Of all the fighters who appeared in the early UFC tournaments, none provokes a wider range of emotions than Ron “The Black Dragon” Van Clief by Mark Jacobs Photos Courtesy of Ron Van Clief On one hand, there he was, stepping into the octagon at age 51 — to this day, the oldest man ever to fight in the UFC — a renowned karate expert and martial arts film star who bravely put his reputation on the line against men half his age. On the other hand, watching him struggle on the mat under a much younger Royce Gracie still generates a profound sense of What were you thinking? “I did it because I wanted to do it and I thought it was a beautiful event,” Van Clief said. “There was no safety equipment, time limits or weight divisions. It was pure. I don’t feel bad about losing to Royce. I was 51 and he was 27, and I hung in there for four minutes. I can’t think of ever having competed in anything I enjoyed more.” Van Clief started martial arts in the late 1950s, learning jujitsu and then goju karate and kung fu. He became one of the East Coast’s most successful tournament competitors, racking up countless titles. Even when he was making films in Hong Kong during the 1970s and ’80s, he continued to compete. So it wasn’t as if at 51, he’d been retired for decades by the time he entered the UFC. Yet although he had a bit of boxing experience, Van Clief had never competed in kickboxing as some of the more successful early UFC strikers had. And his grappling skills were almost nonexistent. He’d tried his hand in full contact more than a decade earlier in a “free fighting” tournament in Hong Kong. Nearly 40 at the time, he made it through two bouts before being knocked out by his third opponent. Nonetheless, the UFC was a different animal, one Van Clief knew nothing about when he sat down to watch the inaugural event on television.  “I was impressed,” he said. “I saw real fighting, and what’s better than that?” It was an unusual attitude coming from a traditional martial artist at a time when many traditionalists were still insisting the fighters weren’t “real” martial artists and claiming the matches were fake. But after watching the first two UFC tournaments, Van Clief viewed it as the only truly realistic fighting competition he’d ever witnessed. He knew he had to take part.  “What person who considers himself a true martial artist wouldn’t want to?” he asked. Initially turned down because of his age, Van Clief made his case to the promoters and secured a spot in UFC 4. Surprisingly, although many insisted those early events weren’t legitimate because they didn’t include any well-known masters, he received little support from the martial arts community. “Everyone thought I’d lost my mind,” he said. “Even guys like Joe Lewis were calling me up, saying I was going to get my ass kicked. So what? I wanted to do it and nothing was going to change my mind.”  He trained for several months to prepare and wound up breaking his ankle while working with a wrestler just a week before the competition. But Van Clief didn’t let that stop him. He said that’s why he was taken down so fast — his ankle wasn’t stable enough to support him when he tried a kick moments into the bout. That might sound like the typical fighter’s excuse, but Van Clief readily admitted that Gracie was just too good on the ground. Even if he was healthy at the time and had trained more in grappling, he said he’s not sure that would have enabled him to win. “He was too far ahead of me in grappling,” Van Clief said. “I’d spent years working on stand-up, but this was something completely new. That’s why it was so magical to me. I got choked out in four minutes, but none of that mattered.” Van Clief received a bit of flak from some traditional martial artists for his loss but paid it no heed, adding that instead of sitting at home and watching the UFC while trashing the fighters, his critics could have done what he’d done. “But none of them did,” he said pointedly. He briefly maintained his association with the UFC after the Gracies approached him about becoming the organization’s first commissioner. Insisting it wasn’t a ceremonial appointment, Van Clief said he was intimately involved in recruiting fighters, developing concepts like the “superfight” and even appearing in court to speak for the company when it had trouble getting events sanctioned. But his tenure as the sport’s first commissioner was a brief one. He said that he didn’t like the direction the promotion was taking, which led him to step away from his role. He went back to films and frequently found work as a stunt coordinator, but he never lost his passion for martial arts competition. At age 60, he won his division at the All-American Open karate tournament. Then he moved to the Virgin Islands and began training in no-gi grappling while promoting mixed martial arts there. Finally, after moving to Hawaii 10 years ago, he came full circle when he became a student of Relson Gracie, Royce’s brother. After nine and a half years, at age 78, he’s earned a purple belt, and he said he’s not through yet. Van Clief is determined to make black belt, although he expects it will take him another four or five years, pushing him well into his 80s. And yes, he still competes. “I don’t have any gold medals yet in jiujitsu, though I’ve won six silvers and three bronze,” he said.  “But there’s never anybody in my age division, so I have to compete in a younger one. My goal is to get my black belt and compete one more time as a black belt. I will compete as a black belt.” Away from the mats, though, Van Clief found that his most difficult opponent was often himself. After nearly being lynched by a racist mob in North Carolina while serving in the Marine Corps in the early 1960s and then undergoing the trauma of combat in Vietnam, he suffered for years from post traumatic stress disorder. Following a brief hospitalization for it, he wrote The Hanged Man , a book about his life. He said the experience was cathartic. The memoir was recently made into a documentary, one of the many projects that’s kept him continuously busy. In addition, he’s scheduled to do a movie with Michael Jai White, whom he anointed as the new “Black Dragon.” Van Clief has other projects in the works, including an animated Black Dragon movie that’s nearly finished. “Every day, I wake up and have the opportunity to be better than I was the day before,” he said. “There’s no better challenge in life than that.” Mark Jacobs’ most recent book is The Principles of Unarmed Combat. His website is writingfighting.wordpress.com . This article originally appeared in a 2022 edition of Black Belt Magazine

Do you want to feel younger? Do you want to ensure that you can train in martial arts forever — or, more realistically, for the rest of your life? You don’t need to be a vampire and start drinking other people’s blood. You just need to pop some resveratrol. Resveratrol is all natural and totally legal. It’s found in grapes and, not surprisingly, red wine. The only problem with that fact is you would have to eat pounds of grapes and drink bottles of wine to see any benefit. Fortunately, there’s a better solution: Buy resveratrol in capsule or powder form. Benefits of Resveratrol: Longevity Mitochondria determine your longevity. As you age, you lose mitochondria, and that means you lose the ability to produce energy. Energy dictates how much life you have and how well you perform and train. When the mitochondrial decline happens, the cells become more unstable and reactive, and they harm other cells, which leads to disease, aging and fatigue. Resveratrol increases mitochondrial capacity and function. It protects you from aging, inflammation and oxidative stress. Resveratrol works by improving the function of sirtuin . Sirtuin is a protein that is responsible for preventing cells from dying, DNA repair, metabolism and energy. Unfortunately, as you age, the functionality of your sirtuin declines, and it becomes more susceptible to damage from inflammation and oxidative stress. By taking resveratrol, you boost your that functionality and preserve your body’s ability to withstand damage. The more active your sirtuin stays, the younger you will feel and the better you will move. Resveratrol’s protective effects work as an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant on the cellular level. The cellular level is where diminished health, aging, disease and fatigue stem from. Think of resveratrol as a file that boosts the operating system of your computer to function more efficiently, more quickly and more smoothly. Benefits of Resveratrol: Heart Health Resveratrol is excellent for your cardiovascular system because it protects your heart, veins and arteries. It reduces inflammation. It also dilates blood vessels, which helps lower your heart rate and blood pressure. All these reduce the adverse effects of hard training and boost recovery afterward. Furthermore, it increases your HDL and lowers your LDL. This helps maintain good cholesterol levels, which reduces your risk of atherosclerosis. Many studies show that eating a diet high in saturated fat while taking resveratrol significantly reduces the risk of heart disease. They call it the French Paradox . Benefits of Resveratrol: Blood Sugar Resveratrol enhances insulin sensitivity, which is essential to maintain and lower your blood sugar. Benefits of Resveratrol: Brain Health Resveratrol reduces inflammation and oxidative stress, which can cause a variety of neurodegenerative diseases. In addition, it has the capability to increase blood flow to the brain. This is often called acting as a brain flow dilator. Resveratrol is used for many things from prevention to restoration. It is a powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant that’s an effective tool for combating aging, cancer, heart disease, etc. If the research has convinced you to try it, know that 1 gram seems to be the recommended amount. If you take too much, it can have a detrimental effect. Also, it’s recommended to take it for three months, then cycle off for a month before resuming. If you are pregnant and breastfeeding, if you take medications, if you have a disease such as cancer, or if you have had recent surgery, talk to your doctor before starting resveratrol. For more info about nutrition, exercise and training, check out my YouTube channel: Balanced Body. For information about strength training, check out the book Instant Strength.

Conor McGregor's much-anticipated return to the UFC is now officially scheduled. The former lightweight and featherweight champion announced his comeback, confirming he will face Michael Chandler on June 29th during the UFC's International Fight Week pay-per-view in Las Vegas. This bout is set to take place in the middleweight category, at 185 pounds​​​​​​​​​​​​. This announcement ends a period of speculation and uncertainty surrounding McGregor's return to the octagon. Originally, McGregor and Chandler were supposed to fight in 2023 after their coaching stints on "The Ultimate Fighter." However, the matchup was delayed due to various reasons, including McGregor's absence from the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) drug-testing pool. Notably, the UFC's relationship with USADA recently ended following a public clash over McGregor's status, leading the promotion to partner with Drug Free Sport International​​. The venue for this high-profile fight is the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, a fitting setting for what promises to be a blockbuster event. McGregor, known for his charismatic and dominant presence in the UFC, will be returning after a significant hiatus, making this fight a major draw for fans and followers of mixed martial arts​​. This match not only marks McGregor's return but also signals a major event in the UFC calendar, being part of the International Fight Week. With McGregor's popularity and Chandler's standing in the sport, this fight is expected to be a highlight of the UFC season and a potentially pivotal moment in McGregor's career as he steps back into the limelight of competitive fighting.

When you’ve studied the martial arts for half a century; you’ve served as a soldier, a street cop, a SWAT officer, a counterterrorist agent, a bodyguard and a private security officer; and you’ve taught warriors from a variety of fighting systems in 20 countries, you’re bound to discover some of the truths of combat and self defense. You have probably guessed that the opening paragraph pertains to my career. I wrote it as a lead-in to this post about punching the human head because I’m certain that I have discovered the secrets to delivering a knockout punch, and I’m going to teach them to you. Correction! Actually, there are no secrets when it comes to effective punching. It’s merely a matter of knowing and applying the nine “elements of an arm strike with fists.” Let’s go through those elements one by one. [1] START FROM AN IMMINENT-CONFLICT STANCE To throw a good punch, you must begin from a proper stance. The “imminent-conflict stance” is one that has your body bladed roughly at a 45-degree angle facing the enemy — just like a Roman Legionnaire, a Western boxer or a U.S. Marine in the MCMAP system. Your weight is even distributed on your legs, your knees are slightly bent, your torso is leaning slightly forward and your arms are up in front of you with your hands making tight fists (which also protects the bones in your wrists and arms because of the tensed muscles). I won’t get into the controversy that revolves around whether it’s better to strike with a closed fist or an open hand. This topic will be addressed another day. For now, let’s assume that you’re about to unload on the enemy with your fists, that your leading elbow is bent and that your lead fist is in front of your face just below eye level. You should be able to look over the top of your fist as if it were the front sight of a gun. Your rear fist is in a cheek-weld position. This means that it’s touching your cheekbone, and it should stay there until it’s launched so it can protect the side of your head while your elbow protects your rib cage. A corrections officer in my Defensive Tactics for Special Operations course is shown landing a perfect punch to the face of a SWAT officer. The key is properly applying the elements of an arm strike with fists. [2] ADVANCE TO STRIKE When you launch a strike with your fist, you must step into the punch in the direction of the enemy, even if that advancement is only an inch or two. You must “take the enemy’s ground.” You need to be standing where the enemy is standing, whether your counterattack is merely a hit-and-run tactic or you’re going in to stay and occupy. You want the enemy retreating while you’re advancing. If you need a concise way to express this tactic, it’s encapsulated in the Hebrew word kadima, which translates as “Forward!” When I was a guest instructor at the Wingate Institute on the military side of the institute called Bahad 8, the birthplace of krav maga, I kept hearing my Israeli soldier-students yell out “Kadima!” before doing what I ordered them to do. This is the philosophy that wins battles, and I like it. On the cover of my book Defensive Tactics for Special Operations (published by Black Belt Books), I show a cheek weld with my rear fist. Note how the positioning protects my head. [3] STRAIGHT-LINE TRAJECTORY Think of your fists as pistons in an internal-combustion engine. They move back and forth along a straight line inside the cylinders. So, too, should your fists. They should travel to the target and return, straight there and back. The principle is called economy of motion. In the military, I was a combatives instructor, and in my class here, I’m having soldiers strike a realistic head-like target. The focus gloves used by most martial arts schools and MMA gyms are not realistic in that they give the practitioner a false sense of security. Landing perfect punches on what is essentially a hard ball requires going for center mass, having a tight fist and striving for penetration. [4] STOPPING POWER When you drive your fists into the enemy’s face, the purpose is to stop him. If the contact is too light, he’ll keep coming, and that’s dangerous. Every second the fight continues is another second he can hurt you. Therefore, to stop the enemy, your punch must have stopping power. That means maximum power delivered at maximum speed. The notion of stopping power is popular in the firearms world, where I also work as an instructor. I decided it would be beneficial for those who are learning how to punch. Using the firearms comparison: If you get hit with a 9mm bullet, it will hurt or kill you. However, 9mm bullets don’t punch big holes in people, and many who have been shot with this caliber have survived. In contrast, if you get hit with a .45-caliber bullet, it will leave a big hole — or maybe rip part of your limb off. A .45-caliber bullet is known for its stopping power. It’s likely to knock you down no matter where it hits. [5] CENTER MASS In a fight, the enemy’s head will be moving to some degree, and to avoid missing it or possibly having your blow glance off the skull, you need to aim for center mass, which is another term from the firearms world. The center of the human face is between the tip of the nose and the top of the upper lip. The center of the side of the human head is just in front of the ear at the temple. Note: The center of the back of the head is between the top of the head and the base of the neck. However, nothing is there but hard bone, and punching it is likely to break bones in your hand. Therefore, because of human anatomy and the need for a viable target, center mass for the back of the head shifts downward. The target area starts at the base of the skull and extends down to the shoulder line. Of course, if you strike someone in the back of the head, it had better be because your life is in danger. Otherwise, the law will consider it a deadly force blow. Aiming for center mass, regardless of which side of the head you’re aiming for, increases your chance of hitting some part of the target even though it’s probably moving off the center line. That’s better than hitting nothing at all. When I was teaching new recruits in the Israel Defense Forces at the Wingate Institute Bahad 8, I learned something from them: “Kadima!” It’s a Hebrew expression and philosophy that means “Forward!” [6] TARGET PENETRATION You don’t ever want to hit just the surface of your target. Your goal is not to break the enemy’s nose or jaw; it’s to penetrate through the head. Obviously, this is physically impossible, but trying to do so guarantees the hardest blow that can be delivered. It’s the same principle as kicking in a locked door. You don’t want to kick the surface of the door and maybe crack it. Your actual target is on the other side of the door a few inches beyond the back panel. Likewise, the endpoint of your punch should be on the other side of the enemy’s head, and everything in between is merely in the way. When penetration is achieved, the punching principles of advancement, straight-line trajectory and stopping power will be automatic. [7] AVOID A PAUSE IN CONFLICT When you commit to striking the enemy, you want to avoid pausing. Yes, at some point in a fight — be it two armies on a battlefield or two people in a fistfight — there will be pauses. For your initial counterattack, however, you want to keep landing blows until the enemy stops and no longer poses a threat. All people have physical limitations because of their body structure, and even the best punches may not guarantee victory. However, put a weapon in the hand of the same fighter and apply the elements of an arm strike with fists, and the odds of prevailing increase. In this Women’s Survival course I taught in Paris, my assistant instructor teaches the women the same angles as fist strikes. [8] RECOVERY PHASE After throwing the desired number of punches at the enemy’s head, you must quickly reposition yourself for the next technique or tactic that does not involve the fists. This transitional phase is not a pause in conflict; it is the recovery phase of punching. [9] FOLLOW THROUGH Immediately following the recovery phase, in which you’ve momentarily positioned your body to execute the next technique or tactic, you might, for example, seamlessly go from punching to thrusting your knee into the enemy’s pelvis. Of course, to be able to quickly think on your feet in the fog of war, you must train this way, and there’s nothing better for this than realistic scenarios. Sparring is not a realistic scenario. Punching someone is not rocket science. The concept is elementary. Strike the enemy’s head as hard and fast as you can with the knuckles of your index and middle fingers. Obviously, a small or weak person may not be able to knock out a bigger, stronger or more-skilled enemy. Everybody, and I mean every body, has his or her physical limitations. Yet even a small woman can prevail against a hardcore criminal if she takes these elements of executing an arm strike with fists and substitutes a knife for a fist. Now, that woman can survive the attack. Clearly, the tool makes all the difference in the world. OK, in your jurisdiction, maybe knives are illegal to carry. Use a calligraphy pen instead. Recall the concept of “one mind, any weapon.” If you’re not familiar with this, see my article on BlackBeltMag.com . Of course, the mechanical portion of punching someone in the head — or shoving a knife into an attacker — is the easy part. The hard part is the mental aspect. To survive an attack and achieve victory, you’ll also need courage, determination, aggression and the will to survive. BE A HARD TARGET!

After doing the third Shaolin Temple film, Jet Li thought about quitting movies, yet a project came along that inspired him to continue, a film that cemented his name in Chinese kung fu flick history while portraying China’s all-time favorite cinematic and real-life hero. Here is Part 2/2 of Jet Li Kung Fu Roles. In 1991, the father of fant-Asia films Tsui Hark cast Jet Li as folk hero Huang Fei-hong in Once Upon a Time in China, the movie in which Li broke his leg and from then on welcomed the use of stunt doubles. Although the franchise had five sequels, Li starred in only three: Once Upon a Time in China II (1992), Once Upon a Time in China III (1993) and the final instalment Once Upon a Time in China and America (1997). Jet Li played a more comedic version of Huang Fei-hong in The Last Hero of China (1993). All the Huang films were set in the late 19th century near the end of the Ching dynasty. Huang battles foreign forces in Once Upon a Time in China , fights a foreigner killing cult and protects Sun Yat-sen in Once Upon a Time in China II , tackles marriage, assassins and lion-dance matches in Once Upon a Time in China III and faces Native Americans, racism and Chinese mobsters in Once Upon a Time in China and America. “In the ’50s and ’60s, Huang reflected the people of that era,” Jet Li told me. “Back in Huang’s day and in the Once Upon a Time in China films, when China opened its doors to Western culture, people learned things, good or bad. My Huang character focused on learning something good from the Westerners while keeping the good from our culture. Historically, the Huang films represented the generations of Chinese at the time they were made. For me, Huang reflected on who I was when the films were made: a man battling to understand his own culture and open himself up to the West.” Born in 1847 in Canton, China, Huang was the true reflection of the Confucian code. As a child, he was a martial arts street performer and later became a martial arts instructor for Gen. Li Fu-ling’s 5th Regiment of the Cantonese army and the Cantonese Civilian Militia. Apart from his phenomenal hong chia kung fu, fei tuo and iron-wire skills, Huang was renowned for his chivalry, righteousness and devotion to running his father’s Chinese-herb clinic, where he gained fame for his bone-setting abilities. Huang was also Canton’s top lion dancer (nicknamed Lion King) and renowned for his “no-shadow kick” that was made famous by Tsui’s films. In them, Jet Li would fly sideways through the air, kicking his legs as if riding a bicycle. It became known as the “Hong Kong kick” in Hollywood. Nobody knows what the no-shadow kick looked like because it was supposedly so fast that it didn’t leave a shadow. Later in life, he married Muo Gui-lan, a teenage bride who was betrothed to him during his golden years in return for his saving her father’s life. However, deeply saddened by the destruction of Bao Zhi Lin during the Republican Revolution, Huang began to weaken and died at age 77 in 1924. “People’s lives are like films,” Jet Li told me. “You play your character in real life, and film puts your whole life into a short time. Each film has a different story and life, and you become that person for a few months, and after that, you become another person. In real life, you learn to love, deal with people, learn different languages and cultures. In film, you learn things you may never do — cop or ancient hero — but they all have a part in your life, and together it makes you grow as one.” Next stop, 1910. The Manchus are falling, the Republic of China is rising and Japanese imperialists are everywhere. This is the setting for the Ronny Yu-directed Fearless (2006), in which Jet Li plays the legendary Huo Yuan-jia, a man who was called to defend China’s honor when the nation’s morale hit an all-time low. “Fearless is less a story about Huo the man than an expression of his spiritual path,” Li said. “Much of the movie’s plot is fiction, although the setting and time periods are factual. Our aim was to tell a convincing story where Huo is portrayed as human and not a god. In 2003, I learned that 280,000 people in China committed suicide every year. I hoped the film might encourage those who lost faith in life to be strong again. “In the film, Huo’s attitudes toward life, the world and martial arts are like mine. He died at 42. I made the film at 42. I tried to reflect the philosophy of people my age in the movie. Message: Live your life positively.” In Fearless, Huo dreams of continuing the legacy his father established as a world-class fighter. After reaching his goal, a personal tragedy causes him to disappear for several years — until September 14, 1910. On that day, Huo resurfaces to defend the honor of China at an international fighting tournament. It happens at a time when Chinese morale is plummeting. Because of the one-on-one battles, the country’s pride soars, and Huo becomes a symbol for Chinese nationalism, a man regarded with reverence. Born with jaundice in 1868, Huo was forbidden by his father from learning kung fu, but for 10 years, he secretly watched his father teaching others. Huo mastered the mi zong style and earned his reputation by battling a bandit who led a 1,600-man army. He also used his mental prowess to defeat a Russian wrestler and a British boxer — without lifting a fist. When Huo established the Chin Woo Physical Training School in 1909, his tenet was that students should practice kung fu to strengthen their mind and body while perfecting their spirituality. As Huo’s jaundice worsened, he sought treatment from a Japanese doctor who told local Japanese judo schools about Huo’s abilities. That led to a fight with Shanghai’s top Japanese judoka. Because of his declining health, Huo sent his top student Liu Chen Zhen to fight the judoka — and he won. Shamed by defeat, 10 Japanese fighters attacked Huo, and Huo broke all of their hands. It’s believed that to avenge the Japanese losses, the doctor poisoned Huo. Which brings us to… Based on another aspect of China’s history, Li’s final hero film Fist of Legend (1994) was made. It came along 20 years after Bruce Lee portrayed Liu and thus inspired Jet Li to become an actor. Fist of Legend was Jet Li’s homage to Bruce Lee’s Liu. Set in 1914 after Huo’s death, the movie has Liu Chen Zhen returning from Japan to Shanghai to fight the Japanese martial artist who, according to the film, killed Huo during a duel. Jet Li’s Liu is cast in a different light, and his nod to Bruce Lee’s fighting style occurs during the finale when Jet Li awkwardly bounces around like a Western boxer. “It wasn’t real boxing, and you can tell I wasn’t used to it,” Jet Li said. “Although it doesn’t look good on film, we needed the stylized punching. People can boast that their martial art is the best, but everything is not the best. So I have that character learn karate [and] boxing and put all those good things together into the character’s own style. Isn’t that what Bruce Lee did with his martial art?” After Bruce Lee passed away, many actors started mimicking his moves and his looks. Jet Li, on the other hand, tried to avoid the comparison, even going as far as changing the romanization of his surname from Lee to Li. So why did he choose to do a film based on a character made famous by Bruce Lee? “In Bruce’s version, the topic was narrow and focused on one point of view: The Japanese were all evil and unsympathetic villains. When Japan invaded China, I’m sure many Japanese opposed the invasion, the expansionist policies and the atrocities of their armies — just as all Chinese were not good. In Fist of Legend, I wanted a wider array of Japanese characters to show they weren’t bad. Plus, it’s a story about love between a Chinese man and a Japanese woman. Love is something that doesn’t have any national nor racial boundaries. I thought the movie made a good point of this crucial lesson that is much too often overlooked.” Regarding playing real-life Chinese kung fu heroes, Jet Li said, “We try to create them and end up putting our philosophy into them the way that we think. This way, we can get to know them so we can make the character seem more real and work. My films about the old heroes of China represent that younger generation of Chinese. I don’t think my characters did that in real life. We create them, and by doing that, we can learn something through them.”

The COVID-19 pandemic saw people around the world searching for advice on how to practice martial arts in the comfort of their own home, far away from germs. While the world appears to be moving on from the pandemic, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t still train at home. The truth is, the best type of fitness is one you could hypothetically do in a prison cell. The beauty of the striking arts is that without any equipment or partner, you can still practice your skills. In this post, I will present a workout routine I developed for my students so they could train at home during the first lockdown here in the United Kingdom. But first, we need to talk about discipline. When you start training at home, you’ll find that it’s easy to be motivated for the day, or maybe even for the week, but as time marches on and life gets in the way, your mind can stray. This is normal, and I too suffer from it even after a decade of training. So how do you avoid it? Start a Martial Arts Training Habit Find a time that you can reasonably do every day and set it. Go about your day, but the second that alarm goes off, stop whatever you’re doing short of a legitimate emergency and spend the next 45 minutes training. Do this every day. Any day missed is a day that could break the habit and set you back for weeks. The more time you spend training, day in and day out, the easier it will be. With that said, let’s begin. I will go over each portion of the program, then finish with the overall schedules. This routine features technique training six times a week, physical fitness four times a week, flexibility twice a week, and on a Sunday a rest-and-rehab session to aid recovery. Solo Training Routine: Fitness This section is based on building strength and conditioning geared specifically to martial arts. All work is done via bodyweight exercises, and the only piece of equipment necessary is a pull-up bar. If you aren’t able to hang a pull-up bar, you can substitute by doing resistance-band exercises. Remember that eventually you need to reach a point where you can leave this basic routine behind and work with a professional coach in your area who can give you a routine tailor-made to you, but sticking to this plan for six months will have a great benefit on your overall fitness, especially for martial arts. Warm-up, Part 1: Skipping Rope or Star Jumps Beginner: 3 rounds of 1 minute (1-minute rest) Intermediate: 3 rounds of 2 minutes (1-minute rest) Advanced: 3 rounds of 3 minutes (1-minute rest) Warm-up, Part 2: Dynamic Stretching For the sake of ease, you will use five basic wushu kicks. It doesn’t matter if you don’t practice kung fu; these are the easiest ways to gain dynamic flexibility. Front kick: 2 sets of 10 (alternating sides) Side kick: 2 sets of 10 (alternating sides) Outside crescent kick: 2 sets of 10 (alternating sides) Inside crescent kick: 2 sets of 10 (alternating sides) Flick kick: 2 sets of 10 (alternating sides) Push-ups (Monday and Thursday) Beginner: 3 sets of 10 reps (1-minute rest) Intermediate: 3 sets of 15 reps (1-minute rest) Advanced: 3 sets of 25 reps (1-minute rest) Can’t do one push-up? Attempt 3 sets of 15 kneeling push-ups. If you can’t manage that, drop the number of reps. Pull-ups (Tuesday and Friday) Beginner: 10 sets of 1 rep (1-minute rest) Intermediate: 3 sets of 5 reps (1-minute rest) Advanced: 3 sets of 10 reps (2-minute rest) Can’t do one pull-up? Try 10 sets of 1 negative pull-up, in which you jump up to the bar and slowly lower yourself. If you can do only one of these, that’s something to work with. Try to do one more the next day. Squats (Monday and Thursday) Beginner: 3 sets of 15 reps (1-minute rest) Intermediate: 3 sets of 25 reps (1-minute rest) Advanced: 4 sets of 25 reps (1-minute rest) Can’t do one squat? Find a table or other high surface. Put your hands on it, then lower yourself into the squat using the object to take some of the weight off. Try 3 sets of 20. Solo Training Routine: Technique This is a standard routine you can do every day, anywhere. It assumes you’re doing some form of kickboxing, be it muay Thai, sanda, etc. If you are in a martial art like karate or kung fu, you can still do all this alongside any forms training. Round 1: Footwork (4 minutes) Footwork is the basis of everything you do in any martial art or sport (except for pool and snooker, I guess). Do not neglect the first five minutes of this routine as it will help everything else fall into place. Half-steps forward, backward, left and right (1 minute) — Lead with the correct foot, lengthen your stance, then return to your basic start without bringing your rear foot to follow it. Full-steps forward, backward, left and right (1 minute) — Take full basic steps, ensuring your feet do not cross and your stance stays balanced. Forward step followed by a pivot, rear step followed by a pivot (1 minute) — This is to practice evasive action. Shadowboxing (footwork only) — Move freely around your space, ensuring that you are circling, pivoting, advancing and retreating with proper balance. Rest for 2 minutes. Round 2: Jab + Straight Kicks (3 minutes) For one round, work exclusively on technique for your jabs and front kicks, be they snap kicks or teeps. These are the rangefinders and range maintainers, so they are essential for anyone practicing martial arts. Ensure that your jab is performed without a flaring elbow. You can practice this by standing with your jabbing side to a wall. Also ensure that the front kick is done without pulling you off-balance. Lean back slightly to bring your hips forward to keep the weight shift strong. Round 3: All Punches + Straight Kicks (3 minutes) You are now allowed to use all punches at your disposal. Make sure that as you throw a left hook, your weight comes to your right foot by the time the punch ends, and vice versa for the right hook. When uppercutting, make sure your uppercut comes out like a rear straight with an upturned fist, having a moderate bend in the arm. This ensures that you’re training to strike an opponent who is a distance away from you. It’s easy to get into the habit of uppercutting straight up, where no opponent will ever be. Round 4: Full Kickboxing (3 minutes) You can now throw all kicks. Try to improve your kicking technique and balance by chaining multiple types of kicks off the same leg — for example, a left round kick followed by a left side kick. The better you are at doing multiple kicks off the same leg, the better dexterity and control you will have. Round 5: All Legal Techniques (3 minutes) Now it’s time for free-form shadowboxing. Use everything your martial art teaches. Just make sure to work on your defensive techniques, too. Round 6: Punching Burnout (3 minutes) Fill three minutes with as many punches and kicks as possible. Keep a record of how many full reps you achieve and try to beat your previous best each time you train. Round 7: Kicking Burnout (3 minutes) For the final round, spend 90 seconds throwing as many kicks as fast as you can. When you tire or run out of time, immediately switch to the other leg. Having proper bounce-kick technique from muay Thai can be helpful here. Cool Down Finally, cool down with light stretching of the lower back and legs. Start with your feet shoulder-width apart and gradually move them farther apart before reaching down on either side to stretch them completely. Don’t attempt to go for extreme splits unless you already are able to do so or unless you have a specific routine for achieving the splits that is already planned out. Finish by alternating between the horse stance, bow stance and crouching stance while practicing deep, controlled breathing. Then after 5 minutes of gentle cooldown, you are done for the day. The Schedule Monday — fitness portion, technique portion Tuesday — fitness portion, technique portion Wednesday — warm-up (from the fitness portion), technique portion Thursday — fitness portion, technique portion Friday — fitness portion, technique portion Saturday — warm-up (from the fitness portion), technique portion Sunday — rest

by Lito Angeles Photo by Rick Hustead Let’s begin with a quick review of the scenario I described in the June/July 2022 issue: You’re coming out of a restaurant when a stranger bumps into you. He starts getting hostile and threatens you with bodily harm. You employ the fence stance (April/May 2022 Black Belt) and attempt to de-escalate by apologizing — and not AACTing, which stands for antagonizing, arguing, challenging or threatening. As you convey your apology, you create a space of at least 3 to 4 feet by stepping back and moving to the right or left of center. All the while, you watch for body language that indicates he intends to launch a surprise attack. When you angularly step back — with your innocuous fence stance serving as a barrier, tactile sensor, range gauge and action trigger — you’ll immediately know his intentions because he’ll stay put if he doesn’t want to attack or close the gap if he’s planning an ambush. If he closes the gap to get back in the 1- to 2-foot zone, you should angularly step back again, this time commanding him to remain where he is. This will be enough to dissuade the average assailant, especially if he’s a “woofer,” or someone who’s all bark and no bite. You’ll end the situation with no blows thrown. However, let’s say he’s not deterred and opts to close the distance again while continuing with the hostility. Maybe he slaps your hand away. At this point, you’ve already apologized and backed off repeatedly. You never antagonized, argued, challenged or threatened him. You did your best to maintain a safe distance. He’s encroached on your personal space not once, not twice but three times, blowing off your apology and continuing to threaten you. At this close range, action is faster than reaction. When he does attack — and he will any second — you won’t know which limb or which side he’ll use or what technique he’ll throw. Moreover, when you’re in the 1- to 2-foot danger zone, it’s practically impossible to block or evade any surprise attack. Yes, you can make assumptions like he’ll probably use his right hand and throw a haymaker to your head, but you won’t know until he does it. Do you really want to bank on those assumptions? I wouldn’t. Even worse, you’ll know nothing about your adversary’s skill and experience levels. You also won’t know if he’s armed. Is it prudent to wait to be attacked before physically defending yourself? I hope your answer is no. In such a scenario, you would be morally and legally justified to physically defend yourself with the primary tactic of proactive self-defense, which happens to be the tactic bad guys use on their victims: the preemptive attack. This is, bar none, the best unarmed tactic you can use for proactive self-defense. There is nothing more effective and efficient. There are various ways to employ it, but the best way is with a single pre-emptive power strike that imparts maximum blunt-force impact to the head. Driving this point home, when your adversary has clearly shown that he’s an imminent threat at a distance where he can get the drop on you, you must beat him to it and unleash the most powerful shot in your arsenal. By now, it should be clear that you don’t need to wait to be attacked. If you do and he knows what he’s doing, he’ll take you out in a flash. Once you’ve grasped the folly of waiting to be attacked first, how should you pre-emptively strike when it’s go time? Based on my experiences, observations and insights from a law-enforcement and civilian perspective, the most potent strike is a boxing-based hook with a fist or, as I prefer, with a palm. Optimally, you should target the side of the jaw, but the side of the head in general is also an excellent choice if you use your palm. Why the palm hook and why the jaw? The palm is a structurally superior and adaptable striking tool that involves the lowest risk of fracturing a bone or lacerating the skin, especially when compared to the fist. And the side of the jaw has been proved to be the best target for rendering a person unconscious. As a reassuring backup to that (in case you miss), the entire side of the head is a potent knockout target when using the palm. As for the hook, no punch is more potent and efficient for rendering an adversary unconscious. It’s one and done. I will elaborate on this in future columns, and I will address the most effective and most overrated empty-hand techniques — and the best and worst targets. To reiterate, the most efficient way to neutralize a close-range threat is to render your adversary unconscious or semiconscious through blunt-force trauma to the head. That said, some might consider this barbaric and believe a more humane tactic such as a body shot or joint lock will suffice. I acknowledge that in certain cases, a head shot that causes a knockout may be inappropriate because the possibility of a person fatally injuring himself from the secondary impact with the ground is always there. However, experience and observations have revealed to me that for the most part and for most people, body shots and joint locks are worthless in serious situations. And no matter if the volatile situation you’re in is ego-based or criminal-based, your adversary can kill you. The most reliable target to attack when you’re in a dire situation such as this is the head. The reality is that if you have to respond to a serious imminent threat with physical violence, you should always regard it as a potential life-and-death situation for all people involved — because it is. Along these lines, you should maintain a perspective that says while you could unintentionally kill an adversary, that adversary could do the same to you and any loved ones who happen to be with you. It goes without saying that there are other considerations such as the possibility of being arrested and imprisoned, but it’s the immediate threat to life and limb that justifies your last-resort response. You must have exhausted all other options or deemed them unviable because whether you are the victor or the victim, the consequences are often life altering in a negative way. Lito Angeles is Black Belt’s 2022 Self-Defense Instructor of the Year. This article originally appeared in a 2022 edition of Black Belt Magazine.

Over the past decade, regardless of all the technological breakthroughs in modern medicine, the leech has been reborn as a lifesaver for those undergoing skin grafts, reconstructive plastic surgery and limb-reattachment operations due to cancer and other traumatic experiences. The surname Leitch dates back to the Middle Ages with Anglo-Saxon/Scottish origins regarding folks who were important doctors who saved clan members’ lives and searched for new ways to heal. After interviewing David Leitch, a director whose films have made $1.73 billion, about his first four movies and his forthcoming film that’s approaching faster than a squirrel on a Bullet Train, I discovered that he’s an action filmmaker who’s not only a legitimate martial artist but also a professional with a surgical approach to fight choreography and fight directing that is consistently groundbreaking. Audiences become so engaged in his film fights that you’d think everybody was getting married. Here is an article about how Film Director David Leitch got influenced by Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. With mental stamina and philosophical prowess, David Leitch absorbs new technology that is useful, discards the useless howls and yowls of copycat combative complacency, and injects a distinct flair into his fights to make them his own. Martial artists may recognize the foundation of Leitch’s approach to life, martial arts and filmmaking as similar to Bruce Lee’s tenet to continually research your own experience to refine the expression of yourself. Yet in the often harsh and cruel cinematic landscape, Leitch has remained grounded in his roots and from whence he came; he’s a Midwestern Sconnie lad. Halfway between Milwaukee and Green Bay, Wisconsin, four miles from Lake Michigan, Leitch was born in 1975 in the small town of Kohler (population around 2,000). It’s also where he began wrestling in second grade — and wrestled all the way through high school and into college for a year. Leitch said the first martial arts film that impacted his life was Enter the Dragon (1973). “Bruce Lee was by far one of the most influential martial artists that exposed me to martial arts,” he shared. “I’m a child of the ’70s and ’80s. He made me want to study jeet kune do and inspired me to search for and find Dan Inosanto. That was about 1984 [or] ’85. It was a really big film for me as a kid. When I wrestled in high school, I remember playing scenes from the film to get me psyched up for matches.” Yet Leitch’s fondness for martial arts films bloomed from a most peculiar and surprisingly important part of American pop culture. “Some local stations on Saturday night aired Kung Fu Theater,” he said. “I loved all the Shaw Brothers movies. Some of my close high-school friends and I would hunker up at one person’s house, and we’d stay up to two or three in the morning watching kung fu films on Channel 18.” I couldn’t help but mention that dubbing those kung fu films into English was my first job in Taiwan in 1979. After reciting several lines in different voices from a film I dubbed, with a snicker Leitch commented, “That’s funny.” Since there were no martial arts schools in Kohler, Leitch came up with a neat and sweet plan. “I was obsessed with martial arts, would buy Black Belt magazine and Inside Kung Fu, and would order books from the back ads like James Lew’s The Art of Kicking and Stretching and Jeff Imada’s The Balisong Manuel. I’ve worked with James in martial arts movies, and Jeff is one of my mentors in stunts and we have a 25-year friendship. I was pretty crazy as a kid, buying all these books, hanging a heavy bag in my garage and using PVC pipes to make a wooden dummy.” The drive to learn martial arts continued, and when Leitch found himself enrolled at the University of Minnesota, he discovered a Dan Inosanto affiliate school in Minneapolis. That wound up being where he met his first formal martial arts teacher Rick Faye, an instructor under Inosanto. “I dove into JKD and trained in everything else offered at the school — kali, escrima, savate, judo and Thai boxing,” he said. “I scheduled my classes for the morning at the university and then trained at the dojo from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. every day for four years. During the summer, I’d go to Los Angeles — a sort of pilgrimage — to work out at Danny Inosanto’s academy.” This became one of the most critical junctures in American martial arts movie evolution: the moment when Leitch met his future cinematic fighting brother — where, perhaps in a metaphysical realm, one might argue that they are fraternal twins united by fate for a destined purpose. It’s the sort of thing where seemingly unrelated items, people or sports teams share a powerful emotional bond, and the mind accepts that, on a spiritual level, something in their DNA is responsible for these life changes and newfound realizations. “That’s when I met Chad Stahelski,” Leitch said. “Chad was one of the premier students at the Inosanto Academy. He was already an uke for Dan. We became good friends, [were the] same age, had the same training ambitions and trained our asses off.” Just like if you keep your fingers crossed it’s difficult to type, I’ve also learned that training your arse off makes it harder to sit down, which is a good thing during training. “One summer when I went out there, he was working on a movie and said, ‘Yeah, you can use your martial arts in a movie,’ and I was like, ‘You can?’” Leitch continued. “At the time, I was starting to think that I was going to have a school and teach martial arts, yet I was still in that athletic phase of my life. So I thought, I get to use all these moves that really have no purpose? (laughs) This was amazing. It didn’t take me long after college — one year — when I moved out to L.A. with hopes of being a stuntman and a martial arts choreographer.” Which brings up another one of the most influential and inspirational individuals in Leitch’s career: Jackie Chan. After his name was mentioned, Leitch’s voice changed. He became as giddy as a schoolboy and spoke with great reverence, a few times becoming tongue-tied. I know this feeling well. In 1993, I spent about 20 hours in one go on the set of Jackie Chan’s Drunken Master II, watching him do the fight choreography during the finale involving Chan and his real-life bodyguard Ken Lo. Chan detailed how he did his fight scenes, why things were done the way he did them and what pushed him to his limit, then showed edited footage of the previous day’s shoot and taught me many fighting tips of the trade. (When I sang Cantonese opera to him, Chan freaked out and joked, “If you ever do that again, I’ll kick you off my set.” It was a fun and exhausting night/day.) With an enamored lilt in his voice, Leitch gathered himself and continued: “It’s kind of hard and indescribable to me how much he influenced my career. When Chad and I created 87Eleven (their action-design company) during my formidable years, we watched hours and hours and hours of looped Jackie action scenes where Chad and I had two VCRs hooked up together and we edited all of Jackie’s action and choreography into endless three-hour loops. “Looking up to him — from being a stunt performer to a choreographer, an action designer to a person in front of the camera to a director/producer mogul — there is nobody in the action space, in my opinion, that’s done it better. “His ability to study from the masters — Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd — and come from that to make it his own is unbelievable. His capacity to make empathetic characters that are super-relatable pushes against the classic uber-masculine Western trope ‘I’m invincible.’ None of Jackie’s characters are invincible; they’re all vulnerable. He’s the only action star that did that until Die Hard. You can see how much Jackie influenced cinema that way. “I’m not disparaging great marital artists, yet while [Jean-Claude] Van Damme and [Steven] Seagal were going in one direction, Jackie was going in the opposite direction with his characters. When I look at Jackie’s characters, these are characters I care about, and I want that in my films. They’re way more relatable, vulnerable, emotional. I also appreciate him as a comedian, physical comedian and storyteller. I could go on and on and on about Jackie.” In Part 2, David Leitch shares which Jackie Chan fight is his personal favorite, how Bullet Train is an homage to Chan and information about a huge project that’s never been done before. Let’s just say … imagine if one does cartoon action like Chan and Leitch, you can improve it by fine-tooning the equipment.

Separately, the characters have their own meanings, though. Kung means “achievement,” and fu means “husband.” Maybe this derived from the fact that the husband in ancient times had to work hard to support his family. Another interpretation for kung fu can be “workmanship” or “skill gained through committed effort.” A martial art is definitely a skill gained through committed effort. If you work hard to improve your skill, eventually you might become a sifu, a term most Westerners associate with being a kung fu master. But actually, a sifu can be any skilled worker, including a driver or a handyman. The irony for those who speak Chinese and who watched the Karate Kid remake with Jaden Smith is that Jackie Chan was both a handyman and a martial arts master, both of which can be a sifu. Having graduated from Shanghai University of Sport and having a background in linguistics, I’m fascinated by the correlation between language and martial arts. The professors in the Wushu Institute at the university were often sifu who combined academic research with ancient kung fu philosophies. Whether at the institute, at Shaolin or at my traditional wrestling school in Beijing, I noticed that the old sifu often spoke in chengyu, a term that refers to idiomatic expressions composed of groups of four Chinese characters, each representing complex meanings that usually had to be explained. Hearing the old teachers speak in this manner was like something out of kung fu cinema. They weren’t just talking; they were imparting knowledge, and there was real wisdom in what they said. The explanations contained within their chengyu were like parables. Often they made no sense at all, but if the recipient was patient, the meaning would be revealed. Each one followed a similar pattern. To illustrate, I’ll use a real-life example. One of my sifu enunciated four characters: “Wen ji qi wu.”In Chinese, characters compose words, but each one is not necessarily a complete word on its own. Those particular characters translated to “Smell the chicken and dance,” which wasn’t very enlightening. So after saying them, the sifu had to explain which word each character represented. Wen, he said, means “to smell” in traditional Chinese, but in this case, he was using the older meaning of “to listen.” This was another aspect of chengyu that made it difficult to comprehend: Many of the meanings of the characters were not used anymore. The next character he explained was ji, as in gongji, or rooster, a deep wisdom in martial arts The third character was qi, as in qichuang, which means “to get out of bed.”Finally came wu, which is part of wujian, or “to do the sword dance” or engage in sword practice. For the final part of the lesson, he told us how the characters fit together to create the idiom. In this case, it resulted in “Practice the sword when the roosters crow.” Then he went on to explain the relevance. You should get up early in the morning and begin training at the break of dawn. It seemed like the older and wiser a sifu was, the more chengyu he or she used. Consequently, speeches and discussions often became nothing more than a chengyu, followed by an explanation, followed by the next chengyu and so on.A university professor I met at the wrestling school was a former grappler and current sifu. Being an educated man and a sifu, his speech was 90-percent chengyu. One day, he said, “Tian xia wu di,” immediately followed by “Did you understand?” Before I could answer, he said, “No? OK, I will explain.“ Tian is ‘sky’ or ‘heaven.’ Xia is ‘under.’ Wu is ‘without.’ And di is from diren, or ‘enemy.’ So if you are under the sky with no enemy, there is no one who can beat you. Therefore, you are wudi, or invincible. ”Now you can see why I viewed the years I spent in China as rigorous training but the time I spent listening to chengyu as ho-holds-barred fighting. After a full day of wrestling and san da, as well as academic lessons, chengyu sometimes made my head split.At the sports university one day — after we’d practiced throws, ground fighting and submissions — our teacher shared a chengyu with us. Strangely, I understood the meaning before he explained it and I just loved it. He said, “The essence of fighting is ti da shuai na.”Then he elaborated: “Ti is from ti tui, which means ‘kicking.’ Da is from daquan, which means ‘punching.’ Shuai is from shuai jiao, which means ‘wrestling.’ And na is from qin na, which means ‘grabbing and joint locking.’” Clearly, even hundreds or perhaps thousands of years ago, Chinese masters knew about MMA. After practice, I had to attend a wushu lecture. Although I was no longer surprised when my professors — particularly the martial arts professors — spoke in chengyu, it was still tedious to listen sometimes. This teacher said, “Ideal fighting includes coordination of the internal and the external. Does anyone know what that means?” As it was a rhetorical question, no one answered. Nevertheless, he waited a second or two, gave a sly smile to show how stupid we were and then explained: “Coordination of the external and internal is shou yan shen fa, bu qi li gong.”He gave that a moment to sink in, then continued. “Shou is from shoufa (hand techniques). Yan is from yanjing (eyes). Shen is from shenti (body). Fa is from fangfa (method). Bu is ‘not.’ Qi is from qixi (breath). Li is from liliang (power). And gong is from gong fu (kung fu).” We got the message. Nevertheless, the teacher went on to explain each element separately. And in the course of those explanations, there were new chengyu and more rhetorical questions — followed by more explanations. In the end, he said that coordinating the internal and the external in martial arts meant coordinating hand techniques, eyes, body, breath and method. If we don’t breathe properly, we’ll have no power. You can see that the explanation of a single chengyu can take time because each character represents a word, each word represents a concept and each concept has multiple components that might represent something else entirely. Next, the professor said, “Shoufa is da la na hu. Da is hitting or punching. La is pulling. Na is joint locking. And hu is breathing. Therefore, hand techniques include striking, pulling and grappling — but we also have to breathe properly.” One of the monks at Shaolin Temple once told a group of students, “Fei yan zou bi.” Literally, it means “fly eaves go wall.” After he explained, I learned that it really meant “to jump onto the roof and over the wall.” In other words, we should be light on our feet, able to leap and move while fighting. The final chengyu I’ll mention here is the one I had to remember throughout my studies and my training in China, and I treasure it to this day. It translates to “Diligent study, bitter practice.” We have to study diligently, and we must practice hard. We’ll experience discomfort and suffering — that’s the “bitter” — but we’ll be happy with the results.

Devin Gibson vs. Tyler Randall headlines at River Cree Resort and Casino Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) make their highly anticipated debut in Canada with the BKFC Prospect Series on Saturday, March 2, 2024   at the River Cree Resort and Casino in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.   “BKFC has a wealth of fans in Canada and we’re honored to promote our first event in the country on March 2 in Edmonton,” said David Feldman, President and Founder of BKFC. “Our BKFC Prospect Series has been a tremendous hit with recent events in Florida and the United Kingdom and we expect another outstanding evening of bare-knuckle fights on March 2.” Canada is the sixth country BKFC has promoted an international event joining the United States, Mexico, Thailand, England and Bulgaria.   BKFC Prospect Series on March 2 is headlined by a flyweight clash between Devin ‘The Canadian Assassin’ Gibson, (2-1), of Sarnia, Ontario, Canada and #2 Ranked Tyler Randall, (2-2), of Cape Coral, Florida.   The 29-year-old all-action Gibson looks towards re-entering the win column following a hotly contested battle with Albert Inclan at BKFC-35 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Also 29, Randall seeks an earned world title opportunity returning to the squared circle after a split decision loss to Chancey Wilson on April 21, 2023 at BKFC-38.   Tickets for the BKFC Prospect Series are Now On-Sale  at BKFC.com . The River Cree Resort and Casino is located at 300 Lapotac Blvd., Enoch, Alberta T7X 3Y3. For more information visit their website at River Cree Resort.   The BKFC Prospect Series will also be broadcast internationally as part of the BKFC+ Subscription for $7.99 per month on the BKFC App – The Best Value in Combat Sports  and is sponsored by Bucked Up, Grunt Style, Fubo Sports, MIT 45, Only Fans and Crescent Tools. Additionally, the event will be broadcast on Fubo Sports free of charge.   Additional fights for this BKFC Prospect Series event will be announced shortly.

Jhoon Rhee is featured on the 1970 issue of Black Belt Magazine with his signature side kick. The feature showcased the future "Father of American Tae Kwon Do." His legacy endures through the decades with countless students, champions and stars he instructed like Jeff Smith, Bruce Lee and Muhamad Ali. His accomplishments also include the schools he established, advancements in safety equipment and the influence he exerted in fostering a deep appreciation for Tae Kwon Do as a martial art and way of life in the United States. Read more about this cover and get access to all past issues of Black Belt Magazine here!

Anatoly Malykhin is not done chasing history at ONE 166. On Thursday, ONE Championship announced the ONE Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight World Champion will go for three-division gold against a familiar foe at ONE 166 on Friday, March 1. Malykhin will try to dethrone ONE Middleweight MMA World Champion Reinier De Ridder in Qatar to become the sport's first-ever three-division king. Malykhin has plenty of reasons to be confident for this rematch. When the two first met at ONE Fight Night 5, the Russian decimated "The Dutch Knight" to claim the light heavyweight crown. His strength and power proved to be too much. But he will need to make the middleweight limit, which will add a layer of intrigue to how he acclimates to the lower weight division. He enters De Ridder's most dangerous weight division to try and topple the talented Dutchman in one of the year's biggest events. De Ridder will also be motivated to redeem himself against "Sladkiy" after their previous encounter. "The Dutch Knight" was unbeaten when he ran up against the heavyweight king and could never employ his gameplan in their meeting. De Ridder will try to utilize his length and incredible grappling to get the win back and retain the gold. The ONE Middleweight MMA World Championship bout will headline an incredible card that will also feature ONE Straw weight MMA World Champion Jarred Brooks vs. Joshua Pacio and much more. ONE 166: Qatar airs live on Friday, March 1, from the Lusail Sports Arena. More bouts will be added in the weeks to come.