiguchi intercepted him. Sen-no-sen is considered the highest level technique in karate, and of course was the focal point of Bruce Lee’s philosophy: Jeet Kune Do, meaning "The Way of the Intercepting Fist."

This is how most karate competitions go—you are trying to get in as fast as possible, or away as fast as possible, and if you can convince your opponent you’re running but actually step in as he does, you’ve made a perfect collision. This was both Lyoto and Chinzo Machida’s main method for accumulating knockdowns and knockouts without tremendous hitting power.

As a bonus—for all of his big bursts across the floor, Horiguchi uses the low line side kick in just the subtle way you like to see. There are two ways to use it: to keep someone the hell away from you, and to annoy and set up further attacks. Both of those are helped along by planting the foot straight on the opponent’s knee as you bounce in. Pulling the knee up to the chest and stomping down as hard as possible—as Yair Rodriguez always does—simply results in the opponent running a mile and you missing the second part of your sick two-touch combo by even further.

Why the Ring Ruins MMA

Horiguchi’s semi-final opponent probably should have been Ian McCall. Unfortunately McCall had a run in with an old gypsy woman some time a couple of years back and now can only fulfil his wish of fighting in a slightly twisted, Bedazzled kind of way. In his hotly anticipate Rizin debut, McCall was given a badass entrance, got all the way into the first minute of the first round, and lacerated his face on the ring rope before a single decent strike was connected.

The ring is and always has been terrible for mixed martial arts. It offers better visibility for the floor seats, but that is quite literally all that can be noted in the "advantages" column. The corners make for more interesting ringcraft, but that could just as easily be done with a square cage. The main advantage of a cage, of course, is that every time a man is pushed into it his arse doesn’t fall through between the links and have to be held up by a team of white gloved referees on the outside. And when a man is taken down in the cage he cannot dive underneath the bottom rope, or poke his head over the bottom rope to avoid being punched in the head.

Anyone who pretends the ring somehow prevents stalling in a standing clinch is wearing rose tinted glasses because just as many PRIDE fights turned into clinch slogs as UFC fights. Furthermore any time won back from wall clinches is quickly re-assigned to the hundreds of resets needed on any event using a ring. Not a single match on this Rizin event or any other avoided an exchange being negatively affected by the use of the ring. Still, no one fell head first into the floor and was asked to continue fighting this time, which is always a blessing.

So in the second round of the tournament, Horiguchi met Manel Kape. A 9-1 fighter who had just got by Ian McCall by TKO (rope burn), then celebrated as if he had done something incredible, turning the crowd even further against him. Kape could hit and he could take a shot. He had a couple inches of height and reach on the former flyweight Horiguchi, but he too looked completely outclassed. Being pushed like a Krazy Horse Bennett with actual ability, Kape resorted to trying to no-sell Horiguchi’s cracking right hands, and ducking in on Horiguchi’s hips whenever the karateka jumped in thinking he had the finish in his sights.

Horiguchi landed many good right hands on Kape as he burst in and many on the counter, but some of his more spectacular moments came as he wedged his way up the inside of kicks. It can be seen as sort of a kamikaze attitude but intercepting counters up the center of round kicks or sliding down the side of straight kicks are among the most powerful techniques that competition karate can teach you.

That’s not to say Horiguchi escaped unscathed, one of his great stylistic disadvantages was thrown into the spotlight. If you burst in like a bolt from the blue, you have to hope that it is your striking surfaces that are doing the colliding and not something more integral to your consciousness. On one of his many bursts in against Kape, Horiguchi ran face first onto the top of a ducking Kape’s head. This "nodder" was accidental but when done deliberately it has been a great way to settle down aggressive fighters since boxers first realized their skulls were a lot harder than their gloves.

In the tournament final, Horiguchi met Shintaro Ishiwatari and despite a long, checkered, and decision-victory filled record, Ishiwatari had a good idea of what to do. Waiting for Horiguchi to burst in, he was hoping to make Horiguchi reach and then check hook the shorter fighter.

Unfortunately, outside of a decent attempt at kneeing Horiguchi as he stepped in to intercept, Ishiwatari didn’t get much going. Taken down off that knee, Ishiwatari was essentially TKO’d while caught up in the ropes behind the ring post at the end of the first round.

Just the ring getting in the way of the action, yet again.

Ishiwatari, understandably groggy, came out wild and ran onto an easy thread-the-needle counter right straight as soon as the second round started.

While his opponents were not the best bantamweights in the world, Horiguchi’s work against three good fighters over two nights, a weight class above his own, garnered him the kind of attention he has deserved for a while. On the mathematically ranked FightMatrix he broke the worldwide bantamweight top ten—though that seems a bit much. But Horiguchi stands out as the biggest of fish in Rizin’s still small pond. Not only is he lacking quality opposition in either of his weightclasses, he is working under an outdated rule set and without one of the most important aspects of modern MMA, the cage. If Rizin could build the kind of roster that makes Horiguchi a viable alter rex for the flyweight division, that would be wonderful for Japanese MMA and the ring would become a viable alternative for top tier fighters rather than a gimmick wheeled out a couple of times a year. But if it cannot—and that is the more likely outcome—we can only hope that Horiguchi’s time back in Japan is a sabbatical and that the UFC soon comes to its senses. UFC should not only throw money at Horiguchi—that would not solve the problem that allegedly caused him to leave—it should give him the position and promotion that his style so deserves.

Pick up Jack’s book, Notorious: The Life and Fights of Conor McGregor and follow him on Twitter @JackSlackMMA.

Ronin: Kyoji Horiguchi, UFC Contender in Exile published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

[amtushinfosolutionspage]

Ronin: Kyoji Horiguchi, UFC Contender in Exile

The nostalgic fans were on tenterhooks. The opening to the first day of Rizin’s two day spectacular was relatively tame. Nobuhiko Takada, PRIDE FC’s first headliner and the man who almost knocked out Rickson Gracie, showed up looking dapper but underwhelming in a tuxedo. The alternate MMA fan found himself worrying that Rizin was cutting back on the staggering production values for which PRIDE FC was known. Nobuhiko Takada’s opening ceremony appearance in a fundoshi, or “sumo diaper” for the Westerner, had become a grand tradition in PRIDE. In his Reddit AMA a day earlier, PRIDE founder Nobuyuki Sakakibara had teased fans by stating that he didn’t know if the old style opening ceremony was planned but he knew that the fifty-five year old Takada had been working out.

PRIDE nostalgia is Rizin’s whole trip and it brought back the memories in force when the second day’s broadcast opened on a darkened Saitama Super Arena, a quartet of torches lit on the entrance ramp. Eight men entered in latex robes and in a scene which evoked memories of Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut and the steel mill from The Simpsons, the eight began banging on drums assembled on the stage.

The pyres were extinguished and the arena plunged into darkness once more. The central caped figure stepped forward to raise his hands and reveal that his elbow length latex gloves contained flashlights in each of the fingers. A drum sounded and the entrance way was spotlighted. Two of the drummers began to undress the man with the luminescent fingertips, stripping him down to a latex hakama or “Aikido skirt” and revealing him to be Nobuhiko Takada, inexplicably heralding a gasp from the silent crowd. A drumroll and a fanfare began as Takada marched down the entrance way.

At the end he extended his arms and gazed skyward, before tearing off the skirt to reveal…the diaper.

As the camera cut to a view of Takada’s glistening buttocks, the crowd let out a mild cheer. Takada entered the ring and stood before a giant taiko drum, suspended in the middle of the ring with the Rizin logo on the skin. He paused, waiting for his cue, then missed it and drummed wildly while out of time with the music being played through the arena.

This opening ceremony perfectly encapsulated just what Rizin is. It tries new things, and they are often very intriguing, but the old things that just don’t quite work any more are the things which actually bring in the ticket sales and the stream purchases. This writer would rather not linger on a 50-year-old Tsuyoshi Kohsaka coming out of retirement to fight the Mirko Cro Cop who just stopped King Mo and won the Rizin Open Weight Grand Prix, which could only be described as “fucking disgusting.” Or on Gabi Garcia missing weight by twenty pounds when matched against a 50-year-old woman. Or on proven world class bantamweight kickboxer, Tenshin Nasukawa, being fed easy knockouts.

No, that is the “bad” and the “ugly” of Rizin. The “good” of Rizin is five feet and five inches of karate fury. His name is Kyoji Horiguchi and he is one of the greatest fighters in the world, serving out a period of self-imposed exile.

The Ronin

Kyoji Horiguchi is the best and most proven fighter today outside of the UFC. There have been plenty who never made it to the big American shows or arrived too late, but Horiguchi is in his athletic prime and currently the most glaring omission on the UFC and Bellator rosters. A flyweight, Horiguchi fell victim to the sausage factory that is the UFC’s flyweight title picture. Why does no one care about Demetrious Johnson when he has defended his title a dozen times? becomes Quick, find someone from the undercard to fight Demetrious Johnson which again becomes Why does no one care about Demetrious Johnson when he has defended his title a dozen times? Horiguchi was green as a goose turd when he was thrown in with the flyweight king and while he showed Johnson some interesting looks on the feet, he wound up losing just the same. Horiguchi still had some serious holes in his game back then and before moving to American Top Team, Horiguchi gave up his back in almost every fight he had, despite being considerably better than most of his opponents.

Working with ATT, Horiguchi has looked better from fight to fight. After picking up his best win to date, over the top ten ranked Ali Bagautinov while stuck on the undercard of a UFC Fight Night event, Horiguchi decided he’d get better treatment in Japan. At the time, we described the move as “perhaps the UFC’s greatest failing in recent history,” showing zero anticipation of the year to come. But letting as highly ranked a fighter as Horiguchi go, when he was one of the most exciting and hardest hitting men in the division, was a break with UFC tradition. The aforementioned Bagautinov made the same decision and jumped ship to the Russian promotion, Fight Nights Global.

After making his Rizin debut in April, Horiguchi was entered into the Rizin bantamweight grand prix, ten pounds heavier than his usual fighting weight. He smashed the aged Hideo Tokoro in the opening round back in June, then stopped three men in two nights last weekend to become the tournament champion.

Life After Ippon

The discussion of karate styles is a sticky area where you will always offend someone. You say something like “karate doesn’t really have elbows” referring to karate competition and someone will get offended and say “there are elbows in our kata!” As with every martial art, karate tapers down to whatever the rules of its competition permit. There might be some old geezer out in Thailand declaring that real Muay Thai has headbutts, but you don’t see many Nak Muay who claim half their style is out the window when the headbutt is banned. So for our purposes there are only two styles of karate—points and knockdown. Points is about tagging the opponent first at all costs before the opponent can tag you. Knockdown is a gruelling battle of body punches and high kicks. Andy Hug, Semmy Schilt, and the many top guys from the golden days of K-1 were knockdown stylists. Horiguchi is a points stylist and he might be the best example of it in MMA today.

Points karate is largely built around the reverse punch, gyaku-zuki. Typically to score in competition this comes from about chest height and has to come back to the hip in hikite to score. This leads to the low hands of karate competition. As we noted back in Lyoto Machida and the Double Edged Sword of Competition Karate:

The point sparring system just produces an atrocious attitude to exchanges. A fighter will dive in with a straight punch to the midsection, then pull his hand back to his hip, and turn his back while shouting, to convince the judges that he totally did just score. Often both fighters will pirouette around the mat, mouths open, “selling the point.”

If you do that in MMA you stand a great chance of being cracked after you have landed your punch. As Holly Holm showed the other night, you can land your rear hand perfectly and still get hit with two shots while you admire your work. The old karate mantra of ikken hissatsu or “one strike, certain annihilation” is a good training philosophy, not a guaranteed outcome.

What Horiguchi does so well is burst in to score the point, then continue into something more sensible and “real.” Adding a little bit of head movement has made his karate far more reliable in the wild world of four ounce gloves. Most often he’ll blitz in on the 1-2, then weave out to his right side. Many coaches, including Freddie Roach, like weaving out to the right side off right-handed punches because the left hook is an expected counter when the fighter closes the distance to fire his right straight. Or he’ll burst in and immediately stiff arm out to range.

Or he’ll burst in, push his man back and skip up into a left high kick. It’s using that traditional karate burst to get to the inside, and then building off being on the inside before the opponent has time to swing back that makes for that beautiful combination of karate and boxing.

Horiguchi has had a ton of success connecting his right hand, stepping out to his right side and weaving into a left hook. A simple counter punch but one which normally you would see in extended mid-range exchanges in boxing. Closing the range and moving into it as Horiguchi does and as T.J. Dillashaw did to spark Renan Barao the second time is essentially starting the counter without concerning yourself about reacting to the opponent on the inside. In fact, curiously enough during his Shooto run, Horiguchi’s left hook was his main lead and he was considerably wilder in his leaps across the floor.

One of the more interesting differences between Kyoji Horiguchi and other points karateka in MMA like the Machida brothers, is that he doesn’t often switch stances and he seems to prefer being in closed position to open position. Where Lyoto Machida constantly looks for that southpaw counter left straight while leaning outside the lead foot, and Stephen Thompson retreats to throw the southpaw counter left straight through the open side, Horiguchi is always in an orthodox stance, looking for his right hand. And where Machida is often kicking straight into the open side with his rear leg, Horiguchi uses skip up lead leg kicks to attack the body and head on the open side. Very few fighters can get the same pop into a skip up body kick from such a side on stance. This kick forms a double attack with the high kick should the opponent’s right hand get a little low or close to their head.

In the tournament quarter final, Horiguchi was matched against Gabriel Oliveira, a 10-0 fighter from Brazil fresh off a knockout of Tatsuya Kawajiri. Against Oliveira, Japan’s littlest bantamweight looked a class apart.

In karate there are three initiatives—Sen, Sen-no-sen, and Go-no-sen. To hear more about those, check out Ringcraft: The Three Initiatives. But to summarize: Sen is to attack, Go-no-sen is to defend and then attack—or a delayed counter—and Sen-no-sen is to attack as the opponent attacks—a simultaneous or intercepting counter. Horiguchi burst in on Oliveira, weaved his head out after his right hand, but Oliveira had run a mile. As Oliveira stepped back in to kick, Horiguchi intercepted him. Sen-no-sen is considered the highest level technique in karate, and of course was the focal point of Bruce Lee’s philosophy: Jeet Kune Do, meaning “The Way of the Intercepting Fist.”

This is how most karate competitions go—you are trying to get in as fast as possible, or away as fast as possible, and if you can convince your opponent you’re running but actually step in as he does, you’ve made a perfect collision. This was both Lyoto and Chinzo Machida’s main method for accumulating knockdowns and knockouts without tremendous hitting power.

As a bonus—for all of his big bursts across the floor, Horiguchi uses the low line side kick in just the subtle way you like to see. There are two ways to use it: to keep someone the hell away from you, and to annoy and set up further attacks. Both of those are helped along by planting the foot straight on the opponent’s knee as you bounce in. Pulling the knee up to the chest and stomping down as hard as possible—as Yair Rodriguez always does—simply results in the opponent running a mile and you missing the second part of your sick two-touch combo by even further.

Why the Ring Ruins MMA

Horiguchi’s semi-final opponent probably should have been Ian McCall. Unfortunately McCall had a run in with an old gypsy woman some time a couple of years back and now can only fulfil his wish of fighting in a slightly twisted, Bedazzled kind of way. In his hotly anticipate Rizin debut, McCall was given a badass entrance, got all the way into the first minute of the first round, and lacerated his face on the ring rope before a single decent strike was connected.

The ring is and always has been terrible for mixed martial arts. It offers better visibility for the floor seats, but that is quite literally all that can be noted in the “advantages” column. The corners make for more interesting ringcraft, but that could just as easily be done with a square cage. The main advantage of a cage, of course, is that every time a man is pushed into it his arse doesn’t fall through between the links and have to be held up by a team of white gloved referees on the outside. And when a man is taken down in the cage he cannot dive underneath the bottom rope, or poke his head over the bottom rope to avoid being punched in the head.

Anyone who pretends the ring somehow prevents stalling in a standing clinch is wearing rose tinted glasses because just as many PRIDE fights turned into clinch slogs as UFC fights. Furthermore any time won back from wall clinches is quickly re-assigned to the hundreds of resets needed on any event using a ring. Not a single match on this Rizin event or any other avoided an exchange being negatively affected by the use of the ring. Still, no one fell head first into the floor and was asked to continue fighting this time, which is always a blessing.

So in the second round of the tournament, Horiguchi met Manel Kape. A 9-1 fighter who had just got by Ian McCall by TKO (rope burn), then celebrated as if he had done something incredible, turning the crowd even further against him. Kape could hit and he could take a shot. He had a couple inches of height and reach on the former flyweight Horiguchi, but he too looked completely outclassed. Being pushed like a Krazy Horse Bennett with actual ability, Kape resorted to trying to no-sell Horiguchi’s cracking right hands, and ducking in on Horiguchi’s hips whenever the karateka jumped in thinking he had the finish in his sights.

Horiguchi landed many good right hands on Kape as he burst in and many on the counter, but some of his more spectacular moments came as he wedged his way up the inside of kicks. It can be seen as sort of a kamikaze attitude but intercepting counters up the center of round kicks or sliding down the side of straight kicks are among the most powerful techniques that competition karate can teach you.

That’s not to say Horiguchi escaped unscathed, one of his great stylistic disadvantages was thrown into the spotlight. If you burst in like a bolt from the blue, you have to hope that it is your striking surfaces that are doing the colliding and not something more integral to your consciousness. On one of his many bursts in against Kape, Horiguchi ran face first onto the top of a ducking Kape’s head. This “nodder” was accidental but when done deliberately it has been a great way to settle down aggressive fighters since boxers first realized their skulls were a lot harder than their gloves.

In the tournament final, Horiguchi met Shintaro Ishiwatari and despite a long, checkered, and decision-victory filled record, Ishiwatari had a good idea of what to do. Waiting for Horiguchi to burst in, he was hoping to make Horiguchi reach and then check hook the shorter fighter.

Unfortunately, outside of a decent attempt at kneeing Horiguchi as he stepped in to intercept, Ishiwatari didn’t get much going. Taken down off that knee, Ishiwatari was essentially TKO’d while caught up in the ropes behind the ring post at the end of the first round.

Just the ring getting in the way of the action, yet again.

Ishiwatari, understandably groggy, came out wild and ran onto an easy thread-the-needle counter right straight as soon as the second round started.

While his opponents were not the best bantamweights in the world, Horiguchi’s work against three good fighters over two nights, a weight class above his own, garnered him the kind of attention he has deserved for a while. On the mathematically ranked FightMatrix he broke the worldwide bantamweight top ten—though that seems a bit much. But Horiguchi stands out as the biggest of fish in Rizin’s still small pond. Not only is he lacking quality opposition in either of his weightclasses, he is working under an outdated rule set and without one of the most important aspects of modern MMA, the cage. If Rizin could build the kind of roster that makes Horiguchi a viable alter rex for the flyweight division, that would be wonderful for Japanese MMA and the ring would become a viable alternative for top tier fighters rather than a gimmick wheeled out a couple of times a year. But if it cannot—and that is the more likely outcome—we can only hope that Horiguchi’s time back in Japan is a sabbatical and that the UFC soon comes to its senses. UFC should not only throw money at Horiguchi—that would not solve the problem that allegedly caused him to leave—it should give him the position and promotion that his style so deserves.

Pick up Jack’s book, Notorious: The Life and Fights of Conor McGregor and follow him on Twitter @JackSlackMMA.

Ronin: Kyoji Horiguchi, UFC Contender in Exile syndicated from http://ift.tt/2ug2Ns6