MMA in China: Art of War HL clip

This is a HL clip of the Art of War events in China. Art of War is a professional MMA event. They seemed very professional and surprisingly the MMA rules used seem to be the most NHB (No Holds Barred) I've seen today. It looks like they allow stomps, soccer kicks and even elbows. Even though I am more of a kickboxing fan and stylist, I think it's a great direction for combat sports in China. I've always thought that MMA is a natural progression for most Sanda/ Sanshou fighters rather than crossing over to other kickboxing formats such as K-1. This event seems to have alot of Sanda fighters competing. Enjoy the clip. There are others available that I've yet to check out and even the matches themselves.

Peter Aerts HL

Peter Aerts is one of the great old K-1 heavyweight champion that are still competing and still competitive. You guys should now know what Ducth style Muay Thai is like after all the clips I've posted. Peter Aerts is from Holland and he has the classic Ducth style of fighting. He's known for his kicks as you can see in the HL clip, hence his nickname is the Lumberjack. Enjoy!

Sambo in the NY Times!

Some of you guys might know that I love all good martial arts. I have a strong interest in grappling before but decided to focus on striking for the last couple of years, thus training solely in san shou at first then muay thai. One of the grappling styles that I have a strong interest in is Sambo. It's a Russian style of jacket wrestling. It's similar to judo but they wear shorts instead, can do leg submissions and have alot more wrestling influence instead. Sambo is not all wrestling though. They also can include striking and one of their competition formats that allow strikes is called Combat Sambo which is basically MMA. Anyway there is a new article introducing Sambo in the NY Times! I can't believe the NY Times did a martial arts article. Awesome! Have a read and enjoy.

Sambo in NY Times

Muay Thai KO HL

Old but good HL clip of various matches from Thailand. Great KOs in this clip. I find Muay Thai matches in Thailand tend to mostly be a grinding clinching affair most of the time so this is very entertaining to watch. Lots of elbows KOs too which is rare. Watch out particularly for the KO at the 42sec mark. The fighter in red shorts throws down his opponent and kicks him as he lands before the referee can stop it. Very nasty and a bit on the grey side but shows that anything can happen. Getting that last kick in on your opponent before the ref can stop you seems to be more common in Thailand than overseas.

Albert Kraus vs Mike Zambidis K-1 Max 07.07.2008

Battle of the two most boxing orientated fighters in K-1 Max. This is a K-1 super match, meaning that it's a one off and not part of the tournament series. Both fighters lost their tournament matches and out of the running. However K-1 likes to do super matches to fill up the spots in their events with fighters who they think is exciting, worthwhile to watch, came off a close loss, etc.

Albert Kraus used to be almost exclusively all hands but in recent matches he seemed to be more varied in his attacks. I think he must have realised he is getting a liitle one dimensional hence his recent lack of success.In this match he uses his knees to good effect. Zambidis does his usual stuff, lots of hooks and overhands. I like Zambidis's punching style which I think is awesome but I wish he would learn to fight in the Thai clinch. K-1 doesn't allow full Muay Thai style clinches but there are still guys out there like Sato and Souwer who can exploit the clinch rules very well.

Benny Urquidez vs Naito

You guys might know Benny Urquidez from some old Jackie Chan movies. One that I remember clearly is "Meals on Wheels". I didn't know much about Urquidez at that time but I thought the end fight scene with him vs Jackie Chan was great.

He was a famous late 70s early 80s fighter that originally competed in the American karate and kickboxing scene. Kickboxers under the American rules wore the long pants due to it developing from the karate competitions. He later became famous for taking on primarily Japanese kickboxers in Japan. He's known for his jumping spinning back kick, like the one in this match.

Saro Presti vs Warren Stevelmans K-1 Max 09.04.2008

Warren Stevelmans has become my new fighter to watch in K-1 Max after seeing his performances in the K-1 Max Holland and now recently against Andy Souwer in Japan. He's got great punhcing combos and an active style. In this match he does a great left hook against a low kick and later on does a great left body hook. He's also shorter than most of his opponent (just like me!) so I'll be watching him to learn and improve.

Andy Souwer vs Warren Stevelmans K-1 Max 07.07.2008

Warren Stevelmans was the winner of the K-1 Max Holland two months back. I love his double hook combinations. I thought the match was pretty close and could have gone either way. Souwer as usual starts out slow but always finishing strongly in the end. Both fighter are very typical Dutch Muay Thai style, i.e. strong punch & kicking combinations. Hope to see more of Stevelmans in teh future. He has a good crowd pleasing power technical style. Best match of the night for me.

Masato vs Drago K-1 Max 07.07.2008

Masato was in great form in this match. Great boxing combinations and a low kick to finish off every combination. Check out Drago's lead thigh as the match progresses. Drago is known for his toughness and power but I think he totally got outclassed in this match.

Buakaw vs Sato K-1 Max 07.07.2008

Amazing match! Buakaw seemed to look old and slow or uninterested in the match. Contrast this match with when he first appeared and won K-1 Max back in 2004, it's like looking at two different fighters. I won't spoil the match for you guys but Sato is always improving. One of my fav fighters for his down to earth, honest and hardworking attitude.

Fujiwara Toshio Vs Muay Thai

This is a match that took place in Rajadamnern stadium 1979. Fujiwara Toshio is a famous Japanese fighter known for being a pioneer for Muay Thai in Japan. He was the first and one of the few foreign fighters to have won a stadium belt (Raja stadium belt) and respected by the Thais. Known for his long range punching, low kicks and a very offbeat unorthodox rhythm and footwork designed to fight against the typical Muay Thai fighter from Thailand. He also trained in Greco-roman wrestling to help counter the Thai style clinch as you can see from his clinching style in the video. His coach was Kenji Kurosaki, a well known Kyokushin karate fighter who fought n the first Karate vs Muay Thai challenge back in 1963. This is a vintage and rare video clip well worth a watch.