Yesterday afternoon was a big day for Karate. Undefeated Shotokan Karate Master Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida defeated "Sugar" Rashad Evans by KO in the second round to win the UFC Light Heavyweight Belt. I was as happy as clam because his victory has restored the honor of Karate as a martial art and proved that it can win in MMA. His victory wasn't only for Karate, but for other traditional martialarts as well. Thinking about the prestige that he had won for the descipline reminds me of Survivor's song "Moment Of Truth".
This song was a soundtrack for the first Karate Kid movie about a teen who studies traditional Karate to fend off bullies. I have to admit, when I was studying Karate and the movie came out, recruitment went up during that time. Anyway, going back to Machida, I couldn't sleep for a week thinking what would happened because both he and Rashad were both tactical fighters and I agreed with Joe Rogan that it was a toss up with the victory going to first fighter exploit the others mistake. Applying the point-sparring principles, Machida patiently looked for an opening and when he found it, he beat Rashad severely and knocked him out in the 2nd Round. I was overjoyed and relieved at the same time as his hand was raised in victory and the belt secured around his waist.
Some would criticized that he learned other arts such Brazilian Jujitsu, Sumo Wrestling and Boxing, but primarily, the approach that he used was purely Karate. Thanks to him, traditional martial arts will once again be given new life. In truth, I wish he didn't fight Evans because I also liked Rashad cause he was a smart fighter who always beat the odds no matter how big they were. Karate took a beating when the UFC and other arts came in and I remember one magazine saying that traditional martial artitst would loose to to wrestlers, kickboxers and Jujitsu practitioners. I guess they better change that article because Machida proved them wrong and I am happy for it.
No comments:
Post a Comment