Phil Doherty is Editor of Martial News.

He is one of the founders of DFM Martial Arts which teaches street combat Directional Fighting Method, DFM Reivers Mixed Martial Arts and DFM Kickboxing.

He has trained in Wado Ryu Karate, Ninjutsu, Taekwondo, Kung Fu and Kali and is Managing Director and a senior conflict resolution trainer for DFM Self-protection Ltd, the company behind Martial News.

MARFEST - HELP RAISE CASH IN THE BATTLE AGAINST CANCER

THE Marfest is nearly upon us again and as always Martial News is supporting this great festival.

All the money raised from this event goes towards research at Cancer Research UK's Newcastle centre.

So, not only are those who take part in the event helping to provide money used to find new cures and treatments, they are also helping to maintain employment in the North of England.

The event has has now been on the go for 11 years and its all down to the fantastic organiser Sensei Peter Seth who has tirelessly worked to put the show on year in and year out.

And this year its going to be a great event with many of the top clubs from across the region gathering to support the festival.

This year will see Preying Mantis Kung Fu, Taekwondo, Capoeira, Japanese sword, Ju-jitsu, Kempo, Ninjutsu, plus Karate and Aikido, Escrima, Kobudo and many other systems take part in the event.

Or visit:

PHIL DOHERTY: THE evolution of Martial News is continuing.

You may have noticed but we now have direct email on site on a number of pages including the contact page, advertising, comment among others.

This means it is now easier than ever to send stories directly to us.

The Cage Fight Night section - which we have put up for you to a looksy will be going fully live at the end of this month.

On the third weekend of every month this will be updated with fight updates, results and features of kickboxing, MMA, Muay Thai and submission grappling.

We will be running a new MMA rankings on the Cage Fighters page that will feature fighters from first the North East of England and then the rest of our patch. So if you want to see yourself in these ranking then email us using the contact page.

It will start with the top fighters in the region but will include all fighters from pro to amateur.

Martial News is also joining forces with the biggest fight units in the UK in an exciting new project that we cannot yet reveal...but watch this space. 

The Combat Store will follow this. Here you will be able to buy equipment at discount prices if your club comes from our patch areas of Scotland and North of England.

To email Phil:

UNIVERSAL TRUTHS

PHIL DOHERTY:  HAVING been in the martial arts game now for more than 25 years I'm still struck by how much the different arts have in common.

We often get caught up in "our style" that we forget there is far less that separates us than we imagine.

Now seasoned martial arts instructors who have trained in various systems will already know this through experience.

But often beginners, or those with few years in the arts, imagine that the styles are very distinct from each other...and superficially they may appear that way.

Afterall, Taekwondo does not look much like Aikido, for instance. And Capoeira doesn't seem to share much in common with Kali.

But if you look more carefully there are more similarities than you may think.

For example, in the Filipino arts there is the escala - a grid if you like where you can practise the art of angling for defence and attack using sticks, weapons and empty-hand techniques.

And if you ever get a chance to look at Capoiera or Wing Chun you will see similar uses of the same angles, albeit done in a different way. Instead of a grid that shows the directions to strike...you can lie it on the floor and have grid for footwork...

This basic grid is also found in other systems - again done differently - but essentially its the same grid. Its known in swords arts and I've seen it in Ju-jitsu syllabuses.

And the interesting thing about this grid is - if you change it from being a foot pattern and impose it on the person, it becomes the lines of attack which weapons flow through. So now there are multiple lines of attack and evasion in three dimensions.



Shift the X-angles inward so it forms a tight roman X and those are the basic sword cut angles you can strike with using a Katana (V).

Now as a foot grid it become the eight angles of evasion...the ways you can evade an in-coming attack, or the angles of attack which you can angle along to put yourself at the best position to strike.

Are those known to Karate? Yes - think of the katas and you will see them being employed there also. Take the beginning of the pinan katas (heian) and you see moves... to the left, then to the right, then a 90 degree turn to the rear followed by a 180 degree turn to the front.

And its known to just about every art - it might not be taught as such - but if you look closely you will see played over and over again regardless of the system.

In Aikido those are the points you will move to albeit using a circle to get there instead of directly going down or back on them (although Aikido DOES go down and along those lines on the floor usually by stepping out with a foot before it commences or as part of the circular motion, for example).

That is because those lines are a basic universal truth whether they are used on the floor as a foot pattern grid or as angles for weapons or empty-hand strikes. A roundhouse kick to the head...simply shift the the centre point of the escala to the head and a roundhouse kick then follows either an X-angle or a Cross-angle, depending on the way the roundhouse kick is done...

In Filippino arts they use basic foot patterns, some which are described as asterisked A's.
V shaped and then inverted the other way so the ^ now stands on two legs (there are many of these foot patterns and I'm using the most basic here). Put those together so they join where the lines point and you've got the X-angle again...

But its not just something as basic as those eight angles that are universal truths.

A friend of mine Master Robert Brooks is an experts in western swords. He kindly showed me some very old texts which western sword arts were explained. In the texts were many sword disarms.

They resemble many of the techniques you can see in Ju-jutsu, Aikido and Ninjutsu, Chin Na Karate, Kung Fu and on and on.

In Aikido there is a technique known as Kotei gaeshi. But its not perculiar to that system and is found just about every other system in one form or another. In Ninjutsu its gyakudori ura, in Karate (beginning of Passai) its known as kotei and in Ju-jutsu as kotei ura and so on and so on (it often has different names from style to style even in a particular system such as Karate).

It is also seen in old western sword schools...why? Because its a universal truth - if I bend your wrist and twist you will - because of body mechanics - be either thrown to the floor or, at the very least, be severely disbalanced.

Is it known to kicking arts such as Taekwondo? Well, yes...its in the books written by General Choi...but whether its in sport Taekwondo is a different matter as the focus for those schools is sport not the original self-defence methods first envisaged by the style's founder.

I've used those examples as just that examples...there are many other universal truths between the different arts.

What makes the systems different is merely the emphasis. In Karate its punching and kicking, in Taekwondo its kicking and punching, in Ju-jutsu its throwing and locking...

But the universal truths are there if you look for them...the similarities that thread through all the combat arts and link them altogether.

You merely have to open your eyes, your heart and more importantly your mind to truly see them.

To email Phil:

phil.doherty@martialnews.co.uk

Or visit:

www.dfmmartialarts.co.uk

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COLOURED BELTS

PHIL DOHERTY: I was reading the other day a website dedicated to selling martial arts belts as well as other sports gear.

On that website there was a product where you can proudly display all your belts in a plastic, see-through display with pockets to place your treasured belts in order.

At first I thought: "My God - people would actually put their belts on display! How sad is that!"

I mean, would you? Could you put your belts in display for others to admire? Personally I used to give mine away to those coming up the ranks behind me to save them a couple of bob. At the same time those above me would do the same thing...well until they got their black belts...

But then I'm getting old (er!). I forget that when you are a child you like collecting things and showing what you can achieve. Especially boys...they like to put things in orders, collect things and admire those collections.

I know I did and so to do my two sons.

And why shouldn't a youngster be rightly proud that they've stuck to something, persevered and learned the self-discipline we all talk about?

We forget as we grew older and more jaded through life's experiences what it really means to achieve something in our lives for the first time. 

Its all relative - when you're a child gaining a belt in martial arts is as a big deal to them as winning a new promotion at work is to us, for example.

And if it encourages youngsters to keep taking those grades...because at the moment boys especially are under a lot of pressure in society. 

Schools are so female orientated, especially primary schools, that boys are now lagging behind in education. They are vilified through the media, viewed with suspicion on the streets and generally treated as if they are a problem.

But the youngsters of today are not the enemy as they are our tomorrow. As a society we all need to let the youngsters of today know they are capable of success and that they are valued.

This is something martial arts is very good at. It builds kids' confidence, self-worth and gives them a clear structured goals in the form of grades which they can attain through hard work while teaching them the virtues of perseverance and self-discipline

So go and display your belts my little young friends - you've worked for them and deserve them...

To find out more about DFM Martial Arts visit:

REVAMP OF MARTIAL NEWS

PHIL DOHERTY: YOU may have noticed we revamped Martial News.

For a start off we've widened the blog pages to create more space for the blogs and create a more roomy feel to them.

We have also added a second row of menu buttons on the top of each page, and changed their colours to black and red - the website colours.

And placed a blue strap underneath.

The story and feature pages and the hubs have been given the treatment.

There is also new features such as the film and video review column by Daniel Drew. He will be looking at films old and new and giving his verdict whether they are turkeys or swans.

The Club Directory is up-and-running so send us your website link and club logo and we'll add you to it. These are click through taking people directly to your website. This is free to any club, association or group.

Over the next few months more and more regeneration of the site will be taking place with new features, expanded and extra pages leading deeper into the site will be revealed. 

One that we can tell you about is the hub pages. These will be changed over the next few weeks.

If you like what we are doing - or don't - please email me and let us know your thoughts. 

What would you like to see added?

LET YOUR INNER CHILD OUT TO PLAY

PHIL DOHERTY: Martial arts is a funny old business.

There is always something new to learn. Yet there is always a danger of getting caught in your own style or system and closing your mind to new ways of expressing what we collectively do.

Afterall a punch is just a punch, a kick is just a kick and block is exactly that a block.

There really isn't a "true" way of doing things because they all are simply different expressions of the same thing.

Yes, there are those who believe if you aren't doing it their "way" they you are not doing it correctly. Which, of course, is blinkered thinking.

How can you cast judgement on something if you've never done it, never tried some other system or even understood the basic principles underlying a style?

Yet the martial arts abounds with "masters" who will tell you that this "wrong" that's "not right" and that's "doesn't work".

And to one degree or another we all do this because we all carry our own baggage around with us. We are all human.

There is an old adage that its best to look at things as if through the eyes of your inner child.  Children do not have blinkered views on things because everything to them is a new experience. They are open-minded.

Maybes we - who are adults - should allow our inner child out more often when confronted with other styles and systems. Maybes we should all be less judgemental and more playful in body, mind and spirit.

QUESTIONS...

BREAKING BOARDS...THICK AS TWO SHORT PLANKS

PHIL DOHERTY: I was reading some newspaper in the US the other day and in one of them they had a picture of a boy, 7, breaking boards.

I think this is just wrong. A seven-year-old's joints are not fully formed and doing - what I believe is just stupid in anycase - breaking boards could cause untold damage to young joints and bones.

And why break boards in any case??????

Its not as if you are going to fight a piece of wood!

When I first starting doing Wado Karate many many years ago we also broke boards for demonstrations and it was also part of the training I did in Taekwondo.

But quite frankly its just pants and - if you really give it some thought -  has absolutely no practical use...unless you need firewood and have lost your axe!

If a seven-year-old can break a piece of wood why bother seeing adults doing the same thing. I'm I supposed to be impressed by a 20-stone man doing the same thing that a seven-year-old can do?

I've heard the arguments its about testing a person courage and strength etc...

Doesn't really wash for me however, as like I said I've never been attacked by a piece of wood (sticks yes but not by a small bit of pine from the local timber yard) and I think its time this was confined to the dustbin.

But its not just breaking boards...take doing press ups on your knuckles on hard surfaces...this is just lunacy if you are talking about kids. Yes, what a great idea we'll but the full body weight on growing joints to see if they can take the pain and grow big callouses on their hands. Hello, planet Earth calling, these are children for Godsakes! Do we really what our kids with malformed hands????

People will no doubt howl that its traditional....bollocks. Most of these arts that do these things are not even a 100 years old and old schools of martial arts in my, albeit limited knowledge, didn't teach kids.

This is MODERN times - just because something is "traditional" doesn't mean its right! Knowledge has moved on and having children doing something which clearly has no real purpose and could cause damage that won't come apparent to years later is stupid.

Children trust their instructors - as do parents - but that is from a baseline of ignorance.

And while I'm on a rant here's another stupid thing that martial arts schools inflict upon kids without any real thought to the damage it causes. Punching and kicking thin air...many of my contempories are suffering bad knees and shoulders because of this in their later years.

Yes - years ago when martial arts first grew in popularity the damage these things do wasn't widely known - but it is now and there really isn't any excuse to continue these nutty practices anymore.

Yet thousands and thousands of kids up and down the country will be punching and kicking thin air as they march up and down sports and church halls this week.

Buy some flipping focus pads and kick shields for godsake.

If you want to do those things as an adult, fine, that's your perogative but don't inflict them on young bodies just because its "traditional" (which must be the most over-worn expression going, just makes me laugh at how many arts call themselves this when in truth they are nothing but traditional, having usually a Grandmaster who is still alive or barely under the sod).

Why not email me at phil.doherty@martialnews.co.uk with your suggestions and comments on Martial News.

Yours in budo - Phil Doherty

WEBSITE CHANGES

We will be opening up a onsite store. This will sell combat clothes and equipment at cheap rates.  All the region's clubs will get a special cut-price rate onsite making buying even cheaper.

Every purchase will also mean money for charity as we'll give away a tenth of the small profit to good causes.

We have also added a Cage Fight Night section for fight fans so its easier to buy tickets. Again this event at Castle Morpeth will be looking to add money to our total raised for Help For Heroes. Want to support those who supported the country...then come along and enjoy a night full of action.  

Back to the rest of the site - yes the pages have been expanded outward. Its best viewed on full screen on Google or Bing.

In time all the pages will expand outward and be given a revamp.

Next on the agenda are the blogs and the rest of the "back" pages such as the tutorials etc

We hope you like the changes...

FICKLE LIFE

PHIL DOHERTY: LIFE can be a fickle thing some times.

You just think you might be getting somewhere and something hits you like a bus out of the blue.

I'm having one of those weeks where everything that could go wrong appears to be trying its hardest to do so and is usually succeeding.

But never mind its Martial News' birthday.

Its hard to believe its been an entire year since we fist launched Martial News...its probably flown by because of the hard work that has gone on behind the scenes to get up and running every month.

The team all put a lot of effort into making it a success.

PHIL DOHERTY: Its always a bit sad when you lose a good student.

You miss them, their comradery, their presence and their chatter in the all-important after class yak session (which if you come from the North usually consists of mutual ribbing...).

But you can't hold onto people if they want to go. Nor should you as an instructor.

If a student leaves to start their own club it is far better to let them go and help them get established because isn't that what parents do when their children grow up and leave the nest to feather their own?

Instructors - although they may not realise it - are in a way surrogate fathers and mothers for many students. Its through their instructor that some people first learn the value of self-worth and real achievement (which is one of the many reasons why the invention of the coloured belt system by Kano Sensei really is genius).

The instructor may the only person in some people's lives where they have heard persistant praise and real constructive criticism.

They grow from the overall martial arts experience of physically seeing and feeling themselves develop both the bodily skills but also the mental side as well, where their attitudes, beliefs and expectations are expanded over time until they grow in confidence and self-awareness.

Some students leave because new things catch their young minds, others because they've grown bored with the repetition, some because of personal problems while others because girlfriend/boyfriend pressurise them to do so...etc etc.

If students leave then its best to keep a door open for them to return than slam it in their face. When you left home did your father or mother say "...and don't come back!". Most likely not...

Like the proverbial bird you have to let it go for it to come back to you. 

And if they don't return then wish them on their way to wherever and whatever the spinners of fate have directed...

TWITCHY...

PHIL DOHERTY:  I Don't know about you but I always get twitchy during the festive season.

You know what I mean, restless.

I guess that's what happens when your body expects to go and do some exercise and you can't because classes are shut for the hols.

I find myself pacing up and down like some mad demented zoo animal, with a wild glare in my eye...

So I'm glad classes are back and the familiar structure of my week has been restored (The wife's happy -  I'm not getting under her feet as much!).

Its funny how when training stops - even for a brief time - you start to miss it, and part of that missing is the structure that you construct your weeks by.

I know I go training on Monday, Wednesday and Friday...so I plan everything else around those nights (This can drive the missus mad!).

My body knows I train on those days and, I suppose, it's adjusted its internal clock to expect a certain level of physical exercise on those days. If I don't get it man, then I get twitchy.

(Does that mean if I'm attacked it would be better on a training day because my body expects it?  Answers on a postcard...)

YIN - YANG - ROUND TWO

PHIL DOHERTY: THERE feel better now...

It just never ceases to amaze me how a small minority of people are just closed to seeing anyone else's point of view...and frankly I need a good old rant against everything and everyone.

But this is my soft side...

Here's a rhetorical question: Why is it that people seem to need to feel superior... because what I'm really talking about is that terrible British condition - snobbery, but in this case of a martial flavour.

Now, I was being deliberately provocative in the earlier blog...I want to shake the tree.

I respect the martial arts but not a person who tries to use them in a negative manner...to exercise martial snobbery over others.

As I said - this snobbery is in all branches and systems of martial arts - Mod and Trad - because it doesn't enamate from the systems but from individuals.

And frankly I've been lucky to meet few of these because its my experience that most people are opened minded, at least enough, to appreciate the differences if not embrace them.

Most of us aren't snobs...

We enjoy other arts and what they do without the need to judge.

I speak to people all the time from art to art, system to system - Mod and Trad - and the vast majority of people I have spoken to are just interested in martial arts and love talking about it.

But we all know these snobs are out there...we have all met some one at some time who just doesn't get the Yin-Yang of what we collectively do.

The "My arts the best in the world..."; the "Your art is rubbish because you don't know the secret...; the "That's not authentic because you don't belong to such and such a organisation; the "Well you know, my art goes all the way back to the Stone Age; well what you do is all right if you just wannaaaaaa......"

And haven't just wanted to shout the blog below in their face!

I suppose like all snobs those people see the rest of us as the "others". We are the outsiders, them, the great unwashed...and not the chosen.

Everyone should have pride in their system...but they should also let others have pride in theirs.

Below I was being provoking and rude - because that's how I see martial snobs. Rude.

Martial arts are meant to be Yin-Yang, hard soft, soft hard. It's meant to enclose all ways of doing things and all reasons for doing so.  If it didn't then it - The Martial Arts - would be seriously incomplete.

This is why all martial arts deserve respect - even if you'll never do it yourself - because otherwise you are just dissing yourself. 

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A LOAD OF B*LLOCKS

PHIL DOHERTY: I'm a MOD - not a TRAD -  I used to be a TRAD but got fed up with people back biting, infighting and being negative towards each other.

I grew up and wanted to have a more grown up attitude than name calling and put downs

The reason why I made the above statement is because there is one thing that I simply cannot be bothered with in martial arts and that is the pathetic game of one-up-manship.

You see it all parts of our martial world. Both traditional and modern.

Instead of "My dad's bigger than yours!" read "My traditional lineage is longer than yours!"

Swop "My system is more authentic than yours" with "My c*ck is bigger than yours!"

How can some thing be more authentic!!!!!!!!

Got news for you - ITS ALL MADE UP!

Yes, somebody INVENTED all the different systems! And they ALL started off as something new, or evolved from something else.

So, when some one comes up to me and tells me that "You shouldn't train with such and such because its fake" and "What they are doing isn't real!" I roll my eyes and reach for the Pampers for the soiled little darlings - coz they are frankly talking...

Real! Not real! A punch is a punch a kick is a kick and it doesn't matter if it the system is a 1000 years old or a 1000 hours old if the person connects with a powerful front kick to your b*llocks I'm sure the last thing that will go through your mind as you bend over doubled in pain is "That's not real! You can't do that because you haven't got the correct lineage!"

Its the same when MOD people tell me that this Trad system is "rubbish" and that Trad system "won't work".

Context please! Its no good saying sport karate won't work in the street...doh, its a SPORT! If the people practising that form of karate wanted to be street killing machines they'd be doing karate-jutsu...

And don't tell me that modern MMA is the ULTIMATE fighting art coz it isn't...try using MMA against a Kenjutsu expert and see how far shooting in will get you minus your arms!

If you do Kenjutsu lets see how far you get against a Kyudo expert at 100 yards...for that matter.

Ditto street combat systems - please go to the cage, have half your arsenal taken away from you by rules and see what happens. Street combat is quick and brutal and doesn't have rules -  but MMA guys will be a hellavu lot fitter than you and in the cage will most likely knock ten bells out of you because you will have to compete by their RULES!

(I recommend biting and nut grabbing! Or biting his nuts which I once witnessed in a take-on-all-comers wrestling match at Blackpool Pleasure Beach! The wrestler wasn't expecting that from the punter when he took him down and into a North-South! The punter then got absolutely flannelled by a female wrestler who jumped in to save her neutered colleague!)

And as for MMA guys thinking that cage fighting equates to self-defence...pleaaaasssee!

Half the moves you see in MMA done on the street will quickly get your head kicked in by your opponent's mates. Yes, please roll around the ground while the thugs stomp all over you! Worse, see yourself in court on a murder charge because you shot in with a double leg takedown and...smashed the opponent's head into the concrete killing them with a fractured skull.

I've covered enough news stories on so-called one punch deaths thank you very much - that isn't self-protection that's a SPORT.

If I had a pound for the number of times I've been told that by someone that their system is authentic and traditional and others aren't I'd be stinking rich and enjoying the sunshine in the Med.

This is usually said by someone who practices an art INVENTED less than a century ago (Here take your pick: Wado Ryu; Shotokan; Taekwondo; Judo; Aikido; Hapkido; many Japanese Ju-jitsus; many forms of Escrima; Brazilian Jui-jitsu etc etc etc ad nauseum).

And you can shove your lineages where the sun don't shine because tracing your art back 1000 years won't help you on a dark night in alley facing half a dozen drug crazed youngsters armed with knives and intent to cause you GBH. Being a good sprinter and long distance runner is the martial art I'd recommend in that situation...

And save the mystic rubbish for the fairy tales...its fake and has been replicated by sceptics so many times I don't want to even go there. If not the magician Randy has a cool £1m for the first person who can fly around as seen in Kung Fu movies...go and collect it!

Now I started this blog with a statement about TRADS and MODS.

The truth is MODS can be just as bad.  I was once told by a Krav guy that Ju-jitsu was rubbish...hello, Krav has more Ju-jitsu in it than some ju-jitsu systems!

I was told that I was a "disgrace" for mixing up different countries traditional systems by a Taekwondo guy who obviously didn't know that his system is a mixture of Korean and Japanese styles...and is as modern as they come!

I've been reliably informed that the modern art of Aikido is the ultimate martial art because it uses yielding principles. Obviously never seen Judo or Ju-jitsu, Tai Chi or a zillion other arts then.

A MOD street combat instructor stated that traditional martial arts don't work. Tell that to half a dozen doormen I know who use arts like Aikido and Shotokan karate etc. Seems to work for them mate!

I once witnessed a Jeet Kune Do guy being dropped by a Kyokinshinkai Karate guy outside a pub after he said karate was cr*p and wouldn't stand against a modern system. Cue two rapid leg kicks to the thigh and one Jeet Knue Do guy lying on the ground yowling "You've broke my leg!" (which he hadn't - just give him food for thought!).

Its all a load of B*LLOCKS.

Do your art, enjoy it and show and respect the differences whether they are TRAD or MOD!

BUSY BOY

PHIL DOHERTY: As I mentioned in my last blog I've been a very busy boy recently...

On Friday, Oct 30th we held our Cage Fight Night up at The Alnwick Gardens.

And tonight (Sunday, Nov 1st) I'm busy finishing off Martial News for the November First Edition.

Strange thing is though I'm bone tired through lack of quality sleep and stress I still love to talk shop as it were.

I never get sick of talking to other martial artists, regardless of style or system.

While others, over the years, have fallen by the wayside and given up training I've keep going, week-in week-out...I guess like thousands of other instructors up and down the country.

Its true that some times I ask myself "Why?" while I'm wondering if its all worth it. Like when you rush up to training on a horrible night and find only the cats turned up to train, or everyone has turned up to train but the caretaker has forgotten to open up!

Oh boy!

But I suppose its like yin-yang those dark days are balanced by the good times when students excel at a grading or you do a demo without making one major cock-up (rare - but nice!).

Then you know why you do it, or at least I do.

I guess the combat arts are just too deep under my skin after 26 years of practicing them for me to seriously consider every jacking it all in...beside, I'd miss all those chats with students and instructors...

Yours in budo - Phil Doherty

TIME FLIES...

PHIL DOHERTY: I've had a busy few weeks recently turning the website interactive and preparing for the Cage Fight Night up at Alnwick.

If you click on the ads they will take you directly to the websites of the club's and businesses advertising on site.

These are part of the changes that are taking place with Martial News, albeit more slowly than I anticipated.

Ah...there is always so much to do! But so little time to do it!

Its a bit like that with the martial arts themselves...there are so many systems I'd love to have time to train in.

But unfortunately there is not enough time in the world to train in the multitude of systems and styles that exist today.

I was asked recently by a parent which was the best style to learn. I truthfully replied all and none of them! It depended on why she wanted her son to learn for, I said. And more importantly why HE wanted to learn in the first place.

Explaining that our organisation doesn't teach anyone under 16-years of age because of the nature of the systems we teach, I suggested that she talked to as many instructors of the club's in her area as possible before committing to a particular club.

I didn't want her wasting her time, you see, blindly choosing the nearest club or class and then finding it not to her son's liking, or being led to believe that that systems is the "best" because someone else says so.

Many students just go along to the first system or closest class to them, or the one that advertises the most, without really giving it much thought as to why they want to learn a martial art.

They don't ask questions even of themselves never mind the instructor.

And, if they are not careful, they can find themselves going down a "Way" that really wasn't what they were looking for afterall. 

And when you get to my age you realise why time is so precious, and why you shouldn't waste it.

But what of the instructors? How many of us - me included - have told some one they could join without first asking the prospective STUDENT what it is they are looking for?

Guilty M'Lud!

Surely we have a duty though to make sure what we teach is appropriate to what the student needs are. 

Afterall we are the experts!

Gotta go - haven't got the time you see, must finish off this second edition, walk the dog, speak to the wife in passing and round me awol kids up for their dinner, speak to my business partner Darren and write a load of publicity up for the fight night...

DFM Martial Arts presents its Cage Fight Night at The Alnwick Garden


The event will feature some of the top MMA and kickboxing clubs in the region in an explosive night of non-stop action


There will be pro, semi-pro and amateur MMA
and
full-contact and semi-contact K - 1 and kicboxing

PHIL DOHERTY: I was reading a blog from a boxer the other day where he slagged off MMA guy's because they didn't strike with orthodox boxing punches.

He further went onto to say the MMA lacked any science behind as it was just "street brawling at its worst".

Apparently, according to the blogger, a boxer with a few weeks training in ju-jitsu could easily defeat an MMA guy because boxers were superior in every respect.

I then went onto another boxing blog - where to be fair the blogger himself was far fairer in his appraisal of MMA - but where the commentors were equally full of cr*p.

Of course the words could just be bitterness than the "sweet science" is now on the ropes and dying by inches as the young contender, MMA, batters it into second place as the world's premier combat sport.

(Though in truth boxing has never enjoyed the participant popularity of martial arts in the West never mind the Far East!)

This is because young people don't go to boxing matches. They don't care who is the world champion in WBC, WBO or the other plethora of so-called boxing governing bodies.

In fact research has shown that the vast majority of under 20-year-olds don't even know who Mayweather et al are.

Yet they can name at least one MMA fighter.

Like themselves, there's a new kid on the block, something new, different yet rooted in ancient fighting traditions.

Why? Most young people at some point in their lives join a MARTIAL ARTS club not a boxing gym.  They relate better to high kicks and low takedowns because they have done at least some of those skills themselves, to obviously various levels of skills and intent.

But back to the punching debate - well it blindingly obvious to me that MMA guys are not going to throw orthodox boxing punches.

First off, why do boxers think that only their "sweet science" can punch!!!!

Studies into punching power show that arts like karate punch a lot harder than boxers ever do. This was measured on impact pads with computers in them. The Karate reverse punch is a far more formibable strike than a cross, for example.

But that is just one style and one type of punch, there are many many other martial arts that throw devastating punches that would never satisfy a boxing purist because they aren't throwing boxing punches....doh!

(The clue is in the name...MIXED MARTIAL ARTS)

And if boxing punching is so great how come it takes 12 rounds often to decide a winner? And how come old boxing matches before Mr Queensbury stepped into the fray a bout could go on all day!!!!

Now I'm not decrying boxing or saying its punching is rubbish because it clearly isn't and it can and does deliver devastating punches.

What I'm decrying is ignorant comments from people who have never looked at MMA in the first place.

Personally I like boxing, have a lot of respect for the art's ability and admire the hard work, dedication and commitment displayed by boxers.

I see boxing as a specialist combat art and MMA as jack-of-all-trades. I think a boxer would beat most MMA guys in a straight punch fest because that's the boxer's speciality...punching.

But, unlike the earlier boxing blogger who believe a few weeks of Ju-jitsu would still see the boxer come out on top, I don't think that in a cage fight the boxer would survive very long before he ended up flat on his back and submitted or ground 'n' pounded.

Which is why comparing the two really is pointless...they're different animals at the end of the day. 

Yours in budo - Phil Doherty

DFM Martial Arts presents its Cage Fight Night at The Alnwick Garden


The event will feature some of the top MMA and kickboxing clubs in the region in an explosive night of non-stop action


There will be pro, semi-pro and amateur MMA
and
full-contact and semi-contact K - 1 and kicboxing

MMA  Kickboxing
Ju-jitsu  Ninjutsu
High Bridge Street
Newcastle
07876 043480

Willowburn Leisure Centre
Alnwick, Northumberland
Friday 7.30pm
Newcastle College
Ryehill
Newcastle
Every Monday
7pm

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