On a Link to a BlackBeltMag.com Post
BLACK BELT: Click to read “Joe Lewis Takes Aim at the Myth of the Street Fighter.”
On a Story We Posted Online
BLACK BELT: Read “One Art Is Not Enough: The Self-Defense
Philosophy of Kickboxer Kathy Long.”Bradley Alan: That’s why my “karate” mixes karate, judo,
jujitsu and some traditional Korean kobudo.Rick Alan Reynolds: Took taekwondo for three months while
studying kajukenbo to strengthen my leg kicks. Worked like a
charm.Steve Proctor: Bruce Lee made this point many years ago in
his book Tao of Jeet Kune Do. Take what is useful from many
arts.Ryan Kollenborn: I used to take kung fu & kickboxing where
Kathy trained in the early 90s! She’s a very cool woman and
very deadly. In kung fu she flipped me by my hair when I was
like 14 years old when I first started training. It was an honor lol,
I learned a lot from her and her instructor/sifu Eric Nolan, the
good old days a little before MMA took over in North America.Jasso Raul: Sample many, stick to one! The one that suits
you...On a Letter We Titled
“Dear Black Belt”
Anonymous reader:
“I’m a martial artist
who just started
dating a non-martial
artist. Things are
good. Yesterday,
I found out that
she owns a Travel
Wrench self-defense tool. Me, too, as you can
see here. Should I take this as a sign that we are
meant for each other?”
Kyle Maru Frey: No. No you shouldn’t.
Keith Vargo: Didn’t know you were including
an advice column in the magazine now.
Joel Thornhill: She deserves better than you.
iamMWH: Only if you both know how to use it.
If so, then it’s love at first strike.
Dmitri Litvin: A lot of what’s written
is interesting. I don’t know if he chose
to ignore something or just didn’t
think about it, but many fights “in
the street” are won by aggression at
most. People who possess good tech-
nique and tactics can get wasted just
due to lack of situation awareness or
lack of understanding that they are
attacked by someone who wishes
them harm. Psychologically, an
unexpected violent attack is a very
different situation than sparring with
a ref in a ring. Of course if you train,
you improve your chances, but there
are [things] that are unique to a real
self-defense situation that you must
be aware of. And of course taking an
aggressive crook from “the street”
and expecting him to win a pro fight
without preparation is absurd.
Donovan Weir: I would say the dif-
ference is a lack of protective mea-
sures. In a competition, you have a
ref, gloves and rules. A self-defense
situation doesn’t have that. So a very
skilled fighter won’t be saved by a ref
if he gets a shot to the groin or poke
to the eye. That by no means is a
reason to think that a trained fighter
or martial artist will lose because of
that, but it is a factor that changes the
mentality on the streets. So I would
have to disagree with the statement
that “there is no difference between a
fight in the ring and the street.”Russ Pipkin: I can’t keep count [of]
the amount of “street fighters” that
got their butts handed to them by
a trained MMA friend and Army
MACP trained vet, and the very
words out of their mouths is some-
thing to the tune of, “I’m out of prac-
tice/shape,” or “If this was the street
(insert erroneous outcome here,)”
forgetting they were in the living
room or backyard that is essentially
the street. Lewis said it best in thearticle, pointing out that there’s no
real difference in the venue whether
it’s an octagon, tatami or sidewalk.English Fighting Arts: No such
thing as a street fighter, but you do
get people who go for unlicensed
boxing, and there are people who
train purely to protect themselves on
the streets.AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2019 § BLACKBELTMAG.COM 21