I used to think karate was for losers

[Big Tai O]

I was greatly deluded by the media. When I saw UFC in 1993, I thought karate was useless. Like many people who where naive and only knew Bruce Lee flicks, I saw Royce Gracie take down boxers and kickboxers and make them look bad. Most karate black belts in the UFC were just guys who never sparred. But as MMA evolved, some kyokushin practitioners learned how to adapt sport karate to a MMA environment. I admire Lyoto Machida and how he uses evasive footwork, self control, and irime to knock people out as they are reaching for the clinch. Wrestlers are just children.

So there are different kinds of karate. There is not just shotokan or the traditional styles. Kyokushin is probably the best martial art. I see the tournaments from Japan and see this stuff is legit. They punch to the body, kick to the legs, body, and head, and they move real good. It is hard karate. I also am a fan of San Da.

So like many people who grew up in rich neighborhoods, I didn't know reality. It turns out the best martial arts are wrestling, karate, tai chi, and san da. And muay thai and grappling is just kid's stuff. Traditional martial artists have classical technique because they have more training.

My best experience in the martial arts was training san da and sambo at a gym on long island. I won a takedown tournament and made my uncle proud. And that made me happy.

Did anyone else become disillusioned with karate?

[len mccoy]

Kyokushinkai is wonderful. It's kumite builds courage even if you never compete outside your own dojo. There is a lot more to it than just sport fighting. Also the no face punch rule probably limits problems with punch drunk fighters later in life. I started in Kyokushinkai but have tried other karate style and they all have something wonderful also. Wado teaches a completely different way to move and includes some advanced jujutsu. Matsumura seido is a old tradition with a lot of joint locks and weapons and some different bunkai. Toma Sensei Seidokan teaches Okinawa Te sword and a unique kama kata. Things like bjj and wrestling have a lot to offer but God only gives us so much time. If you have a teacher you enjoy working with no matter what style practice as hard and as much as you can without neglecting your other responsibilities. Len McCoy