SOLIPSISM

I am not the only being in the world...acknowledge other people...don't wait for others to acknowledge you!

MACHIDA era! "His Style is Unorthodox"....uhm no it's simply Basics!!! Back to Tradition!!!

First off, I would like to congratulate Lyoto Machida on his successful acquisition of the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.



Secondly, I don't normally hate, but man do the comments about this guy become quite, tiresome and annoying. "his style is unorthodox"...

As an avid watcher of violence (which I do not condone, but like to explore because of my human nature) and a Karate instructor, I've seen a lot of different fighting styles.

As my great Idol and hero Bruce Lee says, be formless...

Adapt.

There is no secret to Machida's style...only simply that he doesn't forget his basics, and keeps practicing... the moves he uses are the moves I teach my students. Although the way they practice it is a more basic form to than how Machida executes them...but it is STILL THE SAME MOVE!!!!

e.g. front kick from stance, and lunge punches.

It's up to the practitioner (Karateka) to make the move their own. To learn to put their spirit, and their entire Being behind each technique.

People forget the tradition, and get involved with the hype of being a badass, and bully. 99% of these UFC and MMA guys are REALLY nice guys who have a same passion of violence as I do, they just express and exercise it in a controlled manner....however when 90% of these mma fighters practice (DON'T quote me on statistics I am assuming on what I watch) martial arts, or forms of fighting, they do it to gain better physical fitness (well...who doesn't?). One Thing I notice though training in MMA gyms, as opposed to a traditional dojo (but what is a traditional dojo nowadays?) is that, the TRADITION aspect of the art/way is lost....
LOST only due to the growing popularity of showcasing ones "guns".

In Karate (specifically JKA) we practice the inseparable trinity of the 3 K's: Kihon (Basics) Kata (Forms) and Kumite (Sparring). Kihon (basics) is something that is practiced everywhere. People may sometimes just forget to continue maintaining their basic training because they have learned to perform more complex techniques, which is understandable. I won't necessarily ride a bike with training wheels now that I know how to ride a REAL bike...BUT the fact that I did start off in training wheels allowed me to gain the understanding of balance and coordination...
I can understand why people may oppose Kata training, because it may not be soo Practical in today's world... BUT the foundations and fundamental elements of Kata, I feel are important to the development of ones character, through discipline and control....
The stuff I hear from people nowadays is that, Kata takes too long to actually get a real understanding of, and use for practicality, and that training to fight is more practical for "REAL LIFE" situations...I Fully understand this and don't mind it, in this fast paced "dangerous" world who wouldn't want to learn how to protect themselves as quickly as possible?

What I am NOT particularly fond of is when people disregard Kata altogether and consider it obsolete... OKAY i understand it may be boring, tedious and takes a WHOLE LIFETIME to actually master...(but not even really master it, ones understanding of Kata's are always changing)...BUT what is life without challenge, or change?
For those who are not martial artists, I do not expect you to fully grasp what I am saying, I am just venting.

Now I do admire people who perform and showcase feats of great strength achieved through much HARD WORK, DISCIPLINE, SELF CONTROL, and PASSION...BUT it bothers me when this is not fully recognized and acknowledged...I still have to work on this, it shouldn't bother me as much as it does...but anyway this is an Itch I need to scratch.


***Real reason for this post***
Reading comments regarding how BORING MACHIDA is, and how UNORTHODOX his style is, is a mentality that irks me more than it should.  Particularly because I feel people just do not understand what he is doing, and "people fear what they don't understand"

People may consider me biased because I practice the same style (Shotokan JKA) that Machida does, BUT it is only part of the reason why I love him. I love and respect him as a fighter because he KEEPS tradition, and is disciplined enough to maintain his performances to the use of basics, of what he learned since white belt ...

The people who blindly assume he is BORING because he is patient and waits for the PERFECT moment to strike, now can see him in a new light. If boring means executing perfectly timed, accurate strikes, then I don't know what intense and suspenseful action is...

For the record, as a Judo practitioner too, I find ground fighting tedious and boring, a lot of guys in mma win solely through ground fighting and submission, Machida on the other hand, perfers to finish through strikes only.
BUT this rant is strictly my opinion...

Lesson to be learned: At least acknowledge and understand this man's style of fighting before calling him Boring, Soft and or WEAK!

Sorry Rashad, this one is not a pic you would want your kids to see.




This is for the people who thought Evans was to BIG and STRONG for the WEAK and SOFT Machida.
Evans after the barrage. I LOVE YOU Rashad, but Damn!



For those who have not seen this match....
it's been deleted off many sites due to copyright, but with the help of editing, hopefully this would not be deleted anytime soon.

Someone placed the score to Pagliacci's tragedy, with clips of Rocky IV...its quite hilarous, yet devestating at the same time...the power of the HUMAN BEING!


Lyoto Machida vs Rashad Evans: Rocky IV Style from buakaw on Vimeo.




***Machida has shown that he is not invincible! As can be seen by his losses to Shogun, and Jon Jones.

We are all human, and everyone and anyone can be defeated.
Just how can we get back from that defeat is the true test.



LG