Ask most martial artists how to get better at sparring, and you’ll hear the same advice on repeat: “Keep your guard up,” “Don’t drop your hands,” “Relax.” All solid points—but let’s be honest, you already know that. So, let’s go a little deeper. Here are the underrated  tips for sparring success—the ones most people overlook until they learn them the hard way. 1. Learn to Lose… Well Getting tagged isn’t failure—it’s feedback. The best fighters aren’t the ones who never get hi

Who Was Texas' Greatest Blood-and-Guts Fighter? The April 1982 Fighting Stars  cover featured one of the greatest champions of the...

Almost since its inception and especially since the art high-kicked its way into the 1988 Olympics, taekwondo has been renowned for its dynamic moves and its practitioners lauded for their explosiveness. Those qualities may have been engineered for success in competition, but that doesn’t mean they won’t work in self-defense — provided you get guidance from someone who knows of what he speaks. To deal with that last point, I sought out a true expert: G.K. Lee, ninth-degree bl

Sparring hard has fallen out of vogue recently due to multiple high-profile fighters proclaiming that they have stopped doing it...