Capoeira vs. Muay Thai (Video)

For you martial arts lovers out there, here’s a very cool fight, Capoeira (Lateef Crowder) vs Muay Thai (Tony Jaa, of Ong-bak fame):

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=402279758929009061

I believe the scene is from Tony’s latest film, The Protector (US title). Someone correct me if I’m wrong!

staged and unrealistic?
yes

kickass anyway?
hell yes

i’ve been a fan of ZG for a while, lateef is so fucking badass, i want to see him in movies asap… i think he should play the stunt/fight seens of the Black Panther ( Black Panther (character) - Wikipedia )

Nice, Were they fighting over who was gonna fix the backed-up toilet?

I never realized that my favorite fighter all these years in Tekken - Eddie Gordo was a capoeira fighter. I always just thought that he was supposed to be a breakdancer who liked to get in fights.

I turned it off after about thirty seconds of that music. It’s kind of like the Harrison Ford thing on Conan O’Brien where he tries to do his serious face while circus music is playing – it just doesn’t work.

Toom yong goom or something like that…I think the translation is Master of the Beasts or something like that. I got it at home (I’m overseas right now) in my collection.

Yep Tom-Yung-Goong. Some gangsters steal his elephants, he goes absolutely mental. Awesome film. The funniest bit is when he straps elephant bones to his forearms…ooooookay.

Super-cheese. Why don’t MMA fights ever look like that with all the jumping and flips and handstands?

Goofball fighting. That was like watching a Twyla Tharp dance production. That guy spent more time fighting the air than he did his opponent. If I were the MT guy, I would have just walked away from that fight from boredom. All the water on the floor and the non-spreading flames did add a bit of realism though.

DB

It is a sweet scene, especially because it brings more attention to Capoeira. Oh, and Tom Yum is a type of Thai food. Maybe there’s another usage of it, but I always wondered about the title.

What a load of bollocks that was.

[quote]chrismcl wrote:
I never realized that my favorite fighter all these years in Tekken - Eddie Gordo was a capoeira fighter. I always just thought that he was supposed to be a breakdancer who liked to get in fights.[/quote]

Lol, my thought exactly! I used to love playing that dude, he kicked so much ass.

[quote]chrismcl wrote:
I never realized that my favorite fighter all these years in Tekken - Eddie Gordo was a capoeira fighter. I always just thought that he was supposed to be a breakdancer who liked to get in fights.[/quote]

Some other big fighting game (I think it was on a Sega system) there was an old man who kind of wobbled around… He did the Drunken fighting technique, which is so much cooler than Capoeira. =D

That music isn?t in the original film, it was added by the user.

Yeah, practical use of capoeira is pretty limited unless you are a master and in super human condition, in reality one could use various capoeira techniques, but only integrated with a very sturdy foundation of basic striking and grappling. It?s a rare opportunity when your opponent will allow you enough time to perform anything on your hands, however the techniques could be used especially when recovering from a fall, or after expressing only limited abilities in a non-capoeira style to surprise your opponent after “lulling him to sleep”.

Yea seriously you’d be surprised what you can pull of.

those who immediately write it off have never spent any time around capoeirista’s…

put on pads and try to submit one.

That did not look much like muay thai at all. His stance and his kicks were too pretty. More like tkd. Nothing pretty about muay thai.
Anyways, all he had to do was clinch, and by clinch I mean bearhug and throw knees lol.

[quote]Xen Nova wrote:
Yea seriously you’d be surprised what you can pull of.

those who immediately write it off have never spent any time around capoeirista’s…

put on pads and try to submit one. [/quote]

I’m not saying a capoeirista couldn’t hurt you, but it’s another distance fighting style that loses all effectiveness when the distance is closed. I find any close-in fighting style to be much more effective than capoeira, which is more a combination of tribal dance and fighting. Fun to watch, but not a great hand-to-hand style.

DB

Very true and an excellent point. The weakness of Capoeira is if you get a hold on the person they’re pretty fucked.

Granted it’s hard as HELL to catch a Capoeirista. I several friends who are practitioner’s and we put on head gear and shinpads and go at it. Once you close they’re done… But closing isn’t as easy as it seems if they’re anywhere near skilled. And it looks a surprising amount like the video linked above- you spend the majority of the time chasing the person and getting hit from weird ass angles.

I think just like in any martial art there are techniques that CAN work and CAN be high percentage if trained properly.

Spinning back kick for instance has seen quite a bit of use in the UFC. Fighters like Genki Sudo have made use of unique standup styles successfully.

Someone who can make use of some capoeira techniques within an MMA atmosphere would be an exciting fighter to watch indeed.

Eddie Gordo Muay Jiujitsu would be some shit to see haha :slight_smile:

I’m taking capoeira once a week or once every two weeks depending when I can fit it in, so hopefully I can pick up something useful…

Either way it’s:

1- a great place to meet flexible, athletic girls

2- mixes things up, is kool for body awareness, flexibility, and is good for me because its very close to some of my family’s roots that i’m not that familiar with.

3- Girls.

4- Pretty cool music

5- Girls.

Oh I don’t think I mentioned that generally there are more girls than guys in the classes…

My wife was the one who found this video, and it was cool for me to see because I practiced 2 years of Muay Thai in my early 20’s and another 2 years of Capoeira in my late 20’s, so she thought the video would have more meaning for me.

Out of the two, Capoeira is certainly the most fun, but I wouldn’t try to use it if I ever got in a fight! Of course, I am/was nowhere near the level of this guy, and plus, I practiced the Angola style, which doesn’t incorporate much (if any) acrobatics and relies on you staying very close to the ground. It certainly built up my legs and arms from all the crouching and the handstands, though.