I've lived here in Thailand for 8+ years teaching English in primary and secondary schools, and that was rather weird -- if he was going to do something like that (show respect to the winner), I would have expected him to do a very deferential "wai" (the Thai bow / hands pressed together gesture). That is what they would do in Thai boxing.

I wonder if this is a school with an English program, so he picked up some of the cultural elements also. I don't think I've ever seen Thai students shake hands unless it was something I or another foreign teacher taught them to do.

Not anymore than the various tsunami videos (e.g. http://videosift.com/video/The-Thai-Boxing-Day-Tsunami-Unbelievable-Footage), where you can assume people died but without actually seeing it.

>> ^enon:

I'm sorry, but these people seem slightly brain dead. Maybe I'm wrong but I thought it was common knowledge that water always recedes before a tsunami. The second I saw the water receding there wouldn't be any amount of money that could keep me there any longer let alone some bs mystifying effect of filming a dry beach.


Exactly my thought. I've never lived near a beach or an ocean, not even within 200 miles of one. But I know this. If the ocean recedes, run and don't look back. Or ya know, maybe start yelling and screaming at others as you go.

I agree that the mystical definitions of chi are retarded, when they're actually talking about momentum, center of mass etc. But the terms have been in use for centuries and back then people didn't know any better. It's kinda tough to cut those ties. It's a simple umbrella term for a LOT of more advanced scientific concepts.

And while demonstrations are always just demonstrations, I have zero doubt that aikido is a very effective self defense system. But compared to, say, thai-boxing, it requires a damn sight more expertise before it becomes that effective, meaning it's not something you can utilize even after a year or three.

I don't love the martial side of it, but I do love the art.

Dag, the Pride Fighting Championships is a pro mixed martial arts organization in Japan, and is generally considered to have the best fighters in the world. (Well, past tense now, Pride was just bought by the owners of the UFC and combined the two.)

The general consensus among MMA fighters and fans is that most of the top MMA fighters, even the sprawl-and-brawl specialists, would get wiped in boxing matches against the best pro boxers, because MMA fighters can't afford to perfect their boxing to the same point boxers do. There has been movement, however, to improve striking in MMA, and the latest round of champs has been mostly strikers.

There is also some truth in that boxing striking, although it is often considered the best base standup art for MMA, needs to be adapted for MMA. For example, the more sideways stance has to be squared up to protect against single and double leg takedowns. Also, the use of the smaller 4 oz. MMA gloves means many types of boxing guards, like the peekaboo guard and crab guard, don't work so well because it's easier for punches to slip past.

Since MMA is such a new sport, there is much debate as to how much of the difference in striking styles between MMA and pure boxing/kickboxing/Thai boxing is due to poor technique on the fighters' part, and differences in the games caused by the wider range of attacks available in MMA.

For example, take head movement. Boxers are well known to have great head movement for defense, in bobbing and weaving and slipping. MMA fighters tend to keep their heads relatively still and high up. Some people say this is due to the fact that boxers train more head movement, and point to Couture v. Sylvia as an example of good head movement in MMA giving an advantage to the better slipper (Couture). Other people say boxing-style head movement is dangerous in MMA because a bad bob, weave, or slip could easily bring a fighter into the path of a round kick or knee or open them up for a takedown, and point to Anderson Silva v. pretty much anyone else, as well as the lowered amount of head movement in Muay Thai matches.

There are examples and counter examples of both sides, but I don't think a consensus will be reached until the next generation of MMA fighters arrive, a generation that no longer consists of specialized fighters with a strong base in a single art, but fighters that have been training since Day 1 for MMA with strong bases in striking and grappling arts. It's pretty exciting to watch the sport evolve in small ways like this.

Personally, I don't give all the discussion much thought, and am content to just block punches with my forehead.