Why Self Defense Works!

Posted by: John W. Zimmer
Under: Self-defense
11 Jul 2010


A man on vacation at a bar finds himself in middle of a fight and as so often happens – it is hard to discern the good guys from the bad. Well he puts some distance between the fight and his wife and scans for exits. One of the fighters notice and comes right at him! The vacationer side-steps the rusher and give him a little push into the table – grabs his wife and makes for the exit.


I don’t know about you but I’ve been in this type of situation before and it is a little scary if you have the family with you. This website has often evaluated different types of fighting styles and self defense but why does self defense work? I mean most bad guys can fight – right? If they can fight then why can some minimal self-defense training carry the day?


In this post I will delve into the question of why self defense works and what I think are some good ways to go about learning how to fight. Let me be clear that self defense is learning how to fight. More on that in a bit but first I’d like to show you the average caliber of fighters you have to prepare for in case you ever have to defend yourself. Take a peek at this video of a street fight – there are some weapons but no one seems to get hurt too badly.


 

 

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WEC & Strikeforce MMA Happenings!

Posted by: John W. Zimmer
Under: MMA
27 Jun 2010


WEC 49 had some interesting bouts  (June 20th) as did Strikeforce Fedor vs. Werdum (June 26th). I’ll just highlight a couple of the fights and link to some results for each. But let me just say they were worth watching!


The main WEC fight was a battle between Jamie Varner and Kamal Shalorus that was marred by Shalorus kicking Varners family jewels three times. Kamal lost one point. If you get a chance to watch this fight you’ll see Varner getting the best of Shalorus in most clashes but Shalorus has a good chin. Even without the penalty point taken away from Shalorus I had Varner ahead on points easily. The fight went the distance and much to my surprise two judges were split with the third calling for a draw! Results here.


Here is a video of Fedor vs Werdum (don’t know how long it will be up).


 

 

I was not really that surprised by this result as while Fedor is a great fighter – he has pulled out some surprising wins at times. But wow – Werdum really pulled off the win while Fedor was trying to pummel him on the ground! Results here.


The fight I really enjoyed on this ticket was Scott Smith vs Cung Le rematch. Le fought this bout better than I’ve seen him so far by choosing his shots and fighting a bit more defensively. Le easily out classed Smith this time and found a home for his decisive spinning rear kick that Smith had so much trouble with in the last fight. Here is a video of this match up.


 

 

This has been a good month for MMA fights. There were some other really interesting match ups but I wanted to highlight the Smith vs Le as my favorite. What was your favorite this month?




Under: MMA
17 Apr 2010

 

Tonight CBS is airing Strikeforce Nashville (April 17, 2010)! UFC 112 featuring among other great fights was Silva vs Maia (although many will disagree with me) and on April 24 Aldo vs Faber will fight in Sacramento as well as another fighter I like to track, Michelle “The Karate Hottie” Waterson will fight  Masako Yoshida at the Spring Brawl in Fargo, North Dakota!

 

 

 

In this post I’ll mostly talk about both Silva vs Griffen and Silva vs Maia as I was the most excited I have been in a long time to see a truly great fighter get in the ring (octagon) and own a couple of other fighters. As I said most people like to see the guys meet in the middle of the ring and duke it out like WCL matches!

 

Not me! I’ve always said fighting is fighting is fighting. The only thing that matters is if you win or not… making the other guy/gal look like a novice or knocking him or her out is gravy… I’ll save my view for later but first here is a trailer for tonight’s fights.

 

 

 

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Winning your Fight; What Does it Take?

Posted by: John W. Zimmer
Under: martial arts
24 Mar 2010

 

When I first started taking karate lessons at Tracy’s Karate, I asked Dick Willett how he could teach me to be a good fighter. He said that knowing how to kick and punch was not enough but rather I would learn how to connect the strikes.

 

What does it take to win a fight? That is what I will examine in this post. Remember the first Ken Norton vs Muhammad Ali? Norton was widely reported to have undergone hypnosis to get the edge in that match. If someone beats you in a match – was he or she just a better fighter? How can you consistently become a fighter that wins opposed to collect a paycheck?

 

To set the stage lets look at this humorous video of Dolf Lundgren’s.

 

 

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Under: MMA
28 Feb 2010

 

I am a MMA fan that likes to watch the fights that are easily available without watching PPV! That means I just have an overview of the sports from some of the various leagues such as UFC, WEC, Strikeforce, M1, and K1 (probably a lot more too). What I am trying to say is while I opine on the fights I watch; if you were to use me as your sole source of information about men’s and women’s MMA – you would probably be missing a lot.

 

I’ve been following Strikeforce as I am able (I don’t get Showtime anymore) and just found out that Sarah Kaufman beat Takayo Hashi to win the Strikeforce Women’s Welterweight title!

 

In this post I will give an overview of the Kaufman vs. Hashi fight and give the latest on Michelle Waterson’s latest fight. I will also speak of some of the (many) exciting MMA fights coming soon in the WEC, UFC, and Strikeforce. Here is a promo video done before the Kaufman vs Hashi fight. I’ll post the four links of the actual fight (not sure how long they will be good) if you want to go to youtube and watch it.

 

 

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How to Fight with Martial Arts!

Posted by: John W. Zimmer
Under: martial arts
10 Jan 2010

 

Before I begin there are some great fights coming tonight in the WEC! Varner vs Henderson should be good to watch plus the two former WEC Featherweight champs (Brown and Faber) are each fighting others to get back in line to challenge Aldo.

 

The hardest thing about writing this blog is to stay on focus to the chief point I am trying to make or examine. This post is about how to fight using some type of martial art. One might view this topic as overly broad but in my mind it is easy.

 

I will first talk about martial fighting arts and some popular contests that portray martial artists fights! I will talk about what is fighting and then how one could use martial arts to fight in whatever venue you select. Finally I will wrap this up with how I fight with martial arts. Here is a quick video from the old Kung Fu series that explains how a wise man behaves.

 

 

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Under: MMA
18 Nov 2009

 

Wednesday, November 18, 2009 is when Mike Brown is defending his title against Jose Aldo. I’ve been watching both fighters recently and have been impressed by Brown’s title defenses and Aldo’s decisive wins.

 

Both fighters in my view  could walk away with the belt. Brown does well against pressure and may successfully defend against Aldo’s standup and ground onslaught but it should be a great fight.

 

By the way Tito Ortiz vs Forest Griffin is happening this Saturday and should get a mention. Its not that I am not excited about this bout but I have to snake it from the internet if I am to see any of it. This as most UFC bouts is – is a PPV event.  I think Brown vs Aldo is also PPV somewhere but I can still see it on Versus TV! Here is the preview of Brown vs Aldo.

 

 

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