Since Andy is the only one of those mentioned above that is no longer among the living, I'm going to take this opportunity to post a highlight video of his career as a fighter. That being said, some of the best known full-contact Karate fighters to ever grace the K-1 ring are Andy Hug, Glaube Feitosa, Francisco Filho and, obviously, Semmy Schilt. Of course it all ended up looking more like Muay Thai than Karate due to the bouts taking place in rings, the participants wearing fight shorts and boxing gloves and the legality of punches to the head (mostly outlawed in regular full-contact Karate), but then again MMA doesn't look much like it did at UFC 1 either. Months after his departure from the IKO (International Kyokushin Organization), Ishii founded his own spin-off style, Seidokaikan (basically Kyokushin with slightly modified tournament rules) and would go on to create K-1 as a means of showcasing full-contact Karate's strength against other styles. The world's best known Kickboxing organization was founded by former Kyokushin practitioner Kazuyoshi Ishii. But no, the real answer is that much like the Gracies' Jiu-Jitsu was the founding block of the UFC, so was Kyokushin responsible for the birth of K-1. A simple, shallow answer is that MMA has striking and Kykoushin is striking so there's your common ground. It is, however, divided into a breathtaking number of styles, some so different from one another, especially to the casual observer, that only the gi - the typical Japanese martial arts uniform, consisting of pants, long jacket and belt - seems to be commonplace.īefore going further, some of you might be wondering why I'm talking about Karate on an MMA website, especially if it doesn't involve Lyoto Machida. What's more, in spite of the emergence of so many fighting systems in the past few decades, it is probably still the most wide-spread martial art on the globe. After decades of world-wide exposure, after countless peaks and falls in popularity, it has become the sort of term that transcends language barriers.
Truth be told, "Karate" is a word that no longer strictly belongs in the confinement of the Japanese language. T.P.'s work focuses on Kyokushin's founder, legendary karateka Masutatsu (or simply "Mas") Oyama, offering some lovely insight into Sosai's life and how his way of thinking shaped the style he created, and Sweet Scientist's post, while not exclusively dedicated to Kyokushin, goes into detail about the competition rule-set and also elaborates on the many Kyokushin spin-off styles out there. But seriously, both previously mentioned pieces are well worth the read. That, or you just saw it in my screen name, you know. Grant's Gods of War, Masutatsu Oyama and Sweet Scientist's Traditional Striking Arts. In case you're not really familiar with Kyokushin but the name somehow rings a bell, it's probably because you went through two rather recent articles here on Bloody Elbow, namely T.P. So, without further ado, have a good read! Today's post is more of an introductory piece, covering Kyokushin's importance in the world of fighting as well as very briefly discussing Karate's pre-Kyokushin history and Masutatsu Oyama's views and influence. Throughout the ensuing articles, I will try to cover as much as I can in the way of Kyokushin's unique approach to striking, the philosophy behind this particular style and various other related topics as they arise.
Welcome, one and all, to a series dedicated of everyone's favorite full-contact Karate style, Kyokushin. Promoted from the FanPosts by Nate Wilcox.