Yeah, it is a valid criticism, but it's that classic problem of like I've explained these guys think because they've fought a few fake black belts therefore all traditional styles suck. In my club for example we've recognised these weaknesses.

A big weakness that a lot of karate styles have is not that they can't take MMA fighting or anything, they simply don't train for it. It's all basic kumite and kata and they don't look at how to apply these techniques in such situations. This is why when karate people for example try to fight in MMA they often get overwhelmed because they don't know how to deal with grappling techniques and never bothered studying what other people do so it doesn't work. They and also the people fighting them then assume, oh it must be shit, therefore I'll ditch it and go do something else.

The joke is when you practice kata you get all the techniques you need, it's just a matter of knowing how to apply them which even a lot of black belts don't. In my club for example when we started looking at sparring more this way and how other styles would attack a lot of people would probably think we're not even doing 'Shotokan' except we are. It's just a matter of using the right techniques for the right situation.

Great example is a roundhouse punch, it's interesting how it doesn't get explored much in traditional styles but it's one of the most commonly used attacks in a lot of modern fighting. Asked about that, had my mind blown because you can pretty much block it the same way you do a roundhouse kick. All kinds of examples like that, we also learned properly how to deal with short range techniques and grab attempts etc. instantly changed how well we were sparring. I could go on about this stuff for pages but there's all kinds of examples like that out there, the MMA fanbois think they know it all and they're going to be in for a nasty shock if they finally come across traditional styles that start adapting for modern techniques.

Our instructors now are trying to get us to go more freestyle and get us adapt our kata techniques a lot more as well as use combinations a lot faster instead of basic. Tricky, but it helps you understand the style far better than just doing some back and forth tig play by comparison. I should stress, basics are still viable, but they'll only work under certain very specific conditions which is why you need a good breadth of techniques.

By the way, a lot of people don't realise this, but in kata when you learn it properly a lot of them actually have grapple and throw techniques hidden in them. This seems to get lost to time though which is why a lot of karate clubs seem to be about point scoring and only do competition sparring.

Yeah, it is a valid criticism, but it's that classic problem of like I've explained these guys think because they've fought a few fake black belts therefore all traditional styles suck. In my club for example we've recognised these weaknesses.

A big weakness that a lot of karate styles have is not that they can't take MMA fighting or anything, they simply don't train for it. It's all basic kumite and kata and they don't look at how to apply these techniques in such situations. This is why when karate people for example try to fight in MMA they often get overwhelmed because they don't know how to deal with grappling techniques and never bothered studying what other people do so it doesn't work. They and also the people fighting them then assume, oh it must be shit, therefore I'll ditch it and go do something else.

The joke is when you practice kata you get all the techniques you need, it's just a matter of knowing how to apply them which even a lot of black belts don't. In my club for example when we started looking at sparring more this way and how other styles would attack a lot of people would probably think we're not even doing 'Shotokan' except we are. It's just a matter of using the right techniques for the right situation.

Great example is a roundhouse punch, it's interesting how it doesn't get explored much in traditional styles but it's one of the most commonly used attacks in a lot of modern fighting. Asked about that, had my mind blown because you can pretty much block it the same way you do a roundhouse kick. All kinds of examples like that, we also learned properly how to deal with short range techniques and grab attempts etc. instantly changed how well we were sparring. I could go on about this stuff for pages but there's all kinds of examples like that out there, the MMA fanbois think they know it all and they're going to be in for a nasty shock if they finally come across traditional styles that start adapting for modern techniques.

Our instructors now are trying to get us to go more freestyle and get us adapt our kata techniques a lot more as well as use combinations a lot faster instead of basic. Tricky, but it helps you understand the style far better than just doing some back and forth tig play by comparison. I should stress, basics are still viable, but they'll only work under certain very specific conditions which is why you need a good breadth of techniques.

Yeah, it is a valid criticism, but it's that classic problem of like I've explained these guys think because they've fought a few fake black belts therefore all traditional styles suck. In my club for example we've recognised these weaknesses.

A big weakness that a lot of karate styles have is not that they can't take MMA fighting or anything, they simply don't train for it. It's all basic kumite and kata and they don't look at how to apply these techniques in such situations. This is why when karate people for example try to fight in MMA they often get overwhelmed because they don't know how to deal with grappling techniques and never bothered studying what other people do so it doesn't work. They and also the people fighting them then assume, oh it must be shit, therefore I'll ditch it and go do something else.

The joke is when you practice kata you get all the techniques you need, it's just a matter of knowing how to apply them which even a lot of black belts don't. In my club for example when we started looking at sparring more this way and how other styles would attack a lot of people would probably think we're not even doing 'Shotokan' except we are. It's just a matter of using the right techniques for the right situation.

Great example is a roundhouse punch, it's interesting how it doesn't get explored much in traditional styles but it's one of the most commonly used attacks in a lot of modern fighting. Asked about that, had my mind blown because you can pretty much block it the same way you do a roundhouse kick. All kinds of examples like that, we also learned properly how to deal with short range techniques and grab attempts etc. instantly changed how well we were sparring. I could go on about this stuff for pages but there's all kinds of examples like that out there, the MMA fanbois think they know it all and they're going to be in for a nasty shock if they finally come across traditional styles that start adapting for modern techniques.

Our instructors now are trying to get us to go more freestyle and get us adapt our kata techniques a lot more as well as use combinations a lot faster instead of basic. Tricky, but it helps you understand the style far better than just doing some back and forth tig play by comparison.

Yeah, it is a valid criticism, but it's that classic problem of like I've explained these guys think because they've fought a few fake black belts therefore all traditional styles suck. In my club for example we've recognised these weaknesses.

A big weakness that a lot of karate styles have is not that they can't take MMA fighting or anything, they simply don't train for it. It's all basic kumite and kata and they don't look at how to apply these techniques in such situations. This is why when karate people for example try to fight in MMA they often get overwhelmed because they don't know how to deal with grappling techniques and never bothered studying what other people do so it doesn't work. They and also the people fighting them then assume, oh it must be shit, therefore I'll ditch it and go do something else.

The joke is when you practice kata you get all the techniques you need, it's just a matter of knowing how to apply them. In my club for example when we started looking at sparring more this way and how other styles would attack a lot of people would probably think we're not even doing 'Shotokan' except we are. It's just a matter of using the right techniques for the right situation.

Great example is a roundhouse punch, it's interesting how it doesn't get explored much in traditional styles but it's one of the most commonly used attacks in a lot of modern fighting. Asked about that, had my mind blown because you can pretty much block it the same way you do a roundhouse kick. All kinds of examples like that, we also learned properly how to deal with short range techniques and grab attempts etc. instantly changed how well we were sparring. I could go on about this stuff for pages but there's all kinds of examples like that out there, the MMA fanbois think they know it all and they're going to be in for a nasty shock if they finally come across traditional styles that start adapting for modern techniques.

Our instructors now are trying to get us to go more freestyle and get us adapt our kata techniques a lot more as well as use combinations a lot faster instead of basic. Tricky, but it helps you understand the style far better than just doing some back and forth tig play by comparison.