Innholdsfortegnelse for June/July 2018 i Black Belt Magazine

I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t watch a lot of movies, mostly because I’d rather be doing things than sitting in a recliner watching someone else do things. But every once in a while, I do get the urge, and more often than not, I wind up watching a martial arts movie. It was that pattern that led me to view Ip Man 3 some three years after it was released. Now, anything with Donnie Yen is well worth watching, but I must say that I didn’t enjoy this installment quite as much as the first two. However, so many things jumped out at me — some of which I agree with and some of which made me wonder — that I just had to write about…

Anyone who’s ready to enjoy a celebration of kung fu and martial arts cinema that comes from a fan and is intended for fans should check out the Kung Fu Drive-In Podcast. Producer and host Jeof Vita covers everything from the Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest classics of the 1970s and ’80s to the action brawlers of today, all while keeping an eye on tomorrow’s stars, who often showcase themselves on YouTube. Vita grew up in an era when everybody was kung fu fighting. He spent many Saturday afternoons lost in swordplay and Shaolin, wire work and wu tang, and now he’s on a mission to share his love of kung fu with a new generation. To that end, he also interviews influential voices in the genre: actors, choreographers, authors,…

Dollamur Sport Surfaces — a manufacturer of high-performance flooring for martial arts, wrestling, fitness, gymnastics, cheerleading and yoga — has been named the official mat of USA Judo. USA Judo is the national governing body for Olympic judo in the United States. Dollamur will provide its Flexi-Connect mats for all USA Judo qualifying events leading up to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Dollamur’s design efforts were assisted by four-time Olympian and world judo champion Mike Swain. “As an elite athlete who was supported by the USA Judo system, I am proud to give back to the events that will produce the next champions and Olympians from the USA,” said Swain, who is Dollamur’s vice president of martial arts and fitness sales.…

• Kenpo karate leader Frank Trejo passed away on April 11, 2018. The staff of Black Belt is preparing a tribute that will appear in a future issue. • One Championship, a Singapore-based MMA and kickboxing organization, announced that it will seek to expand its operation into Japan where, it says, the UFC has failed to make inroads. • MMA fighter Josh Barnett replied to a Facebook question we posed about the movies of Michael Jai White. See Page 17 for his clever comment. • Black Belt formed a Facebook group devoted to Japanese swordsmanship. BB Hall of Famer Dana Abbott is serving as the moderator. More than 600 martial artists have already joined. • The first two T-shirts in a new line of Black Belt gear and apparel have been released.…

The operative word there is “purpose.” The Boston-bred world-champion karateka — although known for his flashy kicking skills — likes to think of himself first and foremost as a purposeful, thinking man’s fighter who outsmarts his opponents. “They like to say fighting is 90-percent mental, but you don’t see many people really practicing that,” says Ortiz, 24. “You go to most schools, and they follow the old method of training faster and harder. My slogan is ‘train harder but train smarter.’” ORTIZ EXPLAINS that his statement refers to employing a strategic outlook that has you adapt how you fight to your opponent’s style. If, for example, you’re going against an aggressive, offensive-minded fighter, you should try to attack and put him on the defensive — a condition that’s likely to…

The feet are the deuce and a half that gets your munitions to the field of battle. The feet are your mode of retreat to get out of harm’s way. Your feet are the pegs you use to cut angles to better deflect, diminish, evade and apply your own meanness. Footwork was, is and always will be vital to all matters martial. An element of footwork that’s just as important as mobility is what you can do on your feet while basically standing stock-still. How steady is your balance? How maneuverable is your upper body? How much force can you generate? THE HISTORICAL RECORD provides a huge archive of material showing how much emphasis was placed on stationary power, but this static base wasn’t the primary focus of static-stance drills.…

Who’s your favorite MMA fighter? Georges St-Pierre. He’s such an intelligent fighter and so skilled. Who’s your favorite martial arts actor, living or dead? That’s tough. I’d say Jackie Chan for the reasons I already mentioned. What’s your favorite martial arts movie — that you’re not in? (laughs) Another tough question! So many come to mind. I’ll go back to when I was a kid and give you my top three: Rumble in the Bronx, the original Kickboxer and Enter the Dragon. What’s your favorite martial arts move for self-defense? To stop something before it starts? Biting. (laughs) I’d say the front kick because it’s quick and powerful and you don’t see it coming. And you can hit different targets with it. And it comes out without even thinking about…

The brainchild of Black Belt Hall of Fame member and former tournament champion Joe Corley, the Battle of Atlanta has reigned as perhaps the most prestigious competition in the martial arts. It has taken place in Atlanta — hence the name — since 1969. Over the years, Corley and his tournament have seen martial arts legends like Bill Wallace, Thomas LaPuppet, Jeff Smith and Howard Jackson vie for top honors. In 2018 the Battle of Atlanta will host its 50th show. From June 14-16, plenty of activities are planned, including seminars and a training camp. During that time, the competition will occur at the Renaissance Atlanta Waverly Hotel and Cobb Galleria Centre in forms, weapons and sparring (under NASKA rules and Ring Contact Fighting Arts International rules). Winners of the…

On the Most Recent Issue of Black Belt Gary Goltz, President & Chair, USJA National Promotion Board: The Dave Lowry article (“Skeletons in the Judo Closet”) is spot on. Maeda and all the tough, original Kodokan gang were basically jujitsu converts who were at home brawling for money without UFC rules! Kano, I was told by the older, high-ranking sensei I met on my trips to Japan, developed the judo principles to tame them. I like the profile of the Trudeaus. I was very proud to know [that Justin Trudeau’s] dad was a judo black belt growing up in the ’60s. On a Linked Article Titled “Vintage Jet Li: Fearless” Martin Allert: There is an uncut director’s version running for 141 minutes in comparison to the usual DVD running 99…

I slept and ate in a private home. I brushed my teeth with tap water and bathed with well water. I spent the night in a mosquito-infested area without a mosquito net. And to top it off, I visited a tightly enclosed, overcrowded room where they butchered chickens. All of it was fantastic. And why wouldn’t it be? I was in India, fulfilling a dream to train in kushti wrestling. KUSHTI IS a traditional form of Indian grappling. Locals refer to it as “mud wrestling” to differentiate it from mat wrestling, which denotes modern Olympic-style wrestling. Kushti is practiced in traditional schools called akhara. The wrestlers are called pahalwan. The matches take place in a mud pit that varies from 14 feet by 14 feet to 20 feet by 20…

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI For the fading remnants of the Resistance, it’s no longer a battle to defeat the First Order; it’s a last-gasp effort to survive. Their continued existence depends on desert bumpkin Rey (Daisy Ridley) and her quest to find and learn the Jedi mysteries from sole-surviving Jedi knight Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). Skywalker’s failure to raise a Jedi army for a final crusade against the New Order has made him a lost soul, but he reluctantly accepts Rey as a student. If only he can release his guilt and reconnect with the Force so both can fulfill their destinies. The fight choreography in Star Wars: The Last Jedi treads new ground. The best battle is when Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and Rey face Snoke’s blood-red armored…

When was the last time a film extra was discovered by an A-list director who happened to be impressed by the extra’s gumption and ability to mix things up with a great actor and said extra is now on the brink of changing the face of American martial arts cinema? In 1977. That’s when a Greek immigrant named Dimitri Logothetis got the break of a lifetime. With a double dose of hard work, a filmmaking career was born, and 40 years later, the Logothetis-directed Kickboxer: Retaliation is raising the bar in the fight-film genre. It all started when he quit playing college football and picked up a new passion and purpose courtesy of a seed planted years earlier by Bruce Lee. “Back then, a friend told me about a guy…

“There are hundreds of gyms in Bangkok to choose from, and a lot of them are very good,” Cedric Gautier, owner of Elite Fight Club, told me. “Before, the top camps didn’t take in foreign fighters, but now for business reasons, they do. But you have to be careful: They sometimes concentrate on their own Thai fighters and don’t take a lot of time to work with the others. “Every camp has its own style and the way they train. To start, look on the internet for information and reviews. Then decide where and how you want to train. Do one session and see how you like it. “In our gym, we have some top fighters, both Thai and foreign, but we also have beginner’s classes. I think it’s a…

Often stooped from age, little men hobble onto the mat, their thin wrists hidden within sleeves of uniforms held together by frayed black belts. Their bows are perfunctory but sincere, their faces calm with, sometimes, a slight smile. Opposite them are younger black belts, men whose strength and speed should roll up these oldsters and put them out of their misery. And yet the strength and speed of these young black belts do not serve them well, and the result is almost comical. If it’s aikido, they seem perpetually off-balance, falling like tops. If it’s judo, their falls appear preordained, their attempted throws ineffectual, almost clumsy. If it’s karate, their kicks, swift and powerful, just miss. Most martial arts have a few such meijin, “magicians” who seem to have traded…

On February 23, 2018, the family of Chinil Chang announced that the hapkido grandmaster had passed away peacefully in his sleep. He was 77. His death was attributed to hypertensive cardiovascular disease. Funeral services were held on February 28 in Fort Lee, New Jersey, with many family members and close friends in attendance. For more than 30 years, Chang served as the doju (successor) of the Korean martial art. He inherited the title from his instructor Yong-Sul Choi on January 15, 1985. Chang was born on June 11, 1940, in Seoul, South Korea. He earned a bachelor’s degree in architectural engineering from Yonsei University, after which he devoted his life to the study and preservation of the martial arts. Chang’s dedication to training was unparalleled. Over his lifetime, he earned…

Cinedigm and JungoTV, which is helmed by George Chung, a five-time world karate champion and member of the Black Belt Hall of Fame, joined forces to launch Combat Go, a 24/7 free streaming channel on Twitch. It promises to bring together MMA, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, muay Thai and traditional Asian martial arts promotions. As JungoTV CEO, Chung combines his martial arts background with his knowledge of and passion for media. His new network will provide more than 600 hours of content, including 100-plus hours of live fights, all of which will be curated by martial arts experts. It will highlight martial arts promotions across the globe from the United States, Europe and Latin America to East Asia, India and the Middle East. Combat Go’s lineup will cater to the underserved global…

Al Tracy, founder of the Tracy System of kenpo, passed away on October 31, 2017, but the memorial for this renowned grandmaster did not take place until February 10, 2018. The tribute was hosted by Richard Lee and myself in San Ramon, California, and more than 200 of the top kenpo practitioners in the world — including Bart Vale, Peter Coyle, George Lim, Roger Greene and Stuart Gavin — came to pay their respects. Tracy was born in the dark days of the Great Depression and raised in humble circumstances. He recognized at a young age the immeasurable value of education. Facing often difficult and sometimes heartbreaking adversity, he drove himself and his brothers to never lose sight of their goals. Kenpo became Tracy’s passion, but initially it was merely…

Again, this being the media, all the talk could have been scripted. One thing probably wasn’t, however. The woman performed a hip throw on the guy, dropping him like a wet sack — and word was that he sustained some broken ribs. I mention this as a way to bring up the subject of demonstrating a martial art in public when untrained participants are involved. As I’ve noted before, the absolute stupidest risk you can take in one of these situations is inviting a spectator to “help” with your demonstration. Nothing good can come from this. LET’S SAY you select someone from the crowd during your judo demonstration and give the person a quick lesson just to show onlookers how any of them can learn this art. The selectee then…

Fighting skill is one of the most unconventional abilities to quantify. There are so many variants, so many metrics and so many stylistic considerations that determining “what works” is sometimes like U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart’s comment when he was asked to describe his threshold test for obscenity: “I know it when I see it.” Because of this, there is no room for piety or blind loyalty to any one school of thought, system, martial art — or person or group of practitioners. It gets tiresome when people speak in absolutes and are judgmental while offering their opinions about the validity of techniques or styles. It’s not because they’re necessarily wrong but because they don’t offer contextual balance to their comments. Bear with me. Conventional thinking tells us to…

Vol. 17, No. 6, $1.50 The 186th issue of Black Belt was dated June 1979. It was 76 pages long and featured shotokan stylist Toyotaro Miyazaki on the cover. • In the cover story, shotokan karate instructor Toyotaro Miyazaki talks about the wheel kick: “I never use that for fighting. I use that for practice fighting. But I did use it once against a tall opponent who was hard to reach, so I scored good.” • Jay T. Will lands a recurring role on a weekly variety show from Warner Communications called America Goes Bananaz. • In a fiery letter regarding his opposition to the stance taken by the magazine in its search for the youngest male and female black belts in America — candidates must be part of an…