Fighting Styles from A to Z

[HomicideHenry]

Schwingen, as mentioned before is the traditional folk wrestling style that originated with ringen. From observation alone one is reminded of the glima style of the Scandinavians.



However, we will do a proper "S" style martial art and therefore we pick Sambo which is a Russian martial art of the wrestling genre.



Arguably the most famous practitioner of this martial art has been Fedor Emelianenko who was 3x Combat Sambo champion. He's had 3 bronze medals and 11 gold medals in Russian, European, and World Championships in Sambo.



There are different types of Sambo: Freestyle, Self Defense, Special, Beach, Sport, Combat. Again as with most martial arts there is the soft versions and the hard versions of disciplines. Combat and Sport and Self Defense Sambo are for realistic situations.

[HomicideHenry]

Taekwondo is a Korean martial art that emphasizes head kicks and striking with full power. It's not as balanced as karate but is generally thought to be more practical in a real combat situation than karate.



Unrelated to anything but I'm reminded of my father going into the Vietnam War in 1967 and before going to Vietnam he was stationed in South Korea and part of the training they had to do was to take rudimentary self defense courses in Taekwondo. Needless to say when Dad came back home he was basically unbeatable in street fights or bar room brawls because of this. Dad would sometimes win bets to get free drinks cuz he would do high kicks kicking the ceiling.

[HomicideHenry]

United States Modern Army Combatives Program, is essentially a martial art that is employed strictly through the United States military. It's a combination of boxing, kickboxing and submission wrestling. For all intents and purposes this is basically MMA being utilized by the United States military although it is being incorporated for realistic combat situations.

[HomicideHenry]

Vale Tudo for all intents and purposes is what the original UFC format was with virtually no rules. It is MMA with little to no restrictions. However since this is more in line with an event more than a style we will shift attention over to the Indian martial art known as Varma Kalai.



This particular martial art deals with locks and with pressure points. Because of the pressure point methodology part of this martial art also deals with healing the body through massage techniques of the pressure points as well.

[HomicideHenry]

Wing Chun has such a mystique around it that unfortunately it has fallen under the kind of criticism that Karate and Aikido comes under, and sometimes gets placed into the same kind of category as Ninjutsu. This, of course, is unfair for basically two reasons: bad schools produce poor students, and there are soft and hard versions of Wing Chun.



It also hasn't helped that Wing Chun does have a connection to Bruce Lee, as he started out in Wing Chun, and this of course for better or worse has brought both negative and positive attention to it. Lee's mentor was Ip Man, who was later the subject of a film of the same name and he has himself become a mythological figure with his exploits greatly exaggerated.



And of course there is the event surrounding Bruce Lee and Wong Jack Man which is controversial considering there is three different stories concerning what went down that day but it has taken on a mythology of its own with it being the subject of its own movie.

In short, according to the Lee family that Lee was teaching Wing Chun to non-Asians and this did not set well with the elders in the Asian community so they sent a message to the old country to bring in one of the Wing Chun masters to face Bruce Lee and told Lee that if he lost he could no longer teach non-Asians Oriental martial arts.

According to the Wong Jack Man side, the whole ordeal started because Bruce Lee was giving demonstrations which didn't go well which prompted Lee to make all sorts of comments that the Asian martial arts community was a joke because traditional martial arts simply did not work, and laid out a challenge that if anyone wanted to prove him wrong they could come down to his gym.



It has always been assumed that Bruce Lee won because he continued doing as he always done and his wife's testimony seems to be the only testimony he had on his behalf for that day as she was the only witness to the event other than the elders and Wong Jack Man. This fight was dramatically done in the Bruce Lee biopic with Brandon Lee portraying his father and is completely mythical and untrue as Lee's back problems happened during a stretch in the early 70s.



Regardless, upon its conclusion Bruce Lee had the epiphany that Wing Chun in and of itself was simply not enough in combat which began his martial arts career in the formulation of Jeet Kune Do.



It also hasn't helped that people like Samuel Kwok in the Wing Chun community has connections to people like Paddy Monaghan who has claimed for years that he was the middleweight bare knuckle boxing champion of the world when there is absolutely no shred of evidence that he ever was. So the legitimacy of Wing Chun itself takes a major hit when central figures in these disciplines are involved with people with zero credentials.



The truth is that Paddy Monaghan in his youth attempted to be a boxer but had to quit after two matches because it was discovered he had epilepsy. Because of this he went on public assistance and over the years became known as "Penniless Paddy," but came to fame as the president of the Muhammad Ali fan club when Muhammad Ali was an exile from boxing. It was not until the beginning of the internet did stories of Paddy Monaghan being some sort of bareknuckle champion pop up with a record available of who his opponents were and when they took place and what the results were.



Needless to say if one does any real searching they will find that Paddy Monaghan had a series of different health issues throughout his life including a heart attack in the 1980s where he claimed he was still fighting during that time, etc--- and the only times he ever left his native country of Ireland was when somebody else paid his way.

I don't think the Irishman ever thought that records of travel by train or plane or boat would ever be readily available to the public but nevertheless there is zero proof that the man ever was a bareknuckle boxer of any note or degree let alone being a world champion when anyone with a functioning brain knows there was no secret bareknuckle worldwide organization declaring anyone to be a champion.

Lastly I would point out that Bartley Gorman and others who were well known bareknuckle men anytime they ever mentioned Paddy Monaghan it was never in the sense of him being a fighter but always as being the president of the Muhammad Ali fan club. If he was indeed a bareknuckle fighter they would have mentioned him as such since they mentioned everyone else who was in Ireland or Great Britain who had a reputation of being a bareknuckle fighter regardless of their size.

[HomicideHenry]

Xing Yi Quan is a fighting style within Kung Fu in which the practitioner does movements like one would do with a spear. A very aggressive style that is done at close range in linear motions. It's origins are a matter of debate but it is generally thought that it was created in the 1700s although some teachers of this style claim that it previously existed prior to that point.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xing_Yi_Quan

[HomicideHenry]

Yabusame is a martial arts discipline involving archery on horseback. This very much reminds me of the Native Americans in the plains such as the Lakota. This discipline did not come into effect until the 4th century, although the bow had been around since prehistory. And this discipline began to peter out by the 16th century when the Portuguese brought guns to Japan, but would have a revival in the 17th century strictly as a sport rather than military applications.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yabusame

Since I am reminded of the Native Americans here in the United States of their mastery of horseback riding and archery a quick look at history shows that there was indeed wild horses in the United States of America as far back as 12,000 years ago which had to of came across the Bering Strait land bridge from Southeast Asia.

[HomicideHenry]

Zulu Stick Fighting is still practiced to this day in mock battles among the Zulu tribe, and gives a pretty good insight into the battle tactics of the Zulus and how they were so successful against the British despite having essentially stone age weapons.



One of the movies that made a lasting impression on me when I was a child was the film Shaka Zulu concerning the Zulu emperor during the British and Zulu Wars, which ultimately shown the horrors of colonialism which reminded me of my own country's history with the eradication of the Native Americans.

[Steveh583]

shorinji kempo. my first art

taiji my favourite (and most underrated)

[HomicideHenry]

PART TWO OF FIGHTING STYLES FROM A-Z

This will be a continuing series considering many martial arts also begin in A, B, C, etc. We began the first edition with Aikido and in this second edition we will begin with Archery.



Whether it be the English longbow made famous by legendary figures like Robin Hood or modern practitioners like Howard Hill, or recurved bows used by the Mongols, or developments such as the compact bow created by Fred Bear probably no weapon has changed the course of history more than the bow and arrow.

The origins of archery go well into prehistory roughly 70,000 years ago although archery as we know and understand it today has been well documented for the passed 10,000 years since the beginning of the cradle of civilization in the Fertile Crescent.



The influence of the bow and arrow became less and less upon the introduction of gunpowder in Europe during the mid to late Middle Ages, although the bow and arrow would have great success for a number of years against rifle men in the United States when they encountered the Native Americans.

[HomicideHenry]

shorinji kempo. my first art

taiji my favourite (and most underrated)

Sorry did not see your post there but we are starting from A to Z all over again and I've just did the letter A so feel free to put in your choice for a letter B.

[HomicideHenry]

Well since there has been no response to this in a while I will continue and for the letter B it will be, of course, boxing.

Although fist fighting is as old as human history going well into prehistoric times there seems to have been no real difference between a free-for-all and so-called prizefights of the 17th century and prior. Most matches in ancient Greek, Roman and Egyptian times allowed kicking and head butting and other tactics one would not consider to be true fist fighting. Many of those matches simply had no time limits or rounds and were strictly matches of toughness where the only way to win was to knock somebody unconscious or to force them to quit.



James Figg is generally considered to be the father of boxing though this is not exactly true. Figg might very well be the father of martial arts as he was a master swordsman, wrestler and fistfighter. In order to claim victory over him one had to beat him two out of three; the first "round" would be wrestling, the second would be fistfighting, and the last would be swords or cudgels. Needless to say he was undefeated for 20 years because nobody could defeat him in the other disciplines.



The true father of boxing would be one of Figg's students named Jack Broughton. While he was also a master swordsman and a competent wrestler he focused primarily on the fistfighting aspect of prize fighting. In 1743 he drafted the London Prize Ring Rules, and it can be said that he also developed the first cushioned boxing glove although he used them strictly for sparring purposes.



While the rules did allow for upper body grappling where a throw to the ground would end a round, it was a major step ahead from what it had been where all sorts of tactics were used such as eye gouging, fish hooking, kicking, etc. But possibly the biggest change to fistfighting through these rules was the creation of proper rounds and intervals between rounds as well as a count of 30 for an opponent to get off the canvas.



Now over in North America it took longer for the rules to truly take hold as there were several matches that took place allegedly under Broughton's rules but still allowed headbutts and nutting among other tactics. Such matches would be called "rough and tumble," and ought to be set apart from actual fistfighting as Broughton invented.

Broughton's rules would have no competition until 1865 (published 1867) when the Marquis of Queensbury drafted a set of rules that demanded the use of gloves and rounds of 3-minute durations with one minute intervals that made grappling of any kind prohibited. However it would not be until 1889 that these rules officially ended the bare knuckle era of boxing.

[Steveh583]

capoeira!

[HomicideHenry]

capoeira!

Capoeira, depending on who you ask, is either a fighting style or a style of dancing. Aesthetically pleasing to the eye it's often mimicked in the world of martial art films and video games, but it's actual effectiveness is questionable at best.



Some "martial arts" styles out there take a lot of self-discipline and athleticism to pull off but doesn't necessarily mean that it is practical in an actual fight or confrontation either on the street or in competition. Capoeira is one of these styles.



Now there are tons of videos out on YouTube of techniques from this fighting style being utilized in MMA fights but one has to keep in mind that if this really was as effective as people said it would be used all the time. One-off knockouts from a well-timed capoeira kick are about as rare as boston crabs being used as submission holds.

[HomicideHenry]

Dutch Kickboxing originates ironically out of Japanese kickboxing. Muay Thai, Boxing and Karate are the elements of the Dutch variation of kickboxing.



However it must be noted that for a time, due to language barriers, the word kickboxing in Dutch speaking countries basically applied to any combat sport that utilized kicks. This is why there has been much confusion concerning individuals like Jean Claude Van Damme who was said to be a kickboxing champion although the reality was he was a point fighting champion.

[HomicideHenry]

Enshin Kaikan is a form of karate which incorporates leg sweeps and throws and locks which is a more realistic form of combat than traditional karate which focuses on a philosophy of fighting rather than a practical fighting method.

[HomicideHenry]

French Savate is the original kickboxing art which began in the 1830s, and not long after the creation of the Marquis of Queensbury rules the French adopted the gloves for their kickboxing bouts. They also tend to wear shoes when competing in such matches.



Probably one of the better known French kickboxers in modern times has been Jerome LeBanner, shown below defeating former heavyweight boxing champion Frans Botha in K1.

[HomicideHenry]

Gatka is an Indian martial art developed out of Punjabi which focuses on the use of traditional weapons such as the talwar (sword), tegh (sword), khanda (sword), chakram (circle-based weapon), bagh nakh (metal claw), barcha (spear), etc.

[HomicideHenry]

Hapkido is perhaps best well known for being represented in the 1970s film BILLY JACK and it's subsequent sequels. A Korean martial art that was developed in the 20th century the discipline revolves around taekwondo strikes, redirecting the force of an attacker, locks and throws.

[Boxerbeetle]

Thanks for posting these Henry, some interesting stuff here I had no idea this thread existed, never come to this part of the forum, only ended up here just now because I clicked it by mistake.