Wim Demeere's Blog

Martial Arts, Self Defense and a Whole Lot More.

Fedor vs. Aoki: Heavyweights aren’t slow, revisited

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Check out this clip; the action starts at 3min.:

This is an exhibition so neither one of them is trying to do damage. It’s just a cool “fight” to watch for the audience. Both Fedor and Aoki are at the top of their game but in totally different weight categories; you’ll never see them going at it for real. Fedor’s a heavyweight and Aoki a lightweight if I recall correctly.

The one thing I wanted to point out is this: Fedor is just as fast and technical as Aoki. And I’m willing to bet he isn’t going at top speed to make sure he doesn’t accidentally injure Aoki. He also has no problem rolling with Aoki, flowing on the ground like he’s swimming in water. That takes skill, lots of it.

Yup, I’m talking about my pet peeve again. We may be big but we’re not always slow… :-)

 

Heavyweights are slow and don’t move well

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I weigh over 200 pounds and have been at that weight for a while. In all those years, it never fails to amaze me how people take one look at me and say “Yeah he may be strong but he’s slow.” Now I’m not the fastest guy out there but I’m not exactly slow either. And I’ve trained with a truckload of other heavyweights who were either just as fast or lots faster than me.

Still, many people out there have this idea that all heavyweights are slow and can’t have good footwork. Weird, but I’ve encountered this too many times for it to be random. Now I do understand that seeing a guy like Viacheslav Datsik in action makes for a convincing argument in their favor but not all heavyweights are like that.

And before you fall off your chair laughing, Datsik knocked out Andrei Arlovski in his first MMA match. So even the worst heavyweight can get lucky. [Read more…]

Gokhan Saki’s leg kick

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I’m a big muay Thai and kick boxing fan so I follow the K1 tournaments whenever I get a chance. One of the up and coming fighters is Gokhan Saki, a Dutch fighter with Turkish roots. What impressed me the most were his leg techniques. Mind you, his punching is pretty good as well; especially his left hook has a tendency to land with laser-like accuracy. But he excels at kicking techniques. Here’s a short clip of one of his fights.

He takes on Rick Cheek, a relatively unknown fighter. Gokhan uses the typical Dutch style of fighting: short combinations and lots of leg kicks. He reminds me the most of Rob Kaman in that regard; He has a similar style of fighting even though Rob was a bit “stiffer” in his movements. But what is most striking with Saki is how he so often leads with the rear leg kick. No set up with the hands, no feinting, no countering. Just flat out using the leg kick like you would a jab.

This is generally something you don’t do that much in the ring. The rear leg low kick is easily blocked, the opponent just has to raise his knee a little (I’m oversimplifying, I know) and it feels like you just kicked a wall. That’s why you usually prepare the rear leg kick with punches or feints. Or you do it as a counter when the opponent is not in an ideal position to block. Either way, Saki seems to violate those principles with impunity.

[Read more…]

Sanda stuff

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A few days ago, somebody on a mailing list I’m on sent in this link:

He then asked what we thought of the way these guys fight. Here’s my response:
<<<
It looked like some sort of amateur level competition. I wouldn’t say it’s bad, just that the level isn’t all that high. It looks like the right place to compete to get some experience and see if you like it once you “jump in the water”. Most fighters there seemed to lack many of the things you need for sanda. Try these clips:

This is a nice fight with a lot of clinching and throwing. Compared it to the clip you sent in and you spot the differences:

  • The fighters have a lower fighting stance, more stable because of the bent in the knees. You don’t see them totally off balance when a technique doesn’t land 100% correctly.
  • The guard is up. It’s a Chinese guard though; rear hand high, lead hand lower. Not my preference but it works for fighters who prefer throws and takedowns, which is what these two guys are.
  • They don’t flail around. They either throw single shots or short combinations.
  • The shuai jiao is integrated with their other techniques, it isn’t something that just happens out of the blue.
  • The most critical thing: instant rooting. As soon as the clinch happens, they sink their weight and root to the floor. This is what differentiates sanda with other ringsports.

This clip is a totally different match: [Read more…]

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