Originally Posted by: Superhuman"Go Rin no Sho" (book of 5 rings). Worth checking out if you havent done so already. [/QUOTE]Yeah, cool book, along with the Art of War, and another book I like that's not strictly about MA is...Zen and The Martial Arts I think by Joe Hyams. I go back to them every couple of years.

Originally Posted by: Superhuman"also had a hint of 'marketing' behind it.

Unfortunately in the west, I guess for schools to stay open, they have to "market". Traditionally, the Chinese martial arts don't rank (anymore- supposedly at one time there was ranking). More and more, Chinese schools now rank. My first Wing Chun instructor started ranking- and charged for it. I had already been his assistant instructor for a couple of years and refused. Funny story behind this- as I had already learned as much as I could from this guy and he was just using me to help run his school, sometimes I'd take a break for a month or two then come back to a new crop of students. He'd always like to show off, so he'd have me spar 4 guys (full contact, only mouth guard) to tire me out, then for the finishing finale, he'd like to spar me and kick the crap out of me. As was protocol when we sparred, if someone got a good shot in, we'd acknowledge it, then break and start over again. Well, for 3 weeks running, he'd have me spar a bunch of guys and pound the hell out of me without breaking or acknowledging my shots. I had taken an intermediate grappling class with Royce Gracie, and the only thing I really learned of value was how to apply a rear naked choke. Well, in the last sparring match, my instructor was trying to pound me again; there's a move in WC where you simultaneously block a punch, then with the other hand grab above the elbow above the striking hand and pull in to spin the guy around. So I did that and had his back. Soon as I had his back, I took him to the ground and got him in the choke- which I had done in other sparring matches, but he'd pop up and cold-**** me. This time, while in the choke, I didn't release him as I did before, and he was trying to fight his way out but he wasn't going anywhere. I said, "tap or die". He was slowly going to sleep and he tapped. All these newbie students thought I was a beginner also, because I didn't have any stripes on my sash for those he promoted, so they thought I was a beginner also. What's funny about it is, he ultimately took up grappling and "created" what he calls "Integrative Wing Chun". If you google his site, most of what's there is absolute BS. It may not sound cool to bash your former Sifu, but this guy really was out to hurt you. Later, I was lucky enough to train privately with a first generation student of Duncan Leung, a disciple of Yip Man. Man, he took my WC to level I only dreamed about. I was "awarded" the title of Sifu- but I'm nowhere near the level of my last instructor, and I refuse to have any student address me as such. OK, I know I"m blathering.

[QUOTE=Superhuman]" Grappling in MMA is a bit of a strange one, very effective but in the real world not that great. Before I sign off from waffling on this thread, my favourite MMA fighters are probably Mirko Crocop, Ueda Machida, Kazushi Sakuraba and Antonio Inoki (from the days of yore). Back to work!

I've had more than my share of debates with mma practitioners. mma as done in the octagon is a sport with rules. They're aren't any on the street. I don't like to train for sport, as that puts you in a certain mind-set. If I get attacked on the street, I don't want to think, "oh, I can't punch him in the throat", which is generally my first line of defense. I don't care how big someone is, a shot to the throat puts 'em down

I'm not a die-hard UFC fan, but I was impressed with Machida and Sakuraba also. Looking forward to what I think is the finale of the UFC tonight.