IMG/GIF Jack Slack - Lyoto Machida: The Double Edged Sword of Competition Karate

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Mertvaya Ruka

Active Member
Feb 14, 2015
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Lyoto Machida: The Double Edged Sword of Competition Karate

By Jack Slack



Artwork by Gian Galang

Lyoto Machida owes a great deal to his competitive karate background.

The incredible distancing and movement of the former light heavyweight champion, his tremendous ability to lay traps and close the distance with speed, his beautiful, minimalistic counter striking game: all karate 101. So if competition karate birthed the great Lyoto Machida—unarguably one of the most skilled strikers in the sport's history—should we be looking at competitive karate to produce the next generation of MMA fighters?

It might well be, but good luck scouting it out because competitive karate is almost universally awful to watch.

Traditional karate competition (Shotokan, Goju-ryu, Shito-ryu, etc.) is divided into kata and kumite, or forms and point sparring. Kata is essentially theatre, and focuses on low stances and long pauses.



Kumite is about hitting and not getting hit. That sounds like a great idea for any martial art though, right? Boil any fighting art down to its basics and it's about attacking without experiencing any nasty repercussions.

All Strikes Born Equal

Unfortunately, treating all connections as equal has pretty much destroyed every point sparring competition you can name—from karate to fencing. Applying the weight for a hurting blow and flinging the arm or foot out for a “Tag! You're It!” connection are very different movements. When all connections are equal, as under the electronic scoring of Taekwondo, the powerful round kick becomes secondary to the hilarious 'rabbit kick', a hopping heel to the back from a clinch.

Karate is much the same. Ko Matsuhisa gained acclaim for scoring with a scorpion kick against Rafael Aghayev. Of course, the actual kick was a glancing, spasmodic mess, but it scored as if were not.



The Aghayev Clinch and the New Meta

All of that aside, there are areas which one can appreciate in point sparring. In karate, strikes delivered to a tripped, thrown, or swept opponent have always been scored extremely highly. Consequently, many karateka have focused on getting in with punches and immediately transitioning to a throw. As karateka wear the gi, this can result in some diverse judo techniques in a striking environment.

Rafael Aghayev, while often undersized, is extremely good at bursting in on taller opponents and achieving a similar position to what I call the Jack Johnson clinch. Either controlling the gi sleeves at the biceps or the wrists so that the striking game is stifled.

From here he can push the opponent away while holding the gi sleeve at the biceps, stretch the opponent out and pulling Aghayev into a roundhouse kick to the exposed ribs.



Or over the arms to the head:



He can push away and score with the ludicrous hook kick.





He can transition to a hip throw. Which he'll do just as happily from ducking in on his man's hips.





Or he can hit his signature Sasae-tsurikomi-ashi. This trip, like hiza-guruma or the 'knee wheel', is about drawing the opponent's center of gravity past his lead foot, while blocking that leg from stepping to catch him, resulting in a fall to the ground.



There is certainly an appreciable and transposable art in Alexandre Biamonti's back heel. Feinting to move forward, then retracting his leg across his body so that it is in position to reap the opponent's lead leg when he follows.



The Good and Bad of Tournament Meta

Both Biamonti and Aghayev are talented, thoughtful martial artists. Both are also guilty of gaming the touch tag rules and playing up non-existent scores for the judges as anyone else in the point sparring game. Both rely on the kind of hook kicks that couldn't do damage if they needed to, both stop fighting as soon as they've landed a blow, with no regard for their own safety. Both work almost...

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Lyoto Machida: The Double Edged Sword of Competition Karate | FIGHTLAND