Man moved like he was in a hurry to go to taco Tuesday or something.
Summer’s almost over, our UFC break is done, and the kids are due back in school. Guess we need something to help digest the week. And we’re here.
So naturally, we land back where we always start. Our guy Jerry at Fight Commentary Breakdowns has a Tai Chi practitioner against a Sanda fighter. Now, this could go in various directions considering how Tai Chi works and what could be utilized. We’ve seen the art represented in a few ways, but perhaps never in a live scenario with gloves and in a cage.
Tai Chi guy does alright, actually. The limitations of the style are hard to discuss here because he’s not using a very traditional style and isn’t really using much of a flow state in his movement. As usual, just an interesting fusion of things and a look at how more traditional martial artists are attempting to modernize, evolve and adapt in the current environment.
African Warriors Fighting Championship is keeping the dream alive, and what a dream it is. Don’t wake me. It’s delivering.
Bahagon Alijanu takes on a foe simply named 2Pac and this is my favorite kind of bout. The lead hand tie up like the knife scene from the Beat It video (big ups to Wesley Snipes) makes it even more exciting. They keep gunning it with their striking hands until one of them falls but it doesn’t count. Doesn’t matter, it restarts and ends with a hard shot.
Here’s another one, and it’s a lot more straightforward. Some feints, then right to it. Some exciting exchanges but it’s brief and the fastest knockout in the organization’s history so far.
Here’s a compilation of Taekwondo knockouts from all over the place. Some are indeed quite old, others are fairly (relatively) recent. The compilation is from 2020, but it’s got some really beautiful execution and technique. It’s blazing action all the way through.
However, I have to warn you about this next clip. It’s a bit too violent for some.
You were warned.
Big Chungus hours have arrived. Check out this great vid from a familiar source, Chris Sumo. Here he breaks down some super heavyweights and some of their performances.
Here’s something we don’t see often: Ssireum. A Korean form of wrestling where competitors need to have a grip on each other’s belt, it’s somewhat similar but not the same as Sumo. Here’s a great primer on the cultural significance of it and how it’s taught in modern times, as well as some clips of actual high-level competition near the end.
In fact, Jerry (yes, the same guy) from Fight Commentary Breakdowns did a nice little analytical bit on the art:
As for the cherry on top, a feature from McDojo Life. Here’s more of the power of suggestion at work manifested in the form of goofy sifus using the power of pure magic against people that unfortunately just don’t know any better.
Lots of people watch videos of combat sports competition and think “yeah, I can take that guy“. With these… yeah. I’m confident any of you readers could take these cats on. Not that I’m encouraging it, we’re just here to point and giggle.
That’s it for this week, kids. May you find something you love as much as this kid loves corn. And remember – you might think you can fight, but there are many guys like you all over the world.