Wednesday, 22 May 2013 09:40

This is two days late, but due to my traveling schedule I was unfortunately able to get this up on July 20th, but the 20th was 38 years since the passing of the legendary Bruce Lee. Lee was one of the first true martial arts pioneers who helped popularize martial arts throughout the world. A lot of great men, martial artists and entertainers came before him, but his style, charisma and the realistic choreography used in his films made him so entirely different and a breath of fresh air, Martial Arts films became accessible to a wider audience. The bulk of films featuring Martial Arts focused on theatrics and wire work before Lee's films, while Lee's films were more focused on close combat and the fights being incredibly realistic compared to the rest of the fare.

Sadly, Lee passed away before Enter the Dragon could be fully realized on the big screen and released to a wide audience, the film that made him an incredible superstar the whole world over. The film featured a tournament on an island, a concept that would be used almost entirely wholesale in the creation of the popular videogame franchise "Mortal Kombat" in the 90's, with the feature film created from it playing out like a mix between Enter the Dragon and Bloodsport.

The tournament format in sports, especially combat sports is very well known, but many have noted the distinct similarities between the concept of gathering the greatest fighters in the world for a marital arts tournament in Enter the Dragon and the concept behind Kazuyoshi Ishii's K-1 World Grand Prix. I can honestly say that without Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon, there is a chance that K-1 would not have became as popular as it was, nor would it have really caught my eye. I grew up as a huge Bruce Lee fan, respecting all of the obstacles he had to overcome, from racial prejudices, internal struggles within his own community of martial arts instructors to his own, personal struggles in dealing with his shortcomings and working around his ego to become a better person. Lee's philosophy has become almost as famous as his films have, with many of his teachings transcending the world of martial arts and bleeding into every day society.

His vision of martial arts also looked more at what was effective in a fight, as opposed to simply doing what was tradition. Katas were vital for perfecting certain techniques and practiced for ceremony and tradition a lot of the time, as opposed to practiced for being effective, and on top of that, techniques from other forms of martial arts sometimes perfectly complemented a form from the art you are practicing. Lee took a "Mixed Martial Arts" approach to fighting, with Jeet Kune Do not using a belt ranking system, nor did it adhere to one style. Bruce's base was Wing Chung Gung Fu, but he openly sampled from Japanese Judo, Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai and Karate, utilizing whatever technique worked the best and was the most effective for any given situation. In a way, Jeet Kune Do opened the door to what we know as modern Mixed Martial Arts.

In a way, Bruce is really one of the fathers of modern Martial Arts and should be appreciated in that way. So, to pay your respects, check out what was filmed of his last film, "Game of Death" in this 30-minute climax scene that has now become legendary and enjoy.

Wednesday, 22 May 2013 09:40

There is something to be said for all of the more mainstream attention that is coming to the Muay Thai world this year, and it is something that makes a lot of us a lot more happy. Any sort of kickfighting gaining notoriety and media attention only helps the sport of muay thai, and also helps the sport of Kickboxing as well. Check out this incredible promotional video for the Thailand Vs. Challenger Series 2011.

Wednesday, 22 May 2013 09:40

Part of what makes being a fight fan so much fun is that there are a lot of talented fans out there who put together some great video montages, one of which is LiverKick.com's friend Jill, who has made a ton of great videos and continues the trend with No Kick No Life IV, focusing on Japanese kickfighting. So check it out already.

Wednesday, 22 May 2013 09:40

The MuayThai Premier League is set to kick off on September 2nd and they've recently released a well done teaser trailer to get the word out. The MPL's roster is already looking stacked and there's more names to be added. The promotion is looking great already without having held an event yet. If all goes well, it'll pit some of the world's best against eachother. Watch the trailer and hopefully you'll get as pumped as I am.

Wednesday, 22 May 2013 09:40

With July coming to a close, three of the bigger kickboxing promotions in Japan have announced significant fights for August.

After announcing a Girls S-Cup preliminary event for August 19th, the first bout has been announced for the event, a super fight between recently crowned Shootboxing Women's Flyweight Champion Ai Takahashi and teenage sensation, as well as WPMF and WMC World Women's Mini Flyweight Champion Erika Kamimura. Takahashi took place in both Girls S-Cup events, losing in the quarterfinals to MMA fighter Saori Ishioka in 2009 and losing in the extension round of the finals to Shootboxing superstar Rena. In a rematch of the finals back in June for the Shootboxing Women's Flyweight Title, Takahashi pushed Rena for five rounds, eventually exhausting her opponent and claiming her revenge, along with the title. Erika Kamimura has made her name as an 18 year old sensation, taking wins over RISE champion Chiharu and Silvia La Notte and dominating Rena in an exhibition bout all in the past 7 months. Kamimura has an upcoming bout at RISE.80 on the 23rd against Team Souwer's Tiana van Lana, so hopefully Kamimura does not suffer an injury in that bout. Much like the title fight between Takahashi and Rena, this fight is scheduled for 5 three minute rounds.

After what seems to be a successful and entertaining initial event, It's Showtime Japan returns on August 21st in conjunction with the Fujiwara Festival and is headlined by a 61kg #1 contender's bout between former AJKF Featherweight Champion, Krush 2009 Lightweight GP Champion and #3 WPMF Japan ranked Lightweight Masahiro Yamamoto and #2 ranked Arito Tsukahara. Yamamoto challenged for the IS 61kg Championship last December, losing by a 3rd round doctor stoppage to former champion Sergio Wielzen. Wielzen lost a decision to Karim Bennoui in March who was subsequently defeated by current champion Javier Hernandez in a fight of the year contender in June. The winner of this bout will face the winner between Javier Hernandez and Kan Itabashi, who defeated Genki Yamamoto at the first It's Showtime Japan card on the 18th for the right to challenge for the title.

Also announced for the card were two 54.5 kg matches, the first between WPMF Japan Bantamweight Champion and J-NETWORK #1 ranked Super Bantamweight Ichinohe Sota and MA Kick Bantamweight Champion Takuma Ito. The other bout is a matchup between WPMF Japan #1 ranked bantamweight Noro Yuki and #3 ranked NJKF bantamweight Jun Miyoshi.

It's Showtime also announced a women's matchup between NJKF Atom(46.26kg) Champion Chiharu and WPMF Japan Atom Champion Little Tiger. As previously mentioned, Chiharu lost to Erika Kamimura at Sengoku: Soul of Fight.

Krush seems to have brokered some sort of exchange program with ISKA, as the two biggest announcements for their August 14th card pit Krush fighters against ISKA fighters. Krush 55kg participant and RISE Bantamweight Champion Nobuchika Terado will face off against Scotland's Kieran McAskill while the flashy and entertaining Keiji Ozaki will take on France's Thomas Adamandopoulos. Terado lost his quarterfinal bout in the Krush Bantamweight tournament in an extremely exciting affair with future star Ryuya Kusakabe, while Ozaki picked up a win over Toshiki Taniyama on the same card.

via Sports Navi and GBRing: Shootboxing, IS Japan, Krush