dedicated to the discussion of the chinese internal martial arts of xingyiquan, baguazhang, taijiquan, related arts, and anything else best discussed over a bottle of rum
Thank you Oliver and Seth for filming. Deep bow to@Stephen Wonderboy Thompson for an amazing experience. Learn more about Wonderboy's dojo: https://www.upstatekarate.com
GrahamB wrote:Nice video, but in a classic case of bad timing his karate got absolutely destroyed by a wrestler on Saturday.
Yes, I watched the Belal fight. "Wonderboy" is 38 years old. 5 months ago, he lost to Gilbert Burns by decision too. I believe Belal trained with Gilbert for this "Wonderboy" fight.
GrahamB wrote:Smaller cage too - which works against Thompson, but at the top levels you need to be equally good at everything.
At middleweight, the next weight up (185 lbs), Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker are ranked #1 & #2 and both fight in a similar stand up style. Israel has a background in Taekwondo, Kickboxing and MMA. Robert Whittaker (beat Brad by decision) has a background in Goju-ryu karate, Hapkido and MMA. They are scheduled to rematch on Feb 12, 2022.
At 17:51, the jab and side kick step off concepts (and variations of it) were helpful:
Both Adysanya and Whittaker have demonstrated top-level takedown defence and ground survival skills.
I thought the best thing Wonderboy showed in that video was how he's modified the traditional side kick to make it more effective. I liked that. Thanks for posting.
Last edited by GrahamB on Tue Dec 21, 2021 1:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
GrahamB wrote:Both Adysanya and Whittaker have demonstrated top-level takedown defence and ground survival skills.
I thought the best thing Wonderboy showed in that video was how he's modified the traditional side kick to make it more effective. I liked that. Thanks for posting.
I agree with pointing the foot down. However, when Stephen used it on Anthony Pettis, he got KOd. At 2:18, Stephen explains what happened:
The problem with the "karate" bladed stance is head mobility and movement. After Stephen's side kick slips, he tries to throw a check hook, while shuffling away. Anthony leaps, does a superman hook from off the cage and KOs him:
Edit: Found this post fight interview. Pettis at 3:41, "When I saw the opportunity, I just took it. I've never, I didn't throw that punch once in practice that was just on the fly. … Yes. If he was going southpaw, we wanted him to turn so he couldn't take the hook. Like if he's here, he can take the hook. You can't take the hook in this position. Once he did that, that's my cue to go for the hooks. See, I was throwing straight punches, until he turned. But, he was better than me at the straight punches. He was longer, his range was a little crisper than mine and it was hard to hit him. So, I had to kick first until it allowed me to punch him. And then once he turned that stance, boom! overhand right."