Search results for query: *

In the early 1993 and 1994 vale tudo tournaments (the first UFCs, the Vale Tudo Japan event, etc.), was there anyone around who would probably have beaten Royce, Rickson, and the other Gracie representatives? Admittedly, by about 1996, the game was changing and the huge, athletic wrestlers were...

Historically, I've heard the full list is Ishii, Umeno, Ogasawara, Fujiwara, Imamura, Takeda, and Nadaka Yoshinari. That wouldn't count the guys who beat Thai champions without a belt on the line, or who were ranked but never won the title. There may be others; I'm no expert.

I don't know how you'd keep it. There are probably a bunch of other social changes that would have had to happen in the 80s and 90s for things to break that way, which you would probably understand better than I would. I'm just saying that in the US, karate/TKD *still* seems like a much more...

Just speculating here, but might such a network have been built in the US if we'd somehow kept shiny pants kickboxing? The progression from point karate (and boxing, although that's less of a kid's sport) to shiny-pants wouldn't be as jarring, and the best shiny-pantsers could continue to...

Ha! Okay, I expected somebody to post Medieval armor or something like that. I clearly underestimated the forum's creativity.

Since regular headgear apparently only does so much to reduce concussions (and some say it actually makes things worse), I started looking online to see whether *anyone* had created headgear that significantly reduces your chances of a concussion when struck. And at this point, I'm on this...

Interesting; thanks!

Thanks; that's fascinating, actually. If you happen to know any English language sources on the famous story about the French encounter, I'd be curious. Is that the one Vail mentions from the late 17th century? If so, that one is probably too early for formal savate. (Which I think got codified...

Huh...that does fit the timeline pretty well. Also, kudos to the Thais for good timing in adopting Western gloved boxing *after* most of the kinks had been worked out by professional boxers. They would have mostly skipped the awkward bareknuckle to glove transitional period if they only started...

Something like the latter half of the 19th century according to Vail. "Muay" already existed as a village faire kinda competition by the time Western boxing arrived, but according to Vail's account, it wasn't yet an organized combat sport in the sense that more industrialized nations practiced...

I wondered whether the forum could answer a historical question. In Vail's "Muay Thai: Inventing Tradition for a National Symbol," there's documentation of contacts between Muay Thai and Western boxing stretching back at least to the beginning of modern MT rules. Past threads in this forum have...

That's a shame for the sport, albeit good news for the Thais. So overall I'm happy for Thailand, and wish it continued economic growth. Might be interesting to see whether Thai MT has the same moment of soul-searching that US boxing had in the early 2000s if/when they ever get to the point...

It's an interesting question. Certainly, the Depression did wonders for the boxing talent pool, and most fighters in boxing still come from poorer backgrounds/countries. (Or have parents who boxed -- which is a cultural factor all its own.) Economic growth in the United States has weakened the...

Thanks; that makes sense. So it's not so much that Thailand is declining, but that Japan is building the infrastructure to cement its position?

Hi, everyone. Leaving aside for a moment the extent to which old-school Japanese kickboxing (elbows, knees, full clinch, sometimes more Judo-esque throws) can be described as Muay Thai by another name, how deep is its talent pool compared to what you see in Thailand? I've read several threads...

Hi. Odd question. I'm doing historical research on early 20th century strength & conditioning techniques. Most early professional boxers had an almost superstitious dislike of heavy weight training, but they did plenty of grappling as a way of building strength. This was especially true of...

Deadlift I'd been advised not to do because of a shoulder issue that's slowly healing up. It's like safety whack a mole -- always another problem popping up. That being said, are deadlifts significantly better on the knees than squats?

Yeah, I'm curious what the safest variety of heavy leg lift is for knees. Box squats are one that I've also heard mentioned a lot.

For people who have knee issues and are trying to play it as safely as possible, especially as far as stability is concerned, is there any difference between the risks posed by pistols and barbell squats? Already asked a doctor, and the answer I received wasn't a clear victory for either --...

The reason I mentioned it was because Black Belt Magazine made a big deal of it at the time, and that magazine was the unofficial message board for the martial arts community back then. It would at least be interesting to see if a spectacular failure would inspire other TMA guys to challenge...