# do you think karate would be useful in MMA?



## Heavily Beastin (Nov 23, 2008)

Somewhat it would. A lot of the techniques and kata wouldn't really be effective much. The only karate I find would be best for MMA is Kyokushin and Shito-ryu


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## Future_Fighter (Feb 6, 2008)

> Somewhat it would.


Your answering your own question? lol.

The most useful thing IMO would be MMA classes :thumb02:.


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## CornbreadBB (Jul 31, 2008)

Ask Lyoto Machida.


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## cormacraig (Oct 27, 2008)

You know, it could serve just as well as another part of training background. Definitely wouldn't hurt. Clearly if some guy would just stick to karate skills all throughout the fight it wouldn't last, but every fighter comes in with his own background, his own style... no reason karate should be any different.


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## plazzman (Mar 29, 2007)

Bas Rutten 
GSP
Lyoto Machida
Semmy Schilt

Thats all I can think of :dunno:


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## TERMINATOR (Jul 6, 2008)

Heavily Beastin said:


> Somewhat it would. A lot of the techniques and kata wouldn't really be effective much. The only karate I find would be best for MMA is Kyokushin and Shito-ryu


Kyokushin Karate is GSPs biggest background so I would say yes


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## jcal (Oct 15, 2006)

People talk about machida using his karate background, how much of it does he use like 1%. He doesnt have a karate stance, most his kicks are follow through kicks ala muay thai he doesnt block like a karate practicioner and his takedowns and punches are all NOT karate related and his Bjj is of course bjj. Because he fights elusive they say Karate. He might be a black belt at it but so is ST. pierre and the only thing ST pierre does from that is a spinning side kick. Karate is not a good way to learn to fight a realistic fight but im sure it will teach a person to think when hes fighting instead of just throwing punches like crazy. If you dont believe me watch the earlier UFC or Vale tudo matches and see what a blackbelt does against anyother style. Ive also witnessed it in high school.


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## TERMINATOR (Jul 6, 2008)

jcal said:


> People talk about machida using his karate background, how much of it does he use like 1%. He doesnt have a karate stance, most his kicks are follow through kicks ala muay thai he doesnt block like a karate practicioner and his takedowns and punches are all NOT karate related and his Bjj is of course bjj. Because he fights elusive they say Karate. He might be a black belt at it but so is ST. pierre and the only thing ST pierre does from that is a spinning side kick. Karate is not a good way to learn to fight a realistic fight but im sure it will teach a person to think when hes fighting instead of just throwing punches like crazy. If you dont believe me watch the earlier UFC or Vale tudo matches and see what a blackbelt does against anyother style. Ive also witnessed it in high school.


Every little bit helps:thumbsup:


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## Damone (Oct 1, 2006)

plazzman said:


> Bas Rutten
> GSP
> Lyoto Machida
> Semmy Schilt
> ...


Andrews Nakahara beat the almighty Dong Sik Yoon. Nakahara's a karate guy.


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## Uchaaa (Apr 22, 2007)

Dont forget seth who knocked kimbo out with one karate punch


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## BrFighter07 (Jun 16, 2007)

you guys are all forgetting chuck lidell he came from a karate background


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## coldcall420 (Aug 2, 2007)

CornbreadBB said:


> Ask Lyoto Machida.


 
You beat me to it Cornbread........:thumb02:repped....gotta spread some love first...


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## Bradysupafan (Oct 26, 2008)

The MMA fighters now are better than ever but I dont think the karate guys are. If you go into a monk temple you might find some karate guys that can kick ass but on tv you dont have the men like in the past the Bruce Lee's or Chuck Norris


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## dontazo (Feb 29, 2008)

No I Dont


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## jcal (Oct 15, 2006)

BrFighter07 said:


> you guys are all forgetting chuck lidell he came from a karate background


Most of us over 30 did come from a karate-taekwondo style, but nobody knew about Bjj or muaythai back when. Even if you had a real small guy that everybody knew had a black belt, he would get this like "mystic" respect and people would assume he was one hell of an asskicker. Even varsity wrestlers would not mess with a blackbelt. That all came to a close when they started putting pure styles against each other. I was from a muay thai background and there was this ufc guy named Anthony Macias and I was sure he was gonna kick dan severns face in, seeing hes just a wrestler and man was I surprised and dissapointed. I, like most people realized most fights go to the ground. So you better learn how to grapple. It works for sure, its for real and its so fun its addicting.


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## plazzman (Mar 29, 2007)

Right, right, how could I forget Nakahara and Petruzelli.

PS: Karate does REALLY well in K-1 as well!


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## jcal (Oct 15, 2006)

plazzman said:


> Right, right, how could I forget Nakahara and Petruzelli.
> 
> PS: Karate does REALLY well in K-1 as well!


U must be talking about karate modified with boxing. Wow ive heard 2 guys on here name 2 fights in mma that were won with karate, Watch royce Gracie take on the japanese hero of karate in seconds. The kid was asking about karate not modified karate. The karate stance alone is ridiculous, as far as im concerened so is kata completely for show.Ive been there and done that b4 I knew better.


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## coldcall420 (Aug 2, 2007)

jcal said:


> U must be talking about karate modified with boxing. Wow ive heard 2 guys on here name 2 fights in mma that were won with karate, Watch royce Gracie take on the japanese hero of karate in seconds. The kid was asking about karate not modified karate. The karate stance alone is ridiculous, as far as im concerened so is kata completely for show.Ive been there and done that b4 I knew better.


 
Modified Karate would be all that he could talk about if were talkin using karate in MMA........Fool!!! You come here and degrade people then your wrong yourself.......hillarious.....:thumbsdown: Otherwise we'd be talkin about karate tournaments BTW alot has changed since Royce Gracie was fighting on the regular....


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## dontazo (Feb 29, 2008)

cmon guys karate?


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## Captain Stupid (Feb 3, 2008)

Karate was great on it's own if you were fighting 400 years or so ago in Japan. On the modern day pavement not so good. And likewise in the cage. It's simply not an artform designed for an enclosed fighting space like the cage. Any top level fighter who has a Karate pedigree is almost guaranteed to have done a massive amount of cross training. All things considered though, if you are serious about ufc, i think your time would be better spent at wrestling or bjj.

Oh and on a side note, youtube is filled with karate guys getting owned in match fights. You decide if it works...


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## plazzman (Mar 29, 2007)

jcal said:


> U must be talking about karate modified with boxing. Wow ive heard 2 guys on here name 2 fights in mma that were won with karate, Watch royce Gracie take on the japanese hero of karate in seconds. The kid was asking about karate not modified karate. The karate stance alone is ridiculous, as far as im concerened so is kata completely for show.Ive been there and done that b4 I knew better.


Obviously it has to be modified to be in MMA:confused03:

Who's gonna stand there in the octagon and perform Katas?

He's asking about Karate as a base, like how people incorporate MT, or Judo into their styles, not as the complete entire art.


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## CornbreadBB (Jul 31, 2008)

I don't get how you guys can see Lyoto dominate and still think that karate is useless. Like Plazz said, no one uses just one form in MMA, that's why it's MMA! To say that it is useless is just completely ridiculous, I know we all probably took it when we were younger, but that has no bearing on the effect it has in the cage, especially when you get to the higher levels.


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## Freelancer (Jul 5, 2007)

The stiffnes of kyokushin(Rutten), the stance and technique of shotokan(Machida), the looping punches of kempo(Chuck). If we are talking about a base skill, hell yeah it's effective!


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## _Destruction_ (Oct 7, 2008)

Kung fu is even worse than karate.I've never even heard of a kung fu practitioner in MMA.And if there was he got his ass kicked

haha crouching tiger stance


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## plazzman (Mar 29, 2007)

Jason Delucia was Kung Fu, and he was straight up badass.


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## coldcall420 (Aug 2, 2007)

plazzman said:


> Jason Delucia was Kung Fu, and he was straight up badass.


 

Anyone mention Cung Le........???????:dunno:He's a badass too!!!


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## jcal (Oct 15, 2006)

coldcall420 said:


> Modified Karate would be all that he could talk about if were talkin using karate in MMA........Fool!!! You come here and degrade people then your wrong yourself.......hillarious.....:thumbsdown: Otherwise we'd be talkin about karate tournaments BTW alot has changed since Royce Gracie was fighting on the regular....


Poor man you must know KARATE wow look out karate man. Nice horse stance chop blocks wow, why would you want karate for mma guy? Itsalmost useless he would have to learn all that nonsence for a few good moves, years of it and mma has changed but has karate ? A guy who only knew karate in mma would fail even worse today than 15 years ago. Dont cry just trying to give the kid good advice



Captain Stupid said:


> Karate was great on it's own if you were fighting 400 years or so ago in Japan. On the modern day pavement not so good. And likewise in the cage. It's simply not an artform designed for an enclosed fighting space like the cage. Any top level fighter who has a Karate pedigree is almost guaranteed to have done a massive amount of cross training. All things considered though, if you are serious about ufc, i think your time would be better spent at wrestling or bjj.
> 
> Oh and on a side note, youtube is filled with karate guys getting owned in match fights. You decide if it works...


Thank you, im getting hammered trying to give the kid real advice I do train mma hard and I do know what works and what dont and only a few things from karate are useful in mma so why spend thousands of dollars and countless hours to learn a million moves when only a couple are useful in mma? take wrestling if your in school, its free and youll squash a karate man


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## deludedsloth (Oct 8, 2008)

Heavily Beastin said:


> Somewhat it would. A lot of the techniques and kata wouldn't really be effective much. The only karate I find would be best for MMA is Kyokushin and Shito-ryu


I don't know if it would help YOU if you used Karate in MMA, but I'm pretty sure it would help your opponent.


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## 69nites (Jul 28, 2008)

Karate isn't a bad base to have. It just takes a lot more modification to the style to really be applied well to MMA unlike Muay Thai and BJJ which seem to just melt into it naturally.


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## coldcall420 (Aug 2, 2007)

jcal said:


> Poor man you must know KARATE wow look out karate man. Nice horse stance chop blocks wow, why would you want karate for mma guy? Itsalmost useless he would have to learn all that nonsence for a few good moves, years of it and mma has changed but has karate ? A guy who only knew karate in mma would fail even worse today than 15 years ago. Dont cry just trying to give the kid good advice





jcal said:


> Thank you, im getting hammered trying to give the kid real advice I do train mma hard and I do know what works and what dont and only a few things from karate are useful in mma so why spend thousands of dollars and countless hours to learn a million moves when only a couple are useful in mma? take wrestling if your in school, its free and youll squash a karate man


 
"The Kid" hmmm.....horse back stance and all that is really funny but if your not able to realize the techniques that are used today in MMA that originate from karate fine.....dont be ignorant I guess I'll call you the Karate "kid" cuz you still got some to learn........Where do you fight out of and who are you to give advice since you speak so highly of yourself????? Wait i bet your just one of those guys that has never studied any martial art but knows everything...........great


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## Chrisl972 (Oct 5, 2006)

But they break boards in Karate, how can you say that isn't helpful??? :dunno:


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## coldcall420 (Aug 2, 2007)

Chrisl972 said:


> But they break boards in Karate, how can you say that isn't helpful??? :dunno:


 
U see n obenefit to knowing Karate in MMA???


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## Chrisl972 (Oct 5, 2006)

coldcall420 said:


> U see n obenefit to knowing Karate in MMA???


I believe that vast majority of people that take Karate will only find it useful if they find themselves fighting someone else dumb enough to want to use Karate in a fight. 

Sure there are exceptions, but I feel that has more to do with the physical abilities of the person fighting and not that they know Karate. 

I took a little over 2 years of TKD and I don't think it's any where near as useful as MT or Judo. 

Sorry.


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## Judoka (Feb 23, 2007)

jcal said:


> Poor man you must know KARATE wow look out karate man. Nice horse stance chop blocks wow, why would you want karate for mma guy? Itsalmost useless he would have to learn all that nonsence for a few good moves, years of it and mma has changed but has karate ? A guy who only knew karate in mma would fail even worse today than 15 years ago. Dont cry just trying to give the kid good advice


You think a Judo guy will walk in their with the Judo stance ready to grip? No of course not. It has to be adapted. When I did Karate when we trained we never fought in the traditional stances anyway. We never broke boards in Karate, we just trained hard and proper.

Karate is very good but you MUST be careful what style and instructor you learn from. There can be a lot of "false" Karate dojo's around and if you want to do Karate be careful.


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## Terror Kovenant (Nov 16, 2008)

Karate is not a form I would choose to translate into MMA. If I wanted to use something a little less common I'd go with Hapkido. A lot of it would translate very well, as long as you ignore the knife throwing...


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## Uchaaa (Apr 22, 2007)

A friend of mine who is doing karate half contact as well testet himself at a thai gym. These are his experiences:

Speed : Equal
Power : Equal (I believe power comes more from weigh training, so this point has not much to say)
Combinations : worse
lowkicks : worse
chin : equal
kicks : better

The biggest difference was the fighting style. He was able to hit them with karate punches and kicks, but he had problems with the combinations and lowkicks.

I think the main reason why karate is unpopular in mma is because there is no professional full contact karate trainer. The problem is, that the only full contact karate is kyokushinkai which is also not that popular and you are not allowd to punch into the face. Sure, you can train full contact in sparring, but its not a "style". There is no organisation or tourney where you can fight full contact with punches to the face. I could go to a thai tourney but karate only works with none or small gloves. The only full contact karate tourney with punches to the face I have ever seen is daido juku. As far as I know, this style is only practiced in Japan : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5AvCcLwaJQ


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## Zemelya (Sep 23, 2007)

agree that you can adapt some of Karate moves to MMA.

Anyone wants to share what exactly is so usefull - in general terms at least.Not familiar with Karate myself - so if anyone practices, please do share.


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## Freelancer (Jul 5, 2007)

I personnally believe that kyokushin is well suited as a base in mma. It emphasises full contact, it has a lot of low kicks and knees and their conditioning is excellent. They are as stiff as strikers can be, their training has drills in which karatekas hit each other in turns without any defense. After that no punch or kick to the body is gonna scare you.
Off course Muai Thai is better suited for mma, I'm just saying that we shouldn't dismiss karate.


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## Ape City (May 27, 2007)

CornbreadBB said:


> Ask Lyoto Machida.


I planned on saying this when I opened the thread. touche.


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## coldcall420 (Aug 2, 2007)

Chrisl972 said:


> I believe that vast majority of people that take Karate will only find it useful if they find themselves fighting someone else dumb enough to want to use Karate in a fight.
> 
> Sure there are exceptions, but I feel that has more to do with the physical abilities of the person fighting and not that they know Karate.
> 
> ...


 
were talkin karate not TKD....Im a 2nd degree black in TKD and other than intangibles i learned from it i wouldnt incorporate it in MMA but you see a guy like Machida incorporate Karate in his game, also GSP with his side kicks...i also studied kyokushin karate for 3 yrs and some of the techniques i learned there i have seen incorporated.....guess its a matter of style ultimatly.....no apology needed dude your entiteled to your opinion.......


Did it ever dawn on you that when machida uses karate in his fights and his opponents ARENT dumb enough to use it back he wins...???? Not saying its the reason he wins but....Im not sayin it doesnt help him either.....


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## Unseen (Dec 25, 2006)

GSP is probably the fighter who shows the best example of effective Karate. Strong, quick punches, flexibility, and precise kicking make Karate a great base for competitive MMA


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## jcal (Oct 15, 2006)

Why do you keep using Machida? Wouldnt it be better to say he is a Bjj practicioner instead of Karate? I mean whats his GO-to moves? Did he beat the african 
assassin with a kimura that he learned in Karate? In fact did he use any Karate to win any fight and if he did please let me know what and where so I can see it for myself. I guess when he took tito down that was karate and when he escaped titos triangle choke that was karate or when he beat BJ Penn he did it with Karate. He might know karate but he doesnt use very much of it.

Did it ever dawn on you that when machida uses karate in his fights and his opponents ARENT dumb enough to use it back he wins...???? Not saying its the reason he wins but....Im not sayin it doesnt help him either.....
__________________
That is :confused03:soooo phukin stupid. Now I see where your coming from. It is what it is


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## Chrisl972 (Oct 5, 2006)

coldcall420 said:


> were talkin karate not TKD....Im a 2nd degree black in TKD and other than intangibles i learned from it i wouldnt incorporate it in MMA but you see a guy like Machida incorporate Karate in his game, also GSP with his side kicks...i also studied kyokushin karate for 3 yrs and some of the techniques i learned there i have seen incorporated.....guess its a matter of style ultimatly.....no apology needed dude your entiteled to your opinion.......
> 
> 
> Did it ever dawn on you that when machida uses karate in his fights and his opponents ARENT dumb enough to use it back he wins...???? Not saying its the reason he wins but....Im not sayin it doesnt help him either.....


Once again, you are talking about he abilities of ONE PERSON. Do you think he would be any less of a fighter if he had chosen MT? 

It's just too hard to really compare when you want to pick out ONE fighter.


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## coldcall420 (Aug 2, 2007)

jcal said:


> Why do you keep using Machida? Wouldnt it be better to say he is a Bjj practicioner instead of Karate? I mean whats his GO-to moves? Did he beat the african
> assassin with a kimura that he learned in Karate? In fact did he use any Karate to win any fight and if he did please let me know what and where so I can see it for myself. I guess when he took tito down that was karate and when he escaped titos triangle choke that was karate or when he beat BJ Penn he did it with Karate. He might know karate but he doesnt use very much of it.


 
Do you really know anything about Lyoto Machida or what? I mean whats with the back and forth....the guy sucks right?? No he's a badass and he was raised by the way of the Samurai...Son of a Japanese-Brazilian Shotokan Karate master Yoshizo Machida ...his heritage is japanese his father married a Brazilian woman and yes he def has jitz but is known as a karate practioner........
Machida is noted for his semi-orthodox fighting style. As a karate practitioner, Machida uses an unorthodox (or southpaw) stance.

*Fighting style and reactions*

Lyoto is well-known for using a variety of Shotokan Karate techniques in his fights. *Lyoto used a karate leg sweep on B.J. Penn in the 2nd round of their fight*. He uses a back kick in many fights (they can be seen in his bouts against Sam Greco, Sam Hoger, and Stephan Bonnar). Frank Trigg once said that he got dropped twice in row by Lyoto's back kick in a sparring session they had. (Just to answer your BJ question)





Now your clear on that let me provide you with another...GSP: Born May 19, 1981 in Saint-Isidore, Quebec, Canada, St-Pierre had a difficult childhood, attending a school where others would steal his clothes and money.[4] He started learning Kyokushin karate at age seven to defend himself against a school bully.





So here are two different fighter using two different styles of karate successfully in the UFC..........I'm Done! schools over......:thumb02:


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## jcal (Oct 15, 2006)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8tVTuNZ3Zw Check this out.


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## itsallgood (Oct 5, 2007)

it can be and is sometimes


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## jcal (Oct 15, 2006)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5YdkJlcIZg Kung Fu vs Muay Thhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAfpFx_b4hQai karate vs muay thttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbrYiy3Xe_Ahai taekwondo vs muay thai


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## CornbreadBB (Jul 31, 2008)

coldcall420 said:


> Do you really know anything about Lyoto Machida or what? I mean whats with the back and forth....the guy sucks right?? No he's a badass and he was raised by the way of the Samurai...Son of a Japanese-Brazilian Shotokan Karate master Yoshizo Machida ...his heritage is japanese his father married a Brazilian woman and yes he def has jitz but is known as a karate practioner........
> Machida is noted for his semi-orthodox fighting style. As a karate practitioner, Machida uses an unorthodox (or southpaw) stance.
> 
> *Fighting style and reactions*
> ...


Oh man Coldcall just wrecked you, it's so compltely true that someone with karate can dominate, there is no use in denying. I know a bunch of us started with karate, but there has to be a reason for it. Either way, I am convinced tht karate is a good background to train because of Lyoto.


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## jcal (Oct 15, 2006)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjXUCjLgyis Karate master vs bjj check it out since ive been so destroyed.:confused03:


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## 69nites (Jul 28, 2008)

posting videos of one style beating another is pointless

I can always find a video contradicting it. It's not the art it's the artist.


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## Judoka (Feb 23, 2007)

jcal said:


> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjXUCjLgyis Karate master vs bjj check it out since ive been so destroyed.:confused03:


You are proving nothing. We could get you Machida videos as well.

You mentioned he beat Soko with a Kimura, that was BJJ but it is called *MIXED* Martial Arts. Soko was getting destroyed standing, he didn't know what to do.


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## jcal (Oct 15, 2006)

If youshowed Machida videos you would see very little karate and Ill bet most of you wouldnt even know it was karate if Joe rogaine didnt keep saying it, and machida is 1 man how can you base karate on one great athlete, I still think Karate is not even close to a good style to take for mma, there are so many more effective styles that work better in the cage. Why not learn something far better?



69nites said:


> posting videos of one style beating another is pointless
> 
> I can always find a video contradicting it. It's not the art it's the artist.


Please find one that shows a karate guy destroy a bjj guy or a wrestler or a mma guy that doesnt use karate which would be about 99% of them


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## enceledus (Jul 8, 2007)

ask lyoto and gsp... they are 2 of the best... so I'd say... yes?:dunno:


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## UFCFAN33 (May 29, 2006)

Please do not double post anymore jcal.


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## 69nites (Jul 28, 2008)

where do you think Chuck Liddell and Lyoto machida learned to counterstrike?


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## evilappendix (Jan 4, 2007)

Karate is by far one of the best martial arts to study to learn effective striking. Anyone who thinks otherwise most likely goes to an "mma" gym where their coach who placed state in high school wrestling teaches them boxing for half an hour a week.


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## Judoka (Feb 23, 2007)

jcal said:


> If youshowed Machida videos you would see very little karate and Ill bet most of you wouldnt even know it was karate if Joe rogaine didnt keep saying it, and machida is 1 man how can you base karate on one great athlete, I still think Karate is not even close to a good style to take for mma, there are so many more effective styles that work better in the cage. Why not learn something far better?
> 
> 
> 
> Please find one that shows a karate guy destroy a bjj guy or a wrestler or a mma guy that doesnt use karate which would be about 99% of them


Machida is used because he shows a lot of Karate in his fighting style.

Also, just because they don't go into a massive traditional Karate stance does not mean it's not Karate.


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## Captain Stupid (Feb 3, 2008)

Chrisl972 said:


> But they break boards in Karate, how can you say that isn't helpful??? :dunno:


"Very good, but brick not hit back!" "Chong Le" from "bloodsport" - a movie every martial artist has probably seen.


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## vandalian (Oct 14, 2006)




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## Captain Stupid (Feb 3, 2008)

Just like to ask you guys who keep crapping on about Machida - Who's the champion of his weight division anyway? Oh thats right someone else!!! Remember people this is MMA here! Hell if we wanted to pick a dominant base sport one would have to pick wrestlers. Who can deny the sheer dominance of UFC wrestlers over the years? And before you mention GSP, remember that his fights of late have been won on the ground, due to his WRESTLING ability. Before he took on Matt Hughes he trained with the Canadian olympic wrestling team. He didn't go scale a mountain in Japan to find the nearest full contact sensei. But hell if people want to argue lets look at the champs...


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## evilappendix (Jan 4, 2007)

Captain Stupid said:


> Just like to ask you guys who keep crapping on about Machida - Who's the champion of his weight division anyway? Oh thats right someone else!!! Remember people this is MMA here! Hell if we wanted to pick a dominant base sport one would have to pick wrestlers. Who can deny the sheer dominance of UFC wrestlers over the years? And before you mention GSP, remember that his fights of late have been won on the ground, due to his WRESTLING ability. Before he took on Matt Hughes he trained with the Canadian olympic wrestling team. He didn't go scale a mountain in Japan to find the nearest full contact sensei. But hell if people want to argue lets look at the champs...


Hmm, well the discussion right now is weather or not karate is an applicable style to use in mma. Not which one is most dominent. Wrestlers have done considerably better in the UFC than any other fighters for the most part but the rules also tend to favor ground and pound styles that wrestlers are tailor made for. To completely rule out one of the most effective martial arts in the world is silly at best. Machida is just a good example of how a Karate technician can not only succeed, but do very well in mma. I personally don't even like his style, but it wins matches and has kept him undefeated. GSP got his start in karate and has used his striking effectively in the past. Now he's just been using his new bag of tricks on opponents in dominant fashion. Chuck Liddell is another dominant karate practitioner in the UFC. Though he also wrestled in high school, he's most noted for his striking ability that stems from kempo. These are the three names that keep popping up because they've had so much success in mma. I'm sure if anyone went digging they could find several more, less credible fighters to add to the list of guys with karate backgrounds. It's just easier to prove a point when you name off three of the most dominant fighter's in UFC history as having karate in their repitua..:dunno:


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## Captain Stupid (Feb 3, 2008)

evilappendix said:


> Hmm, well the discussion right now is weather or not karate is an applicable style to use in mma. Not which one is most dominent. Wrestlers have done considerably better in the UFC than any other fighters for the most part but the rules also tend to favor ground and pound styles that wrestlers are tailor made for. To completely rule out one of the most effective martial arts in the world is silly at best. Machida is just a good example of how a Karate technician can not only succeed, but do very well in mma. I personally don't even like his style, but it wins matches and has kept him undefeated. GSP got his start in karate and has used his striking effectively in the past. Now he's just been using his new bag of tricks on opponents in dominant fashion. Chuck Liddell is another dominant karate practitioner in the UFC. Though he also wrestled in high school, he's most noted for his striking ability that stems from kempo. These are the three names that keep popping up because they've had so much success in mma. I'm sure if anyone went digging they could find several more, less credible fighters to add to the list of guys with karate backgrounds. It's just easier to prove a point when you name off three of the most dominant fighter's in UFC history as having karate in their repitua..:dunno:


Sure fair enough. But just because i took a course in microwave cookery doesn't mean it's applicable to MMA. Truth be told i've done a whole heap of martial arts over the years, but at the end of the day MMA is a totally different animal to karate. And i don't mean karate any disrespect by saying that.

The 3 fighters though that are mentioned repeatedly in the forum above though are all being noted for their karate backgrounds. Which would lead one to assume that they actually use karate in the cage. Very very rarely does this happen. And realistically, given their times again, given their chosen profession, i think they would all have trained differently on their way up. At the time they all started karate was probably the only form available to them. But now there is much more choice. I know what i would pick.


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## vandalian (Oct 14, 2006)

Machida can wrestle. His ground control is actually very good. But he does have a foundation in karate along with other martial arts. It's relevant to this discussion.


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## Freelancer (Jul 5, 2007)

Didn't Guy Mezger had a karate background too?


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## The Lone Wolf (Sep 23, 2008)

I think any Martial Arts will have nothing but benefits for an MMA fighter. Even if its just one particular move from that Martial Art, its still one more weapon to your arsenal. Even if its a different mindset that it gives you, its still beneficial.

To be a little more in depth, we've seen submissions/groundgame evolve leaps and bounds over the last 3 years, whereas striking has yet to fully evolve. Some TKD techniques can prove useful, ala Stephan Bonnar, and i think it was Silva i saw throwing a switch kick in one of his fights. Theyre a little unorthodox, but i believe we'll see a much more diverse range of strikes in MMA in the next 2-3 years.


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## TheAbbott (Nov 25, 2008)

Any martial art disipline would be usefull in a MMA match** Karate has good power, kicks and punches** Karate by itself would not fair so good** Oviously no real ground tactics in Karate; if the fight goes to the ground with a jitz guy, the karate guy can loose an arm******


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## coldcall420 (Aug 2, 2007)

Captain Stupid said:


> Just like to ask you guys who keep crapping on about Machida - Who's the champion of his weight division anyway? Oh thats right someone else!!! Remember people this is MMA here! Hell if we wanted to pick a dominant base sport one would have to pick wrestlers** Who can deny the sheer dominance of UFC wrestlers over the years? And before you mention GSP, remember that his fights of late have been won on the ground, due to his WRESTLING ability** Before he took on Matt Hughes he trained with the Canadian olympic wrestling team** He didn't go scale a mountain in Japan to find the nearest full contact sensei** But hell if people want to argue lets look at the champs******


 
So now this conversation went from is Karate useful to the champ isnt a karate fighter**********************your screen name is fitting**********************:thumb02:


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## The Lone Wolf (Sep 23, 2008)

And how could anyone forget Semmy Schilt's front kicks and devastatingly accurate follow up punches vs Pete Williams!


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## Bloodlusting (Jul 3, 2007)

i was probably going to read this whole thread, unfortunately some juvenile retrobate has successfully set a trend of substituting reasonably legible grammar for millions, perhaps billions of redundant asterisks** you people are soft


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## coldcall420 (Aug 2, 2007)

Captain Stupid said:


> Sure fair enough** But just because i took a course in microwave cookery doesn't mean it's applicable to MMA** Truth be told i've done a whole heap of martial arts over the years, but at the end of the day MMA is a totally different animal to karate** And i don't mean karate any disrespect by saying that**
> 
> The 3 fighters though that are mentioned repeatedly in the forum above though are all being noted for their karate backgrounds** Which would lead one to assume that they actually use karate in the cage** Very very rarely does this happen** And realistically, given their times again, given their chosen profession, i think they would all have trained differently on their way up** At the time they all started karate was probably the only form available to them** But now there is much more choice** I know what i would pick**


 
The microwave cooking analogy was retarded******I guess i get what your trying to say but dam******I think your missing the point its not really about karate being heavily used but more that it has provided a base************ fighters have evolved into other styles of fighting** for example Lyoto was taught Karate first then learned jitz**********Does this mean that lyoto would be the same fighter today if he had never taken Karate**********of course he wouldnt he would be lacking the benefits he gained from Karate********************

This is not to say his fighting style is karate nor do i think you will see many people on the forum tell you its a dominant style********but its there and if you benefitted from any trainning in Karate I just dont see how you could say its not an advantage****************:dunno: BTW i dunno what the hell is going on with all the astricks but i am not putting them there they are just appearing****


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## cormacraig (Oct 27, 2008)

Bloodlusting said:


> i was probably going to read this whole thread, unfortunately some juvenile retrobate has successfully set a trend of substituting reasonably legible grammar for millions, perhaps billions of redundant asterisks** you people are soft


Are you serious? This is a problem with the website, nothing else**


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## evilappendix (Jan 4, 2007)

Captain Stupid said:


> Sure fair enough** But just because i took a course in microwave cookery doesn't mean it's applicable to MMA** Truth be told i've done a whole heap of martial arts over the years, but at the end of the day MMA is a totally different animal to karate** And i don't mean karate any disrespect by saying that**
> 
> The 3 fighters though that are mentioned repeatedly in the forum above though are all being noted for their karate backgrounds** Which would lead one to assume that they actually use karate in the cage** Very very rarely does this happen** And realistically, given their times again, given their chosen profession, i think they would all have trained differently on their way up** At the time they all started karate was probably the only form available to them** But now there is much more choice** I know what i would pick**


I have no idea what the microwave analogy is supposed to even mean** Are you saying karate is as relevant to mma as nuking food? :confused02: Mixed martial arts is an amalgamation of all martial arts** Considering karate is arguably the most recognized martial art in the world I can't even rationalize how you'd say mma is a different animal entirely** It's one of the forebearers of mma******

As for the aforementioned fighters training differently if given the chance to? I'd have to disagree with that** Karate may not be for everyone, but it works very well for these guys** I can't see any of them regretting the style they took, especially considering how effective they've been**



Freelancer said:


> Didn't Guy Mezger had a karate background too?


I know he fought in full contact karate tournaments before mma as well as fighting in American kickboxing tournaments** But I think he got his striking from kickboxing and simply used that to compete in the karate tournaments** Don't quote me on that though**:dunno:


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