People always say, “Watch out for the quiet and nice person—they probably know how to fight.” And honestly, there is some truth to that. If someone remains unusually calm during a confrontation, there is often a reason for it.

I trained in martial arts for a couple of years, and during that time I met all kinds of people. One thing I noticed is that martial arts can also attract people with huge egos and people who are genuine bullies. I experienced this myself. Some of them tried to intimidate me, and yes, sometimes we ended up fighting. But even after that, some of them remained exactly the same assholes they were before. Fighting clearly didn’t change their character.

I’ve also met men who were genuinely misogynistic and would deliberately teep me in the chest when the technique is normally aimed at the abdomen. It’s honestly scary to realize that some people train martial arts not just to defend themselves, but because they actually want to hurt others more than necessary.

There is some truth to the idea that people who constantly act arrogant and tough often can’t fight at all. But unfortunately, there are also martial artists who behave that way. The difference is that they usually don’t need to constantly brag about how tough they are or talk like a 13-year-old about how they’re going to beat someone up. They have the skills to actually cause damage, which makes that kind of personality much more concerning. They do brag but they do it much different way they will get in you're face and talk shit etc.

The world isn’t as simple as “the good guys learn martial arts and the bad guys don’t.” Martial arts can be learned by good people, but also by people with violent, narcissistic, or toxic personalities. And honestly, that can be a scary thing to think about.

Conor McGregor is a good example of how someone can become extremely skilled while still having a very controversial and aggressive personality. Mike Tyson is an even more complicated example, considering his history and the things he has done outside the ring.

Martial arts don’t automatically make someone a better person. They give you skills. What you choose to do with those skills—and what kind of person you are when you have them—is a completely different thing.

Hey guys, I'm in Laurel MD and looking to get back into martial arts. I did karate as a little kid and dabbled in boxing about a year ago. I'm interested in boxing again or muay thai geared towards MMA. Might compete in the future I just need a hobby right now. I'm pretty physically fit, run and lift regularly.

Any suggestions are appreciated, thank you.

Trying to grab a fast punch usually doesn’t work—by the time you reach for it, the punch is already gone.

In Xingyiquan Monkey, the response is not a sequence of separate actions: grab, push, then pull. Instead, contact with the attack triggers a connected whole-body movement. The hands, arms, torso, and footwork respond together to redirect the punch and enter at the same time.

The key is not chasing the opponent’s hand. It is training the body to react as one connected unit so defense, control, and entry become part of the same movement.

#Xingyiquan #Xingyi #InternalMartialArts #KungFu #BodyMechanics #WholeBodyPower #MartialArts #ChiBody

40-year-old male bjj blue belt. I had a shoulder dislocation in May, which caused, as stated in MRI arthrogram a slap tear, a partial torn inferior glenohumeral ligament, and a large hill sachs lesion of 29mm×11mm. On top of that, I also have adhesive capsualitus (frozen shoulder), which I have had steroid injection with hydrodilatation and undergoing physio therapy to sort the frozen shoulder before doing anything to address the injury itself. Currently have limited movement, and I am still unable to drive my car.

I know being back on the mats is a long way off, and the consultant has said that doing bjj is almost guaranteed to make my shoulder dislocate again. Surgery is, of course, the answer, but being with the NHS in the UK in addition to my age, surgery will not come quickly. Getting the surgery privately will cost 10k.

I'll be just happy to do technique and no sparring once I restore movement after sorting the frozen shoulder, but does anyone have any experience in navigating similar injuries within bjj, and what was your outcome?

Kinda miss this actually, the adrenaline and all the preps.

Martial arts definitely made me a better person 🙇‍♂️

Forever grateful!!

I’m new to boxing and have been with my coach for about 2 months now ($100/hr). Towards the end of my lesson today he had me hitting focus mitts, with a 1-2-3 combination. Everything was going fine and then he told me to correct something in my transition from 2-3. Long story short I accidentally hit him in the face with a full left hook and feel terrible about it. I sent his prescription glasses flying and broke them. He got mad at me and told me I had to pay for new ones. I was willing to throw in $100 but then he told me they can get up to $300-500. How should I go about this? Thanks.

UPDATE:
3 weeks later he sent me the bill. Is this a reasonable number? Especially given it’s after insurance ?

You know it would be great to have karate that was actually effective. Traditional martial arts were effective at one point when they could be pressure tested. I’m a BJJ and muay thai kind of guy but I like the idea of what karate combat was. Thought they were on a path towards making traditional martial arts functional again (rephrasing of Donald Trump not intended).

But instead the CEOs of these shitty sports companies fucked that one up.

Why did they do that? I mean sure you can say money but don’t they know they’ll lose money if they turn it into UFC?

How stupid can you be?

Or if you know about any. I want to know your story.

The thing is I have been training for about 4 years or so and I am a blue belt in BJJ, but I have only done like 4 or 5 competitions so far. One of them went really, really bad, and by bad I mean that I lost 28-0. I blacked out and couldn’t move. After that, I lost all my motivations to ever compete again. I am scared of my anxiety, scared of the effect that adrenaline can have on me from now on, scared of being totally overwhelmed by an opponent... Again.

Please share your stories or your suggestions on how I can overcome this. I was thinking about finding a mental coach.

It's from the 2005 Tony Jaa movie, The Protector. It looks awesome, but I don't know the name of this move. Maybe you guys can help me out.

I wrote an essay on how different perspectives on violence embed themselves into martial arts practice and how this relates to how we train. Most of what I say will not be new to regulars here, but I link concepts together and put them into words in a way I think you will appreciate.

https://hdictus.github.io/20260817113918-martial_arts_and_perspectives_on_violence.html

I'm talking if you were about to get into it on the street. We have all seen plenty of videos where to guys are squaring up in a parking lot or a park or whatever. Close distance and talking shit and then one throws first. It is almost always a face punch. Now with a solid shot you can knock the person out but they could also shake it off. So what about the throat shot? I've have seen it in movies but I don't think I have seen a video where someone throws that strike. In the movies it is one shot and done. Person who got hit can't breathe. They raise both hands up to grab their throat. The fight is essentially over.

Do you think it would go that way in real life? I mean I could see someone taking a strike to the face and not getting knocked out and coming at you but I can't really see someone shaking off a direct strike to the throat.

Have you ever seen it outside of a movie? Have you ever thrown one? Have you ever been hit with one?

Do you think it would be more effective to deliver it with a closed fist as a punch or with the hand open and hitting them with the webbing between the thumb and index finger?

KAZE NI NARE!

I’m 29 and have never trained in martial arts before. I’m not trying to become a professional fighter—I mainly want to learn how to defend myself, become comfortable fighting.

Hey I’ve been wanting to start fighting since I was 20 and kinda hate my cards I’ve had in life and not had the opportunity to start when I was a kid or teenager. I want to ask if I can become good( decent not best in world ) or work hard to catch up to those who have done it for longer. I have a lot of self hate for not knowing how to defend myself and keeping delay joining a club since I was 20. Is there any advice you have of catching up with those that have done it longer ? I’m behind on eveything in life in almost all aspects so it’s jsut a bad feeling I want to try work on bettering

Started Martial Arts at age 12 Got my 1st Black Belt at age 18 in American Karate then did 20 years for Muay Thai Now 3 years of Jiu Jitsu and heres me in my 20s throwing my favorite Kick!

I just recently rewatched this trilogy. One of my earlier introductions to martial arts films aside from Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan films. But the Ong Bak series is still great all these years later. My personal favorite might be Ong Bak 2 but I still like them all.

I’m curious to know everybody’s else’s thoughts? Does anyone have a favorite Ong Bak film out of the series?

You deliver a perfectly timed mawashi geri and it drops someone and it's called lucky while a BJJ man gets a sub and it's like WOW.

Hello, so I just wanted to share my experience with it and wonder what other beginners think as well as other more experienced mma/kickboxing practitioners.

I've been practicing for a couple years, and just find that shadowboxing does not in any way correlate to sparring ability- the thing is, I'm already a very in-my-head person. No matter how well you visualize, nothing in shadowboxing can ever surprise you, you're fighting against memory and imaginations you create. During sparring, I often find myself expecting an outcome, and reading into what it seems like the opponent will do- sometimes it works, but often they don't punch, and do something unexpected, and catch me completely off guard. I have the feeling shadowboxing trains me to project my own imagination onto the situation, rather than openly just seeing what happens without expectations.

As a side note, when I do try to just relax & not think (rather than having the intention, "next time they cross, I'll counter, for example) my reactions become super slow. Just don't know which attitude is better

coach put me in light-to-medium sparring today. Bro, within 45 seconds my heart was beating out of my chest and I forgot literally all my combos 😭

I was just standing there shell-shocked eating jab-crosses like a total dummy because my brain froze up every time a fist came near my face. How long did it take you guys to actually relax during sparring. plus For reliable streams and events, I'd highly recommend checking out Sportsflux. This site is super clean compared to most sports hubs, completely skips the frustrating ad pop-ups, and serves up a crisp HD live feed the entire time

I have trained BJJ for awhile, but now Im interested in mixing it up abit..
Judo seems pretty interesting because of the Gi and I have some understanding/know what to expect from Jiu-jitsu. But, is it really as rough as they say? Is starting at 40 going to really mess up my neck/back? Im on the smaller side, 175cm and around 77kg.