Video of My Latest Fight

[Sifu]

[quote]JonnyTMT wrote:
Thanks for the comments Sifu.

Have to disagree with you about knees, Knees are EXTREMELY powerful and far more than just a knee lift. In Muay Thai the knee is thrust forward using the hips, using all the muscles of the legs and core. Frequently it is thrown with out clinching an opponent and is still very powerful. Personally I can knee far harder than I can kick. [/quote]

I really didn’t mean to suggest that you can’t hurt someone bad with knees. The art I study is known as an “infighting” style. It’s meant to be used at very close range. Knees and elbows are a very important part of our arsenal.

We also have knee parrying techniques, knee blocking techniques. That flying knee you Muay Thai guys is wicked. My teacher would teach us that used in combination with an arm bar to break the elbow.

[quote]
Yes I walk forward a lot looking for the clinch where I can use knees and elbows (my best weapons). In Muay Thai this is called the “fighter” style. In Thailand the fights are judged differently from how a lot of westerners are used to. Punches hardly score, the big scoring techniques are body kicks and knees.

I’m not a great kicker so I have to walk forward to shut down my opponent and start laying in the knees. That said, I have been working a lot on using more angles with my boxing by training with a WBA champ and a Canadian champ boxer. Hopefully will see an improvement in my next fight.[/quote]

I can see why they call it fighter style. I give you high marks for being a tough, game fighter. You walked through a few solid shots and just kept going like it was nothing.

I’m familiar with the scoring. 13 years in Germany I watched a Muay Thai match where the one fighter mercilessly punched the other guy around the ring kind of like Foreman worked over Frazier. At the end of the match the one guy looked ready to go again while the other guy looked ready to die.

It blew me away that the guy who clearly did the most damage lost because he didn’t throw any elbows. It kind of jaded me towards watching Muay Thai for a while.

Knees are one of the techniques that Isshinryu uses for angling. Sometimes instead of angling ourselves we angle the other guy. ie Against front kicks, instead of an outside in knee like you do to work the body we use an inside out knee to deflect the kick.

The reason why we use inside out is it starts with the groin covered and moves the kick away, outside in leaves the groin open. Another knee technique we use is knee lifts where we get the knee under a kicking leg and lift the foot up opening the groin and inner leg to a quick kick from the lifting leg which is chambered from doing the knee lift.

Also those inside out or outside in knees can easily become crescent kicks because it is the same movement, you just let the foot fly. Those are also good techniques for pulling down a guard as you close in. Or for working against a knife.

[JonnyTMT]

With all respect Sifu, the way Muay Thai teaches you to throw knees is VERY different from Karate styles. In fact it is different from pretty much every other style, that is why the Thai’s are feared for their knees so much. We do not “raise the knee to the chest”, we drive the knee forward using all the core musculature.

[Sifu]

[quote]CaliforniaLaw wrote:
If anyone wondered whether Sifu is a TMA guy, well, there’s your confirmation. [/quote]

If by traditional you mean that we focused on self defense instead of sport, fought with no headgear, no hand pads, no foot pads, groin was a fair target, no weight classes because fighting different sized opponenets was considered good experience, bones sometimes got broken and we fought on, then yes I am guilty. So fucking what.

You talk so much shit about other martial artists I have a hard time believing you have any real training in martial arts. Because one of the very first things my teachers taught me is you don’t fight the style, you fight the man. But you on the other hand are constantly spouting off about your “style” and how your “style” is better than anyone elses “style” and how you know the “secrets” that noone else can know if they don’t study your “style”.

The thing that really gets me about how much you talk shit about style is you weigh how much? 260 is it. If at 260 you think style is still really important you have issues, like no talent so you make excuses. Or something else.

I once literally had my ribs broken holding pads for a guy doing knees. “This guy isn’t that strong. No need to brace myself.”[/quote]

He broke your ribs because you are a fat pud who was too heavy to move and something had to give. I know because I’ve had a 270 pound U of M lineman lift me up off my feet with a simple lead leg front kick. My skinny ass goes airborne when I get hit by guys your size it’s saved me a lot of times. The same thing saved Robin Givens when Mike Tyson unloaded on her.

[Sifu]

[quote]JonnyTMT wrote:
With all respect Sifu, the way Muay Thai teaches you to throw knees is VERY different from Karate styles. In fact it is different from pretty much every other style, that is why the Thai’s are feared for their knees so much.

We do not “raise the knee to the chest”, we drive the knee forward using all the core musculature. [/quote]

Good point about driving the knee forward. That’s how my ribs got tore apart. We do use the same movement with front kicks and squat kicks. We also use a similar movement on side and forward angle kicks.

Without it the standard Isshinryu side kick is just a flicky kick that’s fast and hard to catch but it doesn’t have much penetration. But if you throw the hip at the last moment by inwardly rotating the Femur of the supporting leg you have all that body weight moving behind it. It also gives a couple more inches of penetration and activates another set of muscles like the glutes.

[Sifu]

[quote]Xen Nova wrote:
CaliforniaLaw wrote:
I once literally had my ribs broken holding pads for a guy doing knees. “This guy isn’t that strong. No need to brace myself.”

ho-lee-phuc. That guy knee’s HARD.

but yea he’s just misinformed about thai-style. While counterfighting is a viable technique (and used successfully) pressing the action is viewed better in Thailand.

This was the same in American Boxing at the earlier part of the 20th century…

i Johnson’s boxing style was very distinctive. He developed a more patient approach than was customary in that day: playing defensively, waiting for a mistake, and then capitalizing on it. Johnson always began a bout cautiously, slowly building up over the rounds into a more aggressive fighter.

He often fought to punish his opponents rather than knock them out, endlessly avoiding their blows and striking with swift counters.He always gave the impression of having much more to offer and, if pushed, he could punch quite powerfully. Johnson’s style was very effective, but it was criticized in the white press as being cowardly and devious.[/i]

Also Jonny did make use of angles quite a few times in his fight its just very hard to see as the muay thai angles are quite a bit differen than most are used to seeing. Also his opponent turned to face him immediately when he did cut corners and his opponent was also hard to funnel into the corners.

Jonny controlled the center of the ring which is very important in scoring Thaiboxing. Just like in chess where the person who controls the 4 central squares at the middle of the board often control the pace and flow of the game so is the fight game in Thaiboxing.

He conserves energy and forces his opponent either to run, get ran into the ropes or a corner, stand and bang or waste energy trying to trick/beat his way to gain ring control.

While Jonny’s adrenaline high showed us a few mistakes of his… experts it does not make any of us. He’s fighting in Thailand something not many of us even would attempt if we had the rare opportunity. [/quote]

Actually angles can be used offensively as well as defensively. Instead of moving straight forward you move forward at an angle. If you want to see an examle of how it is done watch George St.Pierre fight Matt Hughes. Everytime GSP lunged in with a lead punch his moved off at an angle.

A way you can use it against a guy who has his rear leg ready to throw a roundhouse is go to an open stance, where both your leads are opposite each other then move forward angling towards his back.

If he throws the round house you already have some momentum away from it. This reduces your resting inertia. You can also trap his lead hand down and come over the top with an elbow to the face. Which is not much different from something that Jonny is already doing well at, which was following up his jab with an elbow off of the same arm. He did that smooth in one motion.

Jonny certainly gets much respect from me for getting into the ring. Especially in Thailand. I agree with you xen it’s easier to watch from outside the ring than it is to be the guy inside it with someone trying to take your head off. I’m trying to be constructive, not critical.

[tayjeremy]

Look all i know is. if i get in that ring. i better have atleast 5 meters distance and a shotgun. or atleast a Semi-automatic. because these guys would rip me to shreds, and i am not afraid to admit that i am afraid of them.

Respects to all Fighters. Esp cage fighters and Muai thai Fighter. Only way out for em is loss. and no body wants to lose; esp those guys who have NOTHING Coming to them, except Fighting to make a living.

[Vicarious]

Great fight, JonnyTMT. Really good pace throughout, totally agree about your conditioning. Very impressive.