Some reflections on TaeKwonDo sparring that highlights why it has poor transitional success

[dvcochran]

They took on all challengers after the demo was completed under orders of General Choi. Anyway, how specifically do you know that he was a poor fighter? He never said anything about that in his interviews that I've read.

Never interacted with him in real life, just in books? Hell, it must all be true and that must be all he ever did then.
Just a stupid post.

 

[Buka]

You should write a book about your adventures and the people you have come across

At one point I had planned to. I was going to title it "Confessions of a Dojo Rat."

I'd like to do it now, but I'm currently involved with several writing projects......which I should be pounding away on right now...yet here I am yaking away on my favorite site.

And I'm on a shiny new iMac.....which I can't quite figure out yet. Takes me forever trying to do something.

A Koyokushin buddy sent me a text this morning from YouTube. "A conversation with Benny Urquidez and Bill Wallace"
It was cool, I was going to post it. But on my old PC, which is now dead, the address was right at the top on Youtube. Can't find it on this damn Mac.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

I'm not.

Why are you so focused on a martial art you no longer train in?

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

They took on all challengers after the demo was completed under orders of General Choi. Anyway, how specifically do you know that he was a poor fighter? He never said anything about that in his interviews that I've read.

Because everyone discusses their weaknesses in their interviews. Especially when they're a martial artist and their weakness is fighting.

 

[Acronym]

Because everyone discusses their weaknesses in their interviews. Especially when they're a martial artist and their weakness is fighting.

It is not uncommon for martial artists to answer questions such as: was your strong suit Kata or sparring?

It is ironic if true since Hee Il Cho is on the power spectrum oof TKD delivery. Some are mere gymnasts who can't torque their hips to save their lives, but have awesome flexibility. And some like Cho had both.

That said, I have encountered powerful guys in boxing gyms who wreck pads but can’t fight to save their lives. It's a strange thing.

 

[Acronym]

At one point I had planned to. I .

You wouldn't have to be scared of Hee kicking your *** so why not... Tell it all.

 

[Buka]

You wouldn't have to be scared of Hee kicking your *** so why not... Tell it all.

Hee couldn't kick my ash with an ash kicking machine. But some of his boys could fight like the dickens.

 

[Acronym]

I stand by my assertion that the sparring conducted here is a waste of time and beautifully highlights my point.


It didn't have to be that way but this is how it looks more often than not.

Free sparring that willingly goes into demonstrations martial arts. Everybody is in their Taekwondo bubble, until they are confronted by realism and directness, in which the buble bursts.

I was the only one in my school that refused to expend energy on flashy motions and focused on realism. My technques consisted of side kick, round kick, jab, and right hand. That's it. I still trained Taekwondo as a personal challenge.

 

[Acronym]

Hee couldn't kick my ash with an ash kicking machine.

Another touching tribute... Did you know that one of the Gracies reportedly challenged him in his school and subbed him in front of his students? They mentioned him by name in an article. He took a side on stance, threw a side kick and that was all she wrote.

 

[Buka]

Another touching tribute... Did you know that one of the Gracies reportedly challenged him in his school and subbed him in front of his students? They mentioned him by name in an article. He took a side on stance, threw a side kick and that was all she wrote.

I didn’t know that, no. But to give the man his due he must’ve been a good teacher. I fought one of his black belts, Thomas Bakalakas I think his name was. Dirtiest match I’ve ever been in.
Man, we were trying to kill each other, too.

He won the match...and the fight. I spent overnight in the hospital with a breathing tube down my throat. And had to have knee surgery later on.

It was a mutual dislike for each other, we just happened to fight dirty that particular day. That sometimes happened back then.

And he whooped my butt.

 

[Acronym]

I didn’t know that, no. But to give the man his due he must’ve been a good teacher. I fought one of his black belts, Thomas Bakalakas I think his name was. Dirtiest match I’ve ever been in.
Man, we were trying to kill each other, too.

He won the match...and the fight. I spent overnight in the hospital with a breathing tube down my throat. And had to have knee surgery later on.

It was a mutual dislike for each other, we just happened to fight dirty that particular day. That sometimes happened back then.

And he whooped my butt.

I don't know how much cred he gets for that. You will always find good fighters in any given club with a large enough sample.

I've seen enough great technicians who can't fight and lousy ones who can, to conclude that fighting is not about technique, coaching, etc.

 

[dvcochran]

I didn’t know that, no. But to give the man his due he must’ve been a good teacher. I fought one of his black belts, Thomas Bakalakas I think his name was. Dirtiest match I’ve ever been in.
Man, we were trying to kill each other, too.

He won the match...and the fight. I spent overnight in the hospital with a breathing tube down my throat. And had to have knee surgery later on.

It was a mutual dislike for each other, we just happened to fight dirty that particular day. That sometimes happened back then.

And he whooped my butt.

I wanted to click funny, but not for you getting injured. This post brings back memories about some of the guys I just did not like until we shook hands after a match.
During the '88 trials I went into the third day with a cracked rib and a juicy black eye that we could not keep open. My second match was against Jay Warwick. He set me up on my 'blindside' and I stepped into a spinning side kick. I finished the match but lost. I bowed out after that and was carried to the hospital. The cracked rib was fully broke, an adjacent rib cracked and the lung on that side collapsed.

 

[Acronym]

I wanted to click funny, but not for you getting injured. This post brings back memories about some of the guys I just did not like until we shook hands after a match.
During the '88 trials I went into the third day with a cracked rib and a juicy black eye that we could not keep open. My second match was against Jay Warwick. He set me up on my 'blindside' and I stepped into a spinning side kick. I finished the match but lost. I bowed out after that and was carried to the hospital. The cracked rib was fully broke, an adjacent rib cracked and the lung on that side collapsed.

I just watched oldies 80s clips of WTF and noticed that there was next to no punching. Last decade has seen a surge of sorts. I get why you guys avoided it since it was human eyes judging but it makes you wonder why they even had them allowed.

I didn't like 80s WTF either, though

 

[Acronym]

As I suspected, Buka is full of it.


Cho won several national and international competitions as a taekwondo competitor

Hee Il Cho - Wikipedia

 

[Acronym]

During the early days of teaching in the US, there were at least two incidents in which challengers attacked Cho, and in one of these incidents, the challenger later sued Cho for injuries he received as a result of attacking Cho. Cho later commented in an interview: "All this has created a great conflict within me, for if I cannot use my skill to protect myself from any person who walks in off the street and demands a fight, how can I hope my students will retain confidence in my ability to teach them this skill? And yet, if I use my skill and hurt someone, even in self-defense, have I not betrayed the spirit of what martial arts are all about?"

 

[Tony Dismukes]

A Koyokushin buddy sent me a text this morning from YouTube. "A conversation with Benny Urquidez and Bill Wallace"
It was cool, I was going to post it. But on my old PC, which is now dead, the address was right at the top on Youtube. Can't find it on this damn Mac.

Here you go.

 

[Buka]

Here you go.

Thanks, Tony.

Figuring out new computers is like figuring out women.

 

[Earl Weiss]

Another touching tribute... Did you know that one of the Gracies reportedly challenged him in his school and subbed him in front of his students? They mentioned him by name in an article. He took a side on stance, threw a side kick and that was all she wrote.

Please provide a link to that.

 

[Acronym]

Please provide a link to that.

RENER GRACIE DISCUSSES THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF GRACIE JIU-JITSU|| FIGHTHYPE.COM

When my dad first came here and he was looking for a place to train, he went into a Taekwondo school. The guy who ran the school was Hee Il Cho, a bigtime, BIGTIME Taekwondo guy. My dad walked in and said, "Hey, I want to train. You guys need a good ground guy?" He goes, "No, we don't need that stuff around here. We kick." My dad says, "Well, your Taekwondo's good, but not as good as you think. The guy goes, "You want to test it out?" My dad says, "Yeah, let's do it."

My dad gets dressed and comes out. There are about thirty people in the room. They get to it and Cho is trying to line up that perfect kick, and as we've always done, my dad closes the distance and BOOM, takes him to the ground. He gets on top of the guy and the guy's going crazy. As my dad is mounted on him, he's holding onto Cho's throat with one hand to control him, sits up and says to the crowd, "See guys, this is a bad position to be in because I now have control, but he can't hit me and he can't get out."

 

[Earl Weiss]

I have sparred a bronze medalist in ITF who moved over to Muay Thai, which he competed in for 15 years, then back to ITF when he stopped fighting. He plainly admitted that what he learned in ITF did not work in a full contact setting, and that he had a harder time "unlearning" TKD than his green belt friend who didn't know as much.

And then there are those ITF fighters who did well in full contact kickboxing and even transitioned successfully to MMA so once again you generalize from limited observation.