This production is getting a lot of hype, and for good reason. Here are three: 1. Zack Snyder wanted it to be like Star Wars. Netflix has collaborated with acclaimed filmmaker Zack Snyder following the remarkable success of his film Army of the Dead . After an extensive tenure with Warner Bros and DC, Snyder has found a new creative haven with the streaming giant, promising a diverse range of exciting upcoming projects. Among these endeavors is his ambitious two-part project, Rebel Moon , which has generated buzz for the potential development of spin-off properties. As an avid Star Wars enthusiast, Snyder initially conceived Rebel Moon as a contribution to the Star Wars franchise, intending to offer a more mature perspective on the universe originally crafted by George Lucas. However, this vision faced a setback when Walt Disney Co. acquired LucasFilm in 2012. Undeterred, Snyder struck a deal with Deborah Snyder’s production company, Stone Quarry, and Netflix, leading to the transformation of Rebel Moon into an entirely new and captivating universe. Out on Netflix December 22 2. The cast is led by big names in action. Headlining the star-studded ensemble is Sofia Boutella , renowned for her role in Star Trek Beyond , accompanied by the talents of Ed Skrein from Deadpool, the iconic Djimon Hounsou from films like Gladiator and Guardians of the Galaxy , and Charlie Hunnam , known for Sons of Anarchy . Adding to the cinematic allure, Sir Anthony Hopkins lends his distinctive voice to a robot character. Netflix's ambitious plans for Rebel Moon are evident with the production of two upcoming films, signaling the streaming platform's anticipation for the establishment of a significant sci-fi franchise. 3. The Origin Story Rebel Moon harks back to a bygone era of Star Wars. Set in the interim between Revenge of the Sith and The Force Awakens , Zack Snyder presents Rebel Moon as a potential expansion to Lucas's expansive galaxy. Snyder described it as his plea to "take it for a spin," envisioning the project as an imaginative journey within the Star Wars universe. Although discussions with Lucas never materialized, Snyder has since developed Rebel Moon independently as a sci-fi venture, still rooted in the genre but distinctly separate from Star Wars. The film serves as Snyder's amalgamation of his passion for Star Wars and admiration for Akira Kurosawa films, particularly Seven Samurai. While not the first sci-fi movie to explore the theme of villagers enlisting elite warriors for protection, Rebel Moon, backed by the resources of Netflix, promises a level of spectacle that sets it apart from predecessors like the Roger Corman-produced Battle Beyond the Stars —an adaptation of the classic Western The Magnificent Seven .

by Billy L Greer Bruce Lee is known not just for his martial prowess but also for his ideas and philosophies. He’s credited with popularizing kung fu in the Western world and is often said to be the father of the mixed martial arts. It’s hard to find a martial artist today who isn’t familiar with at least a few quotes attributed to Lee. Perhaps the best-known quotes are “Be like water” and “Absorb what is useful.” Did these words of wisdom originate with Lee, or do they have a deeper history? Do they mean what most people take them to mean? Let’s explore. Part 2 focuses on the phrase “Absorb What is Useful” Absorb What Is Useful This is a shortened version of Bruce Lee’s full statement: “Absorb what is useful, discard what is useless and add what is specifically your own.” Again, these words come from Lee, but the concept is a common one in Chinese writing. We can find an almost identical quote in Mao Zedong’s Problems of Strategy in China’s Revolutionary War: “We should put these conclusions to the test of our own experience, assimilating what is useful, rejecting what is useless and adding what is specifically our own.” This is often compared to another quote from Lee: “Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it.”  People who use either quote often point out that Lee studied many martial arts and freely borrowed effective techniques to incorporate in his own system. Because of this approach, he’s often credited with being the father of MMA. The idea is that by picking the most useful techniques from different arts while discarding the useless ones, you can build a system that includes only the best techniques. The Chinese martial arts recognize four primary elements that are essential for a complete art: da (hitting), ti (kicking), shuai (takedowns/throws) and na (grabs/locks/submissions). It seems logical that if we find arts that specialize in these areas and combine their best techniques, we will create the ultimate fighting system. In MMA, this is generally taken to mean boxing for punching, muay Thai for kicking and striking, wrestling for takedowns and throws, and BJJ for locks and submissions. This idea of picking and choosing techniques from different styles has led many people to cross-train in a variety of arts instead of specializing in one. They hope to gain skill more quickly by absorbing the good stuff and then moving on to something else. Does mixing the best of different things lead to something superior? Not always, as I learned at an early age. When I was a child, my two favorite sandwiches were fried baloney and cheese, and strawberry jam with chunky peanut butter. Each seemed so good that I was struck with the idea of how great they would be if I mixed them together — double the deliciousness! Unfortunately, when I combined them to make my ultimate sandwich, let’s just say it didn’t quite live up to my expectations. Here’s another illustration: If you have a recent injury, you might be advised to soak it in ice water. If you have an old chronic injury, you might be advised to soak it in hot water. It’s unlikely anyone will advise you to combine ice water and hot water and use the resulting lukewarm water to treat the injury. When we mix things, they can dilute each other rather than strengthening each other. Another problem with the approach of collecting great individual techniques is that we believe as we collect the “bricks” of great applications, we will end up with a beautiful structure. Unfortunately, the reality is we often end up with just a pile of bricks. This is what happens if we collect techniques rather than absorb them. If we combine oil and water, no matter how much we shake them, they eventually will separate. To absorb something, we must have a place to fit it into an existing structure. A sponge absorbs water because it has a compatible nature and spaces in its structure for the water to fit. To absorb what is useful, we must be like water, having a defined structure. The structure determines whether we have the spaces for something to fit and be absorbed. But remember that we’re not supposed to absorb anything that happens to fit, only what is useful. How do we determine what is useful? It’s important to understand the difference between useful and useable. By useful, we mean useful for our intended purpose. Rollerblades can be useful for traveling on the boardwalk at the beach, but if you’re planning on walking in the sand along the water’s edge, they’re not so useful. If you give a short stick to a person who has no weapons experience, almost immediately the person will grasp the basics of using it to swing and thrust at an attacker. Human beings are familiar with making those motions to hit things with their hands, so the stick almost instantly becomes an extension of the hands and gives the user the advantage of greater reach. Here is a tool that’s useful, enabling us to reach an attacker before the attacker can reach us, and that’s useable with natural motions. On the other hand, if you give the same person a bullwhip, he will struggle to use it. If he swings it like a stick, he will have greater reach, but it will be slow moving and lack power at the end. If he tries to use it to thrust at an attacker, the whip will seem useless. Given the choice between a short stick and a whip, the unskilled person is likely to choose the stick, believing the whip to be ineffective and useless as a weapon. But if a person is skilled with the bullwhip, it’s easy to see the advantages it has over the short stick. It allows you to strike an attacker from a greater distance. The tip can move fast enough to break the sound barrier and create a force that can rip flesh and even break bones. It also can entangle and trip attackers, or trap and tie them up at close quarters. The whip can be more useful as a weapon than a short stick. However, it’s less useable. It requires practice to develop the proper motion to access the true power of the weapon — and even more practice to develop the accuracy needed to deliver that power to the intended target. This is the problem faced by the technique collector who experiments with applications from different martial arts. Without a strong foundation to provide structure, the collector doesn’t know if there is a proper place for a technique. Without that structure, he might be mixing techniques rather than absorbing them. Also, without dedicated practice, he might attempt a technique but be unable to make it work. He discards the technique because he thinks it doesn’t work when the reality is he didn’t practice enough to learn how to make it work. Some of the most useful skills have a steep learning curve and are not very useable until you’ve invested the time and effort to make them work. Action Items So how does one learn to be like water and to absorb what is useful? Old-school training follows the philosophy of imitate and assimilate, then innovate. New students are expected to do their best to imitate their teacher. Through correction and repetition, they strive to move just like their teacher. As they progress, the corrections and the practice are assimilated by the mind and body. The body may be physically changed through correct practice, and the mind absorbs the movements so thoroughly that they can be performed without conscious effort. This creates the foundation of the martial art. Once the training has been assimilated, it’s time for innovation. This is the stage at which kung fu is personalized for the practitioner, and there is freedom of action and reaction that’s infinitely adaptable rather than relying on fixed responses. Paradoxically, it’s the initial rigid and precise training with strict form that ultimately creates the foundation for “formless” movement. This is the path of skill development followed in many disciplines. Traditional training in painting had apprentices begin with the “boring” basics of grinding pigments, preparing canvases and mixing paints. Then they would learn by copying the art of their master or other famous artists. Through this imitation, they would assimilate the knowledge of their teacher. With the knowledge they absorbed, they were able to innovate and develop their own recognizable style. All too often, people think the advice to be like water means to skip right to the “innovate” part and develop their own style. They put the emphasis on creativity and doing things naturally, but the first two steps — imitate and assimilate — are essential for true skill to develop. Without those steps, budding artists might not understand the usefulness of techniques such as underpainting and wonder why they should waste time doing something that will just be painted over. They might jump to the conclusion that they can improve on what the old masters did by skipping what seems to be useless. The poet E.E. Cummings studied Latin and Greek in high school, explored many traditional forms of poetry and wrote a poem a day from age 8 to 22. He earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from Harvard University. Without the imitation and assimilation of tradition, he would not have had the grasp of language required to become an innovator. He might just have been an uneducated writer with no understanding of grammar. If you want to be like water, there are no shortcuts. First, you must develop the form and structure that will allow you to be formless and flowing. You must spend countless hours imitating and assimilating the basic principles of movement before you can express them without limit. This is the foundation and where you should invest the most time and care. The old masters will tell you that you can build the most beautiful structure, but if you build it on sand, it will eventually collapse. If you prepare the foundation properly, it may take longer to construct, but what you build will endure. You not only must select good construction materials, but you also must ensure that they work well together. If you start by randomly collecting materials and then try to build something with what you have, you’ll quickly discover limitations caused by materials that are incompatible. Water is simple. There are only two elements and three atoms. But as my teacher Willy Lin likes to say, “Simple is not easy.” Simple requires exacting discipline. Be like water, perfectly aligned and precisely structured. Only then can you absorb what is useful, transition from hard to soft, change from going around to going through, and thus adapt fluidly to changing situations. Billy L. Greer and his wife Nancy own the Jing Ying Institute of Kung Fu & Tai Chi in Annapolis, Maryland. In 1973 he began studying folkstyle wrestling, and in 1987 he transitioned to traditional Chinese martial arts. A disciple of Willy Lin, Greer is a third-generation inheritor of tian shan pai kung fu. He’s also a disciple of Chen Zhenglei and a 12th-generation inheritor of Chen-family tai chi chuan.

Ed Parker, the "Father of American Kenpo Karate," featured on the February 1975 issue of Black Belt Magazine . Parker's cover story features his journey, detailing his experiences, philosophy, and the evolution of American Kenpo. The story also dives into his innovative approach to promoting martial arts including his masterpiece the “Internationals” in Long Beach, CA where Bruce Lee was first discovered. Learn more about this cover and the entire magazine preserved in digital format. For access to all issues of   Black Belt Magazine , go here!

Most modern martial artists know Dan Inosanto as a first-generation student of Bruce Lee and one of the world's premier jeet kune do instructors. What many don't know is that Inosanto has been an integral part of other corners of the martial arts community and a key player in martial arts history for more than four decades. Presented below are 11 little-known facts about the master's involvement in our universe. 1. Dan Inosanto has a famous daughter. Her name is Diana Lee Inosanto, and in addition to being a skilled martial artist (and a member of the Black Belt Hall of Fame), she's an accomplished filmmaker. Among her movies is The Sensei (2008). 2. Dan Inosanto's youngest black belt is Khayman Amir McDaniels, who's now 18. “I never would have thought I would be awarding a black belt to anyone under 21," Inosanto said. “But Khayman earned it, deserved it and continued his training." 3. When Bruce Lee died in 1973, Dan Inosanto — along with Bruce Lee's brother Robert Lee and close friends James Coburn and Steve McQueen — served as a pallbearer. 4. Dan Inosanto has an authorized biography. Titled Dan Inosanto: The Man, the Teacher, the Artist, it's written by Perry William Kelly, who also contributes to Black Belt. 5. In 1975 Dan Inosanto, Richard Bustillo and Jerry Poteet collaborated to create a jeet kune do technique poster. The same year, Inosanto released a Super 8 film that covered angles of attack, trapping and use of the short staff. 6. In 1986 Dan Inosanto identified the Degerberg Academy, operated in Illinois by Fred Degerberg, as "probably one of the best schools in the U.S." 7. Dan Inosanto has acted in numerous films in addition to Game of Death (1978) and has done stunts and choreography for many more. As recently as 2008, he played the jiu-jitsu master of one of the main characters in David Mamet's Redbelt. 8. Dan Inosanto is regarded as one of the United States' foremost krabi krabong experts. He studied under, among others, Col. Nattapong Buayam, a former Thai special-forces instructor. 9. Dan Inosanto's interpretation of kali made the list of the top-10 self-defense arts. According to Black Belt contributing editor Dr. Mark Cheng: “The Filipino system taught by Dan Inosanto is far more than just the sticks and knives that the casual observer sees. Including every possible weapon and range of combat, Inosanto's system is one of the most sought-after and imitated arts in the world when it comes to practical self-defense." 10. Dan Inosanto is a four-time Black Belt Hall of Fame inductee: 1977 — Special Recognition Award 1983 — Instructor of the Year 1988 — Weapons Instructor of the Year 1996 — Man of the Year That puts him in the same category as Chuck Norris, the only other martial artist who's been inducted four times 11. Dan Inosanto has been a fixture in Black Belt since 1975. His most recent cover appearance was on the Dec 2016 issue.

Tony "The Conqueror" Cortez of Combate Global (2-0-0) is a Pro MMA Mens Featherweight Fighter out of Temecula, California. What is your approach to food after the weigh in?  My approach to food after a weigh in is I slowly start to drink water because waters the most important after cutting weight, then I like to eat pancakes French toast with an omelette for breakfast.  Describe your pre-fight playlist? My prefight playlist mostly consist of rap and trap music, I listen to a lot of Anuel AA.  Who is the last person you call pre-fight?  The last person I call prefight is my mom, I always like to get my moms blessing to go in there and try to really hurt someone before doing it.  What’s going through your mind as you make the ring-walk? As I make the ring walk what’s going through my mind is all the struggles myself and my family have gone through together and thinking about how I can change everything for our bloodline one fight at a time.  Once you see your opponent in the ring for the first time, is there anything that you're looking for? Once I see my opponent in the ring I’m looking for any signs of doubt coming from them and any fear of death.  How difficult is it to control your anger during a fight? It isn’t very difficult to control my anger in the fight because I know if I let my anger control me I can possibly get tired and have a tougher fight.  How often do you hear the crowd? I don’t hear the crowd very often because I’m mostly listening for my coaches voices.  What goes through your mind the first time you get hit? What goes through my mind the first time I get hit is how can I avoid getting hit again.  Who is the first person you call post-fight? The first person I call after my fight is either my mom or my sister.  What’s your favorite post-fight meal?  (or What’s the first thing you think about eating after a fight?) My favorite post fight meal is pizza.  Thanks for speaking with us, Tony Cortez!

WHAT:  CLARESSA SHIELDS’ ANNUAL TOYS, FOOD, & WINTER GEAR GIVEAWAY WHEN:  Saturday, December 23rd, 12 p.m. –  4 p.m. ET WHERE:  AT Fitness: 2189 Coldwater Rd, Mt Morris, MI 48458 The 4th Annual Claressa Shields Winter Giveaway : Toy Drive is a pillar within the Shields Community Outreach Program that extends its impact beyond the boxing ring. Recognizing that the holiday season can be particularly challenging for families in need, Claressa Shields, with the support of the program and sponsors, organizes a heartwarming initiative to provide joy and comfort to underserved youth. The toy drive brings a festive spirit to those facing economic hardships in a community-fueled environment.  The Shields Community Outreach Corporation (SCOC), founded by Boxing & MMA star and 2x gold medalist Claressa Shields, stands as a beam of hope for the Michigan youth community, dedicated to fostering resilience and empowerment through its annual programming. By leveraging the discipline and skill development inherent in boxing, the program, spearheaded by Shields, seeks to provide a transformative outlet for young individuals grappling with the challenges of depression, trauma, and anger. Recognizing the therapeutic benefits of the sport, the initiative aims to instill not only physical strength but also mental fortitude, encouraging participants to channel their emotions into positive avenues. Through an authentic approach Shields has personally benefited from that integrates boxing training with mentorship and psychological support, the program endeavors to equip young minds with the tools needed to confront life's adversities, fostering a sense of self-worth and resilience that extends beyond the confines of the ring. In doing so, the Shields Community Outreach program, under the guidance of its illustrious founder, strives to empower the youth, drive awareness to the program, and raise funds throughout the year to expand its programming and reach. Looking ahead, SCOC continues to raise funds throughout the year to help strengthen its event programming and continue hosting annual Back 2 School Giveaways, Easter Holiday Initiatives, Winter Giveaway, and Holiday Toy Drives.

by Antonio Terrone Last week we published part one. Part two offers final suggestions for keeping traditional martial arts alive.  There has been much clamor in the aikido world about a recent study suggesting that practice of the traditional martial art is shrinking in the modern world. Based on Google Trend data, the Aikido Journal published a special report on the art’s demographics, and it too indicated a dramatic decline in aikido in America. The take-aways are several. One is that aikido in the United States is not popular among the younger generations, especially in comparison with Europe. A mere 4.8 percent of aikidoka in the United States are in their 30s, while more than 80 percent are age 40 or older. Evidence of gender and ethnic asymmetries are also cause for concern. As in many other fields of human endeavor, while there are some conservative views on how to cultivate aikido, others push for a more progressive approach that is based on adaptation to a changing world. Conversations on this issue are not new, but they tend to raise questions rather than suggest solutions, and consequently there is little consensus on how to move forward. Suggestion 3: Maximize Exposure to the Public Given the prime-time attention the aforementioned new martial arts and combat sports are enjoying in the United States, there is little hope for budo-based martial arts to attract similarly large audiences. Even though tournaments, full-contact fighting and media adoration are unlikely to proliferate in the aikido universe, there are alternative ways for dojo to stimulate and energize membership. Aikido instructors should be encouraged to visit other dojo when possible to expand their experience and familiarize themselves with different teaching styles and practice methods. They should urge their students to attend local, national and international seminars to improve their technical skills and network with their peers. Further, students and teachers should find ways to participate in local or national demonstrations, fairs and summer camps because they offer excellent opportunities for good publicity. Public relations, advertising and demonstrations can be game changers for aikido dojo. Open-house events and public tryouts, general advertising campaigns, and outreaches in schools, community centers and colleges also can raise awareness at the local level. Other possibilities include offering more demonstrations in K-12 schools and summer camps, creating after-school programs that combine aikido practice with homework and study sessions, and offering sliding fee scales in an effort to surmount financial barriers faced by locals who are interested in learning. Suggestion 4: Emphasize the Intangible Benefits of Training The final point pertains to the psycho-spiritual component of aikido specifically and budo in general. Some budo-based arts are popular in Japan because many parents include martials arts in their children’s education to expose them to traditional Japanese culture. Modern budo are considered ningen keisei no michi, “ways to human development,” which is a concept that does not have much meaning in the United States. In Japan, many high schools and colleges have martial arts clubs that teach judo, kendo, karate and aikido. This is, obviously, not the case in American educational institutions. One of the major drivers for the development and success of budo in Japan was and, in a way, still is shugyo, “self-development” or “selfcultivation,” a concept that has been refined in modern Japan. Aikido fits into this category based on founder Morihei Ueshiba’s philosophies. Reading the works of Ueshiba and other great masters of the past will help anyone understand how aikido can function as a “technology of the self.” In other words, it fosters the quest for well-being and the development of one’s physical, spiritual and ethical awareness. Aikido is a method for controlling power and gaining agency over one’s own transformation into a state of perfection through working on body, mind and conduct. While in Japanese culture, most of the spiritual elements associated with aikido are embedded in social norms and etiquette, the same cannot be said for the outside world. Many concepts pertaining to aikido practice constitute the essence of Japanese ethics, customs and culture. They include ki, kokyu (breathing), mokuso (meditation), rei (bowing), zanshin (awareness), shinshin toitsu (mind-body unity), gaman (perseverance) and seiza (proper sitting). Western dojo have assimilated some of these norms, but there is no consensus when it comes to others that are more internal and psychologically charged. There is even less agreement on how to convey them to the next generation. Instead of avoiding or neglecting to address psycho-spiritual elements, Western aikido instructors should consider introducing the relevant cultural, literary and ethical content in their classes to help students understand and contextualize aikido in the broader world of budo. This, in essence, will help students appreciate the true value of the art. --- Antonio Terrone began aikido in Italy in the late 1980s under Tada Hiroshi. He continued training in France and the Netherlands with Christian Tissier and Wilko Vriesman, and on several occasions, he trained at the Aikikai Hombu Dojo in Tokyo under Ueshiba Moriteru, Endo Seishiro, Yokota Yoshiaki, Yasuno Masatoshi and Miyamoto Tsuruzo, among others. Currently an Aikikai yondan, he teaches at the Evanston Aikido Center in Evanston, Illinois. He also teaches in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at Northwestern University. His first book was The Moon in the River: The Budo Path to the Empty Mind (2020). To read his blog, visit antonioterrone.com . This article was originally published in a 2022 edition of Black Belt Magazine.

ONE Championship has revealed three exciting matchups for its debut in Qatar on Friday, March 1. The first of several expected title tilts at ONE 166 Qatar will be a rematch for the ONE Strawweight MMA World Championship: Brooks vs Pacio. Jarred Brooks will defend the gold against former kingpin Joshua Pacio to rekindle their rivalry. Brooks dominated the strawweight division en route to his shot at the title. Although Pacio showed himself well, Brooks’ wrestling was enough to secure a unanimous decision victory to claim the title. After nearly a year away, Pacio returned in October to secure a decision win of his own against rising star Mansur Malaciev. Now, he gets the chance to reclaim his gold and turn away the American star. Heavyweight action was also announced for the event. Former ONE Heavyweight MMA World Champion Arjan Bhullar returns against Iran’s Amir Aliakbari. The two wrestlers will try to impress and get a future date against heavyweight king Anatoly Malykhin. The heavyweight tussle will mark Bhullar’s return after losing the gold, but toppling Aliakbari may prove a tough test. The Iranian has been surging with a three-bout winning streak, and all bouts have been finished by TKO. The third bout announced will put submission grappling back under the spotlight. Osamah Almarwai and Cleber Sousa in a flyweight contest. With ONE Flyweight Submission Grappling World Champion Mikey Musumeci waiting for his next challenger, it is a prime opportunity for both men to make their claim for a second attempt at the flyweight titleholder. ONE 166 airs live on Friday, March 1, from Lusail Sports Arena in Qatar at 7:30 a.m. EST/4:30 a.m. PST.

On Friday, December 22, ONE Championship brings a stellar card for fans around the world to global pay-per-view with ONE Friday Fights 46: Tawanchai vs. Superbon. The main event for the ONE Featherweight Muay Thai World Championship is worth the price of admission alone, but two more title tilts and the undercard will get Lumpinee Boxing Stadium rocking off its axis as well. ONE Featherweight Muay Thai World Champion Tawanchai PK Saenchai will put his gold on the line against Superbon Singha Mawynn in the highly anticipated main event clash. It is a meeting of two of the pound-for-pound best strikers in the world and should deliver nothing less than a masterclass in Muay Thai. In the co-main event, ONE Strawweight Muay Thai World Champion Joseph Lasiri collides with Prajanchai PK Saenchai for the second time. Prajanchai failed to answer off the stool in their first meeting, but he has been impeccable since with three straight wins, including taking home the interim title to set up this unification clash. Kickboxing will not be denied on the card as a battle for the ONE Interim Atomweight Kickboxing World Title will bring together two of the most outstanding female strikers in the world. “The Queen” Phetjeeja will don the kickboxing gloves after her success in Muay Thai to challenge Anissa Meksen for the interim title. Meksen, considered by many to be the pound-for-pound best woman on the planet, finally gets her crack at ONE gold that she has coveted since arriving on the global stage. The firepower continues on the undercard with Nong-O Hama taking on Nico Carillo, Seksan Or Kwanmuang battling River Daz, and much more. ONE Friday Fights 46 airs live on global pay-per-view on watch.onefc.com on Friday, December 22. The action begins at 7:30 a.m. EST/4:30 a.m. PST. ONE Friday Fights 46 Full Card ONE Featherweight Muay Thai World Championship Tawanchai PK Saenchai(c) vs. Superbon Singha Mawynn ONE Strawweight Muay Thai World Championship Joseph Lasiri(c) vs. Prajanchai PK Saenchai(ic) ONE Interim Atomweight Kickboxing World Championship Phetjeeja vs. Anissa Meksen Nong-O Hama vs. Nico Carillo Seksan Or Kwanmuang vs. River Daz Muangthai PK Saenchai vs. Nabil Anane Kulabdam Sor Jor Piek Uthai vs. Fariyar Aminipour Jaosuayai Sor Dechapan vs. Petsukumvit Boi Bagna Suablack Tor Pran49 vs. Craig Coakley Eisaku Ogasawara vs. Chorfah Tor Sangtiennoi Suriyanlek Por Yenying vs. Yodkritsada Sor Sommai

Rotterdam is set to host an electrifying night of professional kickboxing as GLORY 90 lights up the RTM Stage on December 23, 2023. This event promises a showcase of sheer talent, skill, and sportsmanship, featuring some of the best fighters in the world. Fans can expect a series of intense and thrilling matches across various weight classes. Main Event: Welterweight Championship Showdown The highlight of the evening is the much-anticipated welterweight championship battle between Endy Semeleer and Anwar Ouled-Chaib. Semeleer, known for his dynamic fighting style and agility, will face Ouled-Chaib, a fighter celebrated for his powerful strikes and resilience. This clash of styles sets the stage for a memorable title fight. Co-Main Event: Heavyweight Powerhouses Collide In the co-main event, the heavyweight division sees a gripping match-up between Nabil Khachab and Nicola Filipovic. Both fighters are renowned for their strength and knockout power, promising a bout filled with explosive action. Main Card Highlights Welterweight Encounter The main card also features a welterweight clash with Murthel Groenhart facing Teodor Hristov. Groenhart's experience and striking prowess meet Hristov's speed and tactical acumen, making for a highly anticipated match. Middleweight Match-Up Middleweight action sees Ivan Galaz take on Iliass Hammouche. Both fighters bring a mix of technique and power to the ring, ensuring a bout full of strategic moves and intense exchanges. Lightweight Showdown In the lightweight category, Enriko Kehl squares off against Arman Hambaryan. Expect a fast-paced and skillful fight, as both competitors are known for their agility and technical finesse. Additional Main Card Bouts The main card also includes a 143 lbs matchup between Berjan Peposhi and Miguel Trindade, along with a 187 lbs fight featuring Brice Kombou against Mohamed Touchassie. These fights add to the depth of an already stacked card, showcasing the diverse talent within GLORY Kickboxing. Preliminary Card Not to be overlooked, the preliminary card features heavyweight action with Cihad Kepenek facing Michał Bławdziewicz, and a 121 lbs battle between Nina van Dalum and Débora Évora, promising to kick off the event with intensity and excitement. GLORY 90 in Rotterdam promises to be an unforgettable night of martial arts excellence. How to Watch GLORY 90? The GLORY 90 prelims will stream live on GLORY's YouTube and Facebook channels as well as GLORY's FAST channels at 19:00 CET / 1 PM ET. GLORY 90 streams live at 20:00 CET / 2 PM ET on Videoland in the Netherlands. Fans can find their local GLORY broadcast partner(s) here .

As a striking coach, I try to make sure my fighters have the best and most efficient training possible. As such, I’ve designed a martial arts training routine to emphasize skills that are immediately practical. If you have access to a training partner, you shouldn’t be taking turns holding pads for each other and power-kicking them. That should be saved for bag sessions, work with an experienced pad holder or a muay Thai class in which you are required to do so. Instead, you should focus on reliable partner drills with skills that translate practically to fighting. This partner-training routine is for anyone who practices a form of full-contact kick fighting, be it kickboxing, muay Thai, MMA, san da,sambo or any other style I might have missed. Here is the Ultimate Guide to Partner Training for Strikers in Martial Arts: Required Gear Each person will need training clothes, a jump rope, hand wraps, boxing gloves and shin guards. Aside from that, no special equipment is needed. The drills will reference a ring or cage, but it is not required. Warmup Skipping rope: 90 seconds on, 90 seconds off. Repeat three times. One partner skips while the other keeps time. Then immediately swap. Do not share the rope. Building Block Drills After the warm-up, it’s time to get familiar with your arsenal. These drills will see you throw a certain technique to your partner and the partner respond in kind. They are simple drills that should be done with medium contact. There should be impact but not enough to cause serious pain. For each technique, you will throw it and your partner will respond with an appropriate defense — it might be a block or head movement. Then the partner will throw the technique back at you, and you will have to defend. Perform each drill for one minute. You can throw the technique to the head, body or legs regardless if it’s a punch or kick; just discuss beforehand what techniques are appropriate. Not everyone wants to risk high kicks. Drill 1: Jab, straight Drill 2: Jab, straight, rear kick Drill 3: Jab followed by any kick Drill 4: Jab, straight, followed by any two kicks Drill 5: Jab, straight, any two kicks, lead hook, rear straight REST Drill 6: jab, straight, lead hook, any kick Drill 7: jab, straight, two lead hooks, any kick Drill 8: jab, lead hook, straight, rear kick Drill 9: jab, lead hook, straight, any two kicks Drill 10: jab, lead hook, straight, any two kicks, straight These drills will develop your coordination for boxing combinations and get you to make proper use of your lead hand while building your ability to throw hooks off the jab. They also will build your fluidity between kicks and punches. The drills in which you can perform any two kicks will build your confidence and help you find your favorite techniques. Creativity Drills The answer to the age-old question Can creativity be taught? is yes. This series of drills has a simple goal: to help you find your own style and your favored techniques and teach you how to pair them together. The series allows you to teach yourself something that no teacher can: the approach to martial arts that works for you. You and your partner will attack and defend using 50-percent power the same way you did in the previous series. Do each drill for one minute. Drill 1: any three punches Drill 2: any four punches Drill 3: any two kicks Drill 4: any three kicks Drill 5: any combination of punches and kicks Drilled Sparring Portion You and your partner will practice the basics together — from stance and footwork to striking and defending. This should be done over the course of five three-minute rounds. The point is to create an environment in which you are almost light-sparring but with a level of control and structure that might not be possible with true sparring. Round 1: Stance and Footwork You and your partner will face each other as though sparring. Your partner will start on the defensive movements. He is able to move back, left and right or pivot to escape you, but he cannot move forward. Your job is to attempt to trap him in the ring, cage or mat you’re training on. If your partner moves to his left, you must move to your right, cutting off the ring. If he moves to the right, you move to your left. If he moves backward, you should move forward to take his place, and after he takes his first step backward, he should pivot out to his left or right, which will leave you facing the empty space he just left. Then you turn to face him and continue. There is no order to which you have to do these movements, but you should do them for the first 90 seconds of the round, then swap. This simple drill will teach you good defensive footwork and good ring-cutting ability because you are allowed to use only footwork. You must rely on nothing but positioning to keep yourself safe and to keep your opponent where you want him to be. If you get your opponent to the ropes or cage, you should tie him up with a clinch, reset to the middle of the ring and start again. Round 2: Jabs and Front Kicks Regardless of whether you use front kicks or teeps, this round will focus on using all the techniques you used before while implementing linear strikes. You won’t throw rear straights in this drill because the goal is not to encourage combination striking before proper distance management has been found. You are allowed to do everything from the previous round. The only difference is you will now take turns throwing a jab, double jab, triple jab, or lead or rear front kick/teep. Your partner will have to defend against the techniques, but you should not tell him what you are going to do. You only use 50-percent power, enough where a failed block would have sufficient impact to teach your partner a lesson but not enough to give him a black eye or a bloody nose. Your partner’s responsibility is to defend against the technique and then respond with a technique of his own from the list laid out above. You will then have to defend against what your partner throws. Remember that as you do this, you should not fall into the habit of standing still and trading techniques. You need to be moving — exactly like you did during the footwork round. You can defend yourself by blocking, catching, using head movement or pivoting away but don’t step back to avoid the attack because this can become a crutch that will cause you trouble later down the line. Round 3: Boxing and Front Kicks This round is simple. You do exactly as you did before, but you are now able to throw any type of punch. Be sure to keep contact to the head light, but you can dig the body a little harder. You can throw any combination of up to four punches but no more than that because it is easy for a less-experienced partner to get overwhelmed if you have a never-ending string of punches that cannot all be blocked. Once your combination is done, your partner responds. Remember to maintain footwork and distance. Round 4: Kickboxing Now you can throw round kicks, side kicks or any other kick you know. The reason you have to wait until the fourth round is the first three rounds were all about finding your range. Now you’re free to experiment with all the kicks in your arsenal. Round 5: Free-Form Drilling You can start bringing in more specific techniques — for example, if you do muay Thai, this is when you can start throwing knee strikes and elbows (with safety precautions). If you do MMA or san da, you can start working in takedowns. Now that you have found your range and are learning to use all your strikes while controlling distance, you can use tricker, sport-specific techniques. Cool Down After your final round, it’s time to cool down. Use this time to improve your flexibility. Start in a sumo squat or horse stance, then do the Cossack squat on your way down into a low stretch for about 30 seconds. From there, you and your partner should face each other, link hands and slowly lower as far as you can safely go into the splits while using each other for support. If one of you is able to get farther down than the other, carefully let go. Hold your lowest safe stretch for 30 seconds. From there, one person should lie down and the other can assist with leg flexibility by pushing the partner’s straight leg up to his head. Be sure to communicate to make sure no injuries occur. This routine features a total 30 minutes of drilling and should take about 45 minutes to complete. Now it’s time to work on strength and conditioning — or anything else you might want to try.

When MMA was first getting popular, around about the time The Ultimate Fighter debuted on TV, there was a lot of talk about what the best ‘Base’ for MMA was. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, it’s the idea that before taking up MMA it’s preferable to have a martial art already under your belt that serves as your home base. For example, if you used to box, you don’t have to worry too much about learning to strike as it’s already there, and you can focus on defending kicks and grappling in your training. As MMA has grown more and more into its own sport, rather than a novelty style vs style contest, we now know that you don’t really need a ‘base’ for MMA at all. Rory MacDonald was an early example of a fighter who just went to an MMA gym and started training striking and grappling together and developed into a fine fighter. That being said, there are plenty of fighters who got their start in a different martial art and then crossed over. When it comes to striking styles the most common style used in MMA is Muay Thai. Pretty much every MMA gym you will go to teaches at the very least a watered down version of Muay Thai and that will serve as your striking base. There is of course a world of difference between this and proper Muay Thai used for actual in-ring competition. Which raises the question, how good is Muay Thai as a base for MMA, and is it the best base? The Old Days In the Zuffa Era of the UFC, we used to say that the best combinations for MMA were either a combo of boxing and wrestling, or Muay Thai and BJJ. The reason being that wrestlers need to stay on their feet, so focusing on boxing and wrestling could turn you into a fine sprawl and brawler. Muay Thai and BJJ was favored in concept because BJJ’s use of the guard, which at the time was very common meant that you could kick without much fear of being taken down, as if you were good off your back, you weren’t necessarily in more danger. Amusingly enough, this era of MMA had very little traditional Muay Thai to speak of. We were a long way from the Khalil Rountree’s and Matt Brown’s using the art of eight limbs fluidly in the cage. Which meant ‘Muay Thai’ essentially meant ‘you know how to kick’. This is quite frustrating for Thai purists like myself, as the main benefit of Muay Thai is not the kicks at all but the clinch. The Clinch in MMA I’ve talked at length about how Matt Brown uses the clinch to maul opponents, and it bares repeating. When you’re doing Muay Thai right, you’re making use of the clinch, if you don’t have a good clinch game you can’t succeed in Muay Thai. The art’s pummelling style of clinching, build around posture control, and off balancing the opponent to land elbows and knees fits a sport with literal cage walls you can push people against like a glove. Training in Muay Thai makes you more sensitive and observant to holes in your opponents clinch, and makes it much easier for you to find an opening for an elbow or a knee, or detect if your opponent is off balance. Fighting against the cage is probably the most important skill to have in MMA outside of ground game. More and more the cage has been used to pressure opponents or take opponents down, as fighters have become better and better at stuffing takedowns out in the open. So having a background in Muay Thai gives you more options in the most important area of MMA. So what are the downsides? Muay Thai vs Sanda The other striking art, which everyone universally agrees is great for MMA, yet no one really trains, is Sanda. The Chinese kickboxing style most notably employed by Muslim Salikhov in the UFC. Sanda is a powerful, kick heavy style that focuses extensively on wrestling. Fighters from Sanda are always very confident kickers, as they have been kicking within a wrestling context for years. If they’re caught on one leg, they’re able to keep themselves from falling, and if they are having trouble with a tricky striker, they’re able to shoot in and slam opponents to the mat. In this regard, Sanda is superior to Muay Thai for MMA, because all Sanda fighters need to learn to adjust to MMA is ground game, and fighting against the cage. As opposed to Muay Thai fighters who need to learn how to defend basic takedowns as well as ground game A Muay Thai fighter might be perfectly decent on the ground, but they’ll ideally be winning the fight if they’re standing, and even if they’re competent fighting off their back it’s still not where they want to be. Sanda fighters don’t have this issue as much because even if they’re not as strong on the ground, it’s much harder to get them there. The real question would be, does Sanda’s lack of clinch work put them as a disadvantage vs Muay Thai, when they’re not really going to be looking to use it anyway? Combat Sambo The Russian art of Sambo, which is itself derived from Judo is probably the best martial art for most purposes. It teaches you how to strike, how to wrestle and how to fight on the ground. I’d argue that this is actually the best art to translate to MMA, purely on the basis that when you get into the cage all you need to do is adjust to fighting in a cage as opposed to an open mat, and gain experience against the more varied array of fighters you’ll be against in the cage. Sambists are usually not elegant kickers, nor are they technical boxers, but they’re a strong jack of all trades that train in a setting that breeds toughness. They’re always going to be at least ready to fight wherever it takes place. So is Muay Thai the best base for MMA? Probably not. Is it the best striking base for MMA? I’d argue yes. While Sanda offers clear advantages over Muay Thai, the reality is that Sanda is so hard to find training for outside of China, whereas Muay Thai has spread across the globe and is readily available in the majority of MMA gyms. There’s no clear cut answer – but you’re better off training Muay Thai than not.