Q&A with “The man you may never see on the Cover of Black Belt Magazine ” George Chung far right Chung is no stranger to martial arts. He is a Tae Kwon Do Master, a former five-time World Karate Champion, and two-time Black Belt Hall of Fame inductee. As an instructor, he owned and operated a martial arts school chain and taught over 20,000 students. He spent 14 years as a coaching specialist for the San Francisco 49ers, earning a Super Bowl ring for the 1994 season. From teaching to a successful media career, he promoted the first ever professional televised boxing match in the People's Republic of China and went on to produce the first MMA league in India with the Super Fight League. Throughout his career, Chung has pioneered multicultural sports and entertainment on a global level. Today wears the hat of CEO of JungoTV, the online streaming network seen around the world and serves as publisher for Black Belt Magazine . We sat down with George to get his thoughts and vision for Black Belt Magazine What was your motivation to acquire Black Belt Magazine? As a lifelong martial artist, Black Belt Magazine has been an integral part of my life and a treasured part of the martial arts community. Growing up I never dreamed of owning or running the magazine, only to contribute to the martial arts as a teacher, coach, and performer. The recent turn of events that led to the purchase was the opportunity presented to us by Century Martial Arts, the former owner. My company has had a long and successful relationship managing much of their digital content over the past few years, so it was a natural transition for us to take on the responsibilities of the entire magazine and its digital future. What can we expect under new leadership? As a digital media company, we will lean into our expertise of global digital distribution, this means content will reach our viewers faster and wider. From an editorial perspective it's our vision to diversify the coverage of the magazine and bring back the original mission of being the number one authority on self-defense. What this means is an e mphasis on traditional arts, tactical, and combative training along with features of the top martial arts champions, masters and influencers who are disrupting and growing the martial arts industry. We also want to introduce new talent from around the world and expose them to the martial arts community. Black Belt Magazine will be for everyone who loves martial arts and appreciates the modern training to the legacy of its past. Our future may be digital but we definitely will continue to distribute across all mediums including television, web, streaming, social, and soon print-on-demand. As a martial artist what insights will you bring in the editorial look and coverage? Although I've spent my lifetime in martial arts, I consider myself a student of the arts and always am curious and fascinated to learn and explore all aspects of martial arts. This perspective and point of view allows me to have a very open mind and heart when it comes to different martial arts and different martial artists. There is no agenda that affects the editorial direction of the magazine. With so many styles and so many amazing martial artists the coverage and editorial is literally endless and that's what is so exciting. "I consider myself a student of the arts and always am curious and fascinated to learn and explore all aspects of martial arts" You mentioned print on demand does that mean the magazine will no longer be a quarterly printed issue? It's no secret that there's been a steady decline of readership for printed magazines around the world, not just Black Belt but all magazines. With the adoption of digital content availability and voracious consumption via streaming and social platforms, Black Belt is no different with its evolution as a digital property. That being said, we will be offering print on demand issues of past issues. For new printed magazines and will focus on the print issues as collector style editions with every magazine being a masterpiece, thoughtful, meaningful and filled with original insights as our readers deserve. You have been in the martial arts a long time, reflect on your experience, what do you see as the most positive changes now and forward. I'm going on nearly 50 years being in the martial arts, and I feel very grateful that my journey has availed the opportunity to meet some of the greatest martial artists of our lifetime. This is the one time that name dropping makes me so proud. I am so fortunate to have personally met the greatest legends that have passed like Ed Parker, Leo Fong, Remy Presas, Jhoon Rhee, Fumio Demura and living legends like Chuck Norris, Bill Wallace, Benny the Jet Urquidez and contemporary stars like Michael Jai White. Training with the greatest masters like Ernie Reyes, Remy Presas, Anthony Chan, and Hee Il Cho. And competing side by side and in the peer group with some of the greatest champions of our lifetime, like John Chung, Cynthia Rothrock, Keith Vitali, Linda Denley, and Steve “Nasty” Anderson and many more. This gives me an interesting perspective. The new generation of talent has brought martial arts to a level that it is now enjoyed, appreciated and respected on a worldwide level especially through films and television. From tournament Karate with the amazing advancements of CMX to Tricking, all the way up to professional MMA, the interest in fighting is at a level we never imagined! Today we are so proud to feature new talent to spark a new generation of masters. Do you see the martial arts industry growing from a practitioner level? Coming from a background where I once ran martial arts schools, I can also appreciate the explosive growth and mainstream appeal of martial arts schools across so many arts including a renaissance of traditional training as well as tactical training for pure self-defense purposes. There has never been a better time to learn martial arts. As a reader what's your favorite Black Belt Magazine issue(s) I actually have a few and they go from generations. Of course the original 1967 Bruce Lee cover–we call the “green cover with Kato and Bruce” before he was 'Bruce Lee' as we know him. Then in 1968, Thomas La Puppet was the first black man to be featured on the cover at a time of the Civil Rights movements in the United States. I love the 1974 movie poster yearbook and the 1976 Chong Lee Dynamic Kicks still one of my all-time favorites. Others that stand out are Remy Presas yellow cover in 81; 93 yearbook with Seagal, Norris, VanDame, and Bruce Lee; Jim Kelly 2014 black and white cover. Most recently, the 2019 Carlos Machado and 2021 Cris Cyborg (purple cover) are highlights for me. Every magazine edition is special. Every issue is a masterpiece. I consider Black Belt both art and history. Growing up was being on the cover of Black Belt Magazine a dream? So here is where the story gets really interesting: I have actually never been on the cover of Black Belt Magazine. I have been on Karate Illustrated and Fighting Stars sister publications, but never Black Belt . Now as the publisher could put myself on the cover, yes but it's an honor to have this position and I will not take advantage of it. The tenets of martial arts are simple and yet pure respect, honor and discipline . This is the code of Black Belt Magazine and I am proud to lead an amazing team to pave a new era!

We honor those who began history and taught and inspired us to believe that anything is possible. They are the women and men that Black Belt Magazine recognized with its induction into the hall of fame.

By Michael Finn Training in a real martial art requires and builds perseverance and fighting spirit. You enjoy the benefits not only on the mat but also in daily life — which is why the arts remain so popular centuries or even millennia after they were developed for combat. I know this because i’ve spent the past 60 years following the martial path. Writer and Photo Credit: Michael Finn I began my journey in 1955 with the London Judo Society, then delved into aikido, kendo and karate. I joined the British police and subsequently served as a troubleshooter in a bad part of London, which resulted in my rolling in more gutters than most people. It was a learning curve that separated dojo training from the real thing. In 1967 my victory at the National Police Judo Championship inspired me to visit Japan to further my training. Being short on cash, I was forced to go there via a six-week crossing of Siberia during the Cold War. That was just the beginning of the adventure. It continued because this period in history marked the tail end of an era that was quite unlike what we see in martial arts today. For that reason, it’s worth looking back to gain valuable insight into where we came from. In the 1960s in Japan, spending time in a dojo destroyed one’s ego rather than encouraging it. This was intentional. The purpose was to foster learning through humility. Part of that process was to require complete devotion from all students. During one aikido practice session I participated in at Waseda University in Tokyo, I recall the instructor turning to his sempai and saying‚ “I don’t think that student is sincere. Train with him and break his arm and let’s see.” Not long afterward, I heard what sounded like a tree branch breaking. For the next several months, the student attended class but could only watch because his arm was in plaster. When the cast came off and he could train again, he was accepted into the dojo. During the years I spent in Japan, students still occasionally died in the dojo, often the result of discipline meted out after they missed too many lessons. Each lesson presented us with this daunting possibility, and it made us realize that what we were doing had to be taken seriously. Other methods of training reinforced that notion. I recall a special course taught by Sumiyuki Kotani, a 10th-degree judo black belt. The topic was strangulation and resuscitation. When the time came to practice what we’d been shown, we pretended to choke each other out. That was when Kotani proceeded to grab a student and render him unconscious — and then bring him around. “If you don’t do it for real, you won’t know if it works‚” he admonished us. For the next half-hour, we did exactly as he had done, choking each other out and then initiating the resuscitation. I was fortunate to train under some of Japan’s greatest masters. The lessons were not just about how you developed techniques; they were about how the techniques developed you. As the student developed, the application of the techniques became more powerful. I implemented that very lesson on personal development when I represented Britain at the first world kendo championship in Osaka. I didn’t win, but I had learned enough of the martial way to know that one did not make excuses and blame others for one’s own shortfall. You had to evaluate your weaknesses, analyze your tactics and then train for the next time. I also was fortunate to become a student of Takaji Shimizu, the last grandmaster of shindo muso-ryu jodo. A unique teacher, he favored the old isshin denshin manner of instruction, which refers to the direct transmission of knowledge. This is a major difference between East and West. In the West, a teacher imparts knowledge to the student. In the East according to isshin denshin‚ the student takes knowledge from the teacher. The first concept is mainly left-brain learning, while the second is right-brain. It’s more involved than that, of course, but this short description will be enough to resonate with some students. During my stay, I came into contact with the likes of Masaaki Hatsumi, Risuke Otake and other Japanese legends. American martial arts researcher Donn F. Draeger was an excellent mentor and later a good friend. Once Draeger and I trained at Otake’s stud farm in Narita. The “dojo” was nothing more than a canvas spread out in front of the stable. In a moment of downtime, Draeger told me that during a training session he had attended there, Otake cut the underside of his foot badly. His treatment entailed walking into the stable, pulling a red-hot iron out of the fire, cauterizing the wound and returning to the class as if nothing had happened. Clearly, training in those days was very different from training today. I consider myself lucky to have learned each technique from its source, and I have maintained my skill set as it was taught to me. The martial arts I see nowadays are the result of years of technical changes, and that has rendered some things very different from the way they were. I’m not saying one way is right and the other wrong; they are just different after so many years. The public image of the martial arts is also different. These days, it’s often the case that if you don’t have an attitude and you don’t claim you can kill a person with the death touch, in the eyes of many, you don’t do martial arts. This points to an underlying difference between training then and now. All the masters I studied under believed that the purpose of martial arts training was to develop the individual and that only then will the techniques be viable for said individual. “Martial arts training is about creating a socially mature person who plays a useful role in society” was an oft-heard sentiment. Another one was driven home in a conversation with Kotani. When I asked him about the usefulness of judo in self-defense, Kotani simply said‚ “Yes‚ I suppose you could use it for that — I never really thought about it.” Michael Finn has been inducted into three halls of fame for his contributions to the development of martial arts in the United Kingdom. He’s written 10 books and numerous magazine articles.

Courtesy of fska.com Shotokan Karate stands out among other karate styles due to its distinct characteristics in terms of techniques, principles, and philosophy. Developed by Gichin Funakoshi in the early 20th century, Shotokan has become one of the most widely practiced styles globally. First and foremost, Shotokan is known for its emphasis on powerful and linear movements. Techniques involve deep, strong stances and straight, extended punches and kicks. This focus on direct, efficient motion sets it apart from styles that may incorporate more circular or flowing movements. Kata, a series of predetermined movements simulating combat against multiple opponents, is a cornerstone of Shotokan training. These katas are meticulously choreographed and serve as a means to practice techniques, stances, and transitions. Shotokan practitioners often place great importance on perfecting these katas, viewing them as a repository of knowledge and a way to develop muscle memory. Another distinctive feature is the emphasis on kumite, or sparring. Shotokan practitioners engage in controlled, structured sparring sessions that allow them to apply their techniques in a dynamic, realistic context. This differs from some other karate styles that may prioritize different forms of sparring or self-defense techniques. Philosophically, Shotokan places importance on the concept of "karate-do," where the practice of karate is seen as a means of personal development beyond just physical skills. Funakoshi's principles of courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control, and indomitable spirit are integral to the Shotokan philosophy. In summary, Shotokan Karate distinguishes itself through its emphasis on powerful, linear techniques, structured katas, and the incorporation of kumite in training. Its philosophy of karate-do further sets it apart as a holistic approach to personal development through martial arts.

by George Chung, Publisher Over the past few days, the MMA world has been filled with news and stories of the consolidation of the MMA industry, with the recent announcement of the PFL buying Bellator. We have been following the recent developments and focusing on the key players as any media company would. In keeping with Black Belt Magazine ’s pursuit of authentic coverage of martial arts, I thought it would be more appropriate to feature a story that talks about Bellator’s president Scott Coker through the lens of martial arts. For the thousands of people who know Scott, most may only know him as a promoter, but I would like to celebrate his career as an accomplished martial artist. Scott Coker saw the future and led the world to it. He moved martial arts combat from high school gyms to packed arenas and stadiums, went from cable networks to network television, and launched the careers of so many people we now refer to as legends in MMA. He did it all with humility and respect, tenets he learned as a lifelong student of the martial arts. Scott was a key player in the early days of the ISKA in the 1980s, moved to K1 in the 90s, and reimagined a sport called MMA with Strikeforce, the first legally sanctioned MMA promotion in California. He disrupted the industry by featuring women as main events, thereby creating legends like Rhonda Rousey, Cris Cyborg, Gina Carano, and Miehsa Tate. This practice is now considered common because of Scott. In an interview, he was once quoted as saying, “I grew up as a martial artist, and I'm still a martial artist at heart.” This was evident in his career as Scott related to fighters and trainers on levels so deep that only a person who grew up in the arts could understand. The perspective of this story is unique because I had the privilege of witnessing his growth as a promoter from a backstage vantage point, as a close personal friend, and yes, a fan of Scott for almost 50 years. The story is about humility and vision and a chance for me as a friend and publisher of Black Belt Magazine , to celebrate my friend and share his story from a personal vantage. To begin, let's start with the end. On Friday night, Bellator promoted its last event of 2023. Scott sat ringside and quietly presented championship belts and then graciously moved out of the cage allowing the champions to have the limelight and the spotlight, a practice he's been known for for years. Making it about the fighters and never about himself. In an egocentric social media-obsessed world, Scott has always demonstrated the opposite characteristics he has consistently portrayed throughout his entire life. I want to go back to the beginning way before we knew Scott as the promoter, the businessman, and an MMA pioneer. Although it is known that he has a martial arts background, what is often rarely discussed is the actual skill level Scott possessed. How do I know? I trained next to him as a teenager through our early stages, earning our Black Belts at our hometown dojo West Coast Tae Kwon Do in San Jose, California. Scott was always a standout as the most talented, energetic, and skillful martial artist in the class. That's saying a lot considering we trained under the tutelage of Ernie Reyes, Sr. We looked up to our martial artist heroes who demonstrated the skills and character that we as young men wanted to emulate. Movie star Bruce Lee had the biggest impact on Scott but he was also inspired by Chong Lee, author of Dynamic Kicks, and of course our teachers Ernie Reyes Sr, Tony Thompson, Roland Naku, and Hieu Dang. Nothing ever got past us as students. We were micro-focused on every nuance and absorbed every word our martial arts teachers shared with us because our only goal was to become great martial artists. Oh, how simple times were back then. Scott had a chance to display his skills as one of the first members of the legendary West Coast Demo Team and toured the country for several years as a member of that famed performance squad. I always believed and said that had Scott just desired to compete in martial arts, he would have also been a world champion because he truly had the talent and the skills. But that was not the path he chose. At one point, Scott dabbled as a stuntman. In fact, you can find footage of him on YouTube fighting Jet Credit: West Coast World Martial Arts Association. Li or in the Last Dragon with Ernie Reyes Jr. Even then Scott did not aspire to be a star, only to be part of something that showcased the martial arts. What destiny really had in store for him was to become one of the most prolific martial arts promoters in history. As early as his teenage years, Scott was already involved in the promotion of professional combative sports with West Coast Martial Arts promoting a kickboxing company that fed programming to the PKA. Scott understood even in those early years that a real promoter has one job and that's to put “butts in the seats”, and to do so, he showcased the most amazing martial arts talent at that time on the West Coast. As he grew his organization, his kickboxing programs began to draw national attention on ESPN. Throughout the 1980s, kickboxing was the rage and Scott became a central figure in the ISKA, the kickboxing sanctioning body that grew the sport on cable TV. Now let's pause for a second before we go into the chronological history of his promotional career. It's important to mention that all this time Scott was also a martial arts instructor and an amazing one at that. In fact, his legacy as a teacher still remains today with one of his most prized students being the legendary MMA coach Javier Mendez. Javier refers to Scott as Kwang Jang Nim, Korean terminology for master and is now the owner of the famed AKA in San Jose, California and trainer to legendary Khabib Nurgamedov. In the 90s, Scott partnered with the Japanese promotion company K1. He later became President of K1 USA and went on to promote some of the most memorable fights at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Scott again provided a platform to showcase some of the greatest kickboxers of our generation including Maurice Smith, Ray Sefo and Ernesto Hoost. It was during those promotional years that Scott understood the importance of presenting his product to a full house and was able to monetize his promotions into a successful business, all the while creating an atmosphere, environment and ecosystem that would continually support fighters and their growth. In the early 2000s, as MMA began to gain mainstream popularity, Scott created Strike Force MMA. On March 10, 2006, he held the first sanctioned mixed martial arts event in San Jose, California with a record 18,265 in attendance, an attendance record that stood for many years. It was during the Strike Force days he forged relationships with major sponsors that stayed with him for decades and television relationships including Showtime and CBS. Strikeforce champions included a legendary list of who's who of fighters like Frank Shamrock, Cung Le, Nick Diaz, Josh Thompson, Gilbert Melendez, Jake Shields, Alistair Overeem, and so many more. The organization grew in dominance and competed with the UFC. In 2011, Strikeforce was purchased by the UFC and Coker entered a new phase as a UFC employee where he stayed until his contract ran out. This could have been the end of the story as it would have been easy for Scott to walk away, but that's when in 2014 Bellator came knocking. Scott then started the next leg of his journey, continuing his vision of promoting the best MMA fights around the world. Courtesy of Bellator Most of us already know Bellator’s story. Over the last 9 years under Scott Coker’s guidance, Bellator went to promote 180 shows, achieved international growth, and included sell-out shows in the USA, Europe and Asia with epic co-promotions in Japan with RIZIN. All the while, Scott never forgot what his role was as a promoter, putting butts in the seats and giving the people a great show. Courtesy of Bellator So let's get back to Friday night as I sat in my office in Hollywood watching the Bellator 301 show on television. I was texting Scott and complimenting him on the great fights. True to form, Scott replied just like a fan sharing his excitement in the fights, analyzing the battles, and truly enjoying the sport from a martial artist perspective. We don't know Scott's next move professionally but here's what we do know and what I care about. Wherever he goes and whatever he does, Scott will continue to carry with him the heart of a martial artist, remembering the same principles he learned as a lifelong participant of the martial arts, which are respect, humility, and discipline. These are traits we all aspire to live by and it's great to know we can still look to role models who do. We don't know Scott's next move professionally but here's what we do know. Wherever he goes and whatever he does Scott will continue to carry with him the heart of a martial artist, remembering the same principles he learned as a teenager which are respect, humility, and discipline. We all aspire to live by these traits and it's great to know we can still look to role models who do. George Chung Publisher

Michael Jai White is one of the biggest stars of martial arts movies today. Much like Scott Adkins he was born a little too late, and would have been a mega-star in the 80s like Jean Claude Van Damme, but he has still carved out a nice career for himself. A muscle bound behemoth with surprising speed and agility, who isn’t above calling his various karate styles ‘kung fu’ if it fits the joke of his movies. Michael Jai White has been perhaps the biggest martial arts star the West has produced since, the aforementioned Jean Claude Van Damme. He also has 8 black belts. So today we’re going to look at Michael Jai White and the martial arts he has trained over the years. Firstly, it should be said that while he holds 8 black belts, he holds them largely in styles of karate, meaning that his ability to earn these ranks, will come from cross-over skills and knowledge of kata – as despite what some enthusiasts would like you to believe – most karate styles are fundamentally the same, differing usually based on the kata or an on-paper philosophy for approaching a fight, that the practitioner is likely not to follow. It’s very unlikely that a Shotokan black belt, will show a Kyokushin black belt a technique or idea they are not already familiar with, or vice versa. While there are many karate styles on paper, in practice you are really choosing between a style that trains for point based sparring competition, or a style that trains for knockdown based competition. 1. Kyokushin This is the primary style of Michael Jai White. Originally a student of Shigeru Oyama, White has used Kyokushin as the home base by which the rest of his skills spawn from. Kyokushin is the most famous example of the knockdown approach to karate. Founded by Mas Oyama, the style is built around a mixture of the kata and techniques of Shotokan and Goju-Ryu, with the latters approach to tough physical conditioning. The competitions are contested bare knuckle with fights disallowing punches to the head, but allowing for gruelling bare knuckle body shots, with the way to win being through knocking your opponent down or out. 2. Taekwondo (both ITF and WTF) It’s time to get controversial. Taekwondo is a style of karate that developed in Korea. The style is born specifically from Shotokan karate, and focused further on the kicking techniques that already existed in the style, and begun to build upon it by adding more turns to the kicks. As kicks score high in TKD competition, this forced more distance closing spinning kicks such as 720 degree round kicks. Michael Jai White has a black belt in both ITF and WTF styles, which compete under different rules and scoring systems. The common conception is that ITF is more traditional and more like an actual fight (though semi contact) whereas WTF is the Olympic style that you usually see today. WTF Taekwondo has become controversial in recent years when compared to what’s commonly referred to the ‘power era’. While spinning kicks are taught in Kyokushin, it’s reasonable to believe that some of the more acrobatic and elaborate kicks that we see in Michael Jai White movies come from his time training in both of these styles of Taekwondo. 3. Tang Soo Do I expect some people were annoyed by my referring to Taekwondo as Karate, especially seeing as many believe that Taekwondo actually originated from Taekkyon. In actuality this is probably not true, as Taekkyon as it exists today appears to be more a recreation of an old style, than something with direct lineage to the old days. Tang Soo Do, is a slightly older art, that also originated in Japanese occupied Korea based upon Shotokan, and can be seen as something of a middle ground between Taekwondo and Karate. A father of a close friend of mine held a black belt in Tang Soo Do and described it as being very similar but with more balance between punches and kicks – and truthfully I couldn’t put it much better. The question becomes ‘whats in a name?’ As Taekwondo and Tang Soo Do have far more visual similarity with point based styles of karate like Shotokan, than Kyokushin does, yet for some reason we don’t refer to them as what they are, off shoots of karate. 4. Goju Ryu Unlike a lot of other styles on this list, Japanese Goju and Okinawan Goju actually are quite different. Michael Jai White holds a black belt under Eddie Morales in Japanese Goju Ryu. An approach to the art that shares more in common with Shotokan, opting for more linear stances and point based sparring, as opposed to the original Okinawan Goju which favours more square stances and hard sparring more in line with what we see in Kyokushin. Another great example of Okinawan Goju would be the UFC’s Gunnar Nelson who uses the point based footwork and timing of the style to duck in on takedowns where he can use his prodigy level BJJ to win a fight. 5. Kobudo One Okinawan art Michael Jai White did train in is Kobudo. Unlike all the other systems being used (save for Tang Soo Do which dabbles in it) Kobudo is focussed around weapons and armed combat. The weapons trained in Kobudo include bo staffs, sai’s, sickles, knuckledusters, tonfa and nuchucks which despite being a Japanese weapon, were popularised by Bruce Lee. Kobudo can perhaps best be described as an umbrella term for quite a few different weapons schools – but for an actor wanting to do action movies is absolutely invaluable. Allowing Michael Jai White to comfortable use any sort of object he may have to hand and turn it into some sort of improvised weapon for a fight scene. 6. Shotokan It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that Michael Jai White holds a black belt in the most common style of karate. It’s hard to overstate the influence of Shotokan over martial arts as a whole, especially given its influence on Kyokushin, which is along with Muay Thai the reason we have kickboxing today. Shotokan is based around linear fencing like movements and focuses slightly more on hand techniques than kicking techniques. It makes for a very solid, reliable style for any purpose so long as you make sure to practise Shotokan under full contact, continuous sparring as opposed to purely point sparring. Other famous examples of Shotokan would be the likes of Lyoto Machida and his family who are widely credited with proving that Karate could work in mixed martial arts in an age where it was thought to be ineffective. 7. The Superfoot System Currently the 8th and most recent style that Michael Jai White had earned a black belt in, the Superfoot System is a kickboxing system developed by Bill ‘Superfoot’ Wallace, based on the style he developed in his days as a PKA kickboxer. Bill Wallace’s System can best be described as ‘punches and lead leg’ as Bill Wallace’s knee injuries from judo prevented him from reliably kicking with his right leg. Instead he developed a game based around using the side kick, round kick and hook kick off his lead leg, with the chamber position acting as a soft-feint to prevent the opponent from knowing which strike was coming. These are the 8 styles Michael Jai White currently holds a black belt in. Perhaps in a few years there will be another article cataloguing the next 8 this martial arts enthusiast learns.

As the anticipation builds for BKFC 56, the official weigh-in has set the stage for what promises to be an unforgettable night of bare-knuckle fighting. Witness the intensity and focus of the fighters as they tipped the scales, marking the final countdown to a night filled with adrenaline-pumping action. Stay tuned as we bring you closer to the heart of BKFC 56, where every punch counts and legends are made. Main Card ‘Platinum’ Mike Perry,174lb. vs. Eddie ‘The Underground King’ Alvarez, 175.7lb. BKFC King of Violence Title Christine ‘Misfit’ Ferea (C), 124.6 vs. ‘Rowdy’ Bec Rawlings, 124 BKFC Women’s Flyweight World Championship Kai ‘Hefty Bag’ Stewart (C), 144.8 vs. Howard ‘HD’ Davis, 142.3 BKFC Featherweight World Championship Arnold ‘Bomaye’ Adams, 268.9 vs. Mick Terrill, 269.6 Vacant BKFC Heavyweight World Championship Jeremy ‘Lil Heathen’ Stephens, 155.9 vs. Jimmie ‘El Terror’ Rivera, 154.9 Ben Moa, 235.4 vs. Bridger Bercier, 208 Mike Jones, 185.6 vs. Erick Lozano, 187.4 Prelims Keegan Vandermeer, 204.4 vs. Esteban Rodriguez, 204.4 Trevor Bradshaw, 160.9 vs. Troy Dennison, 157.6 LJ Schulz, 155.9 vs. Danny Hilton, 155

Events are scheduled on Dec 5, 8, and 15 in Bahrain, Dec 7 in Brazil and the IMMAF Asian Amateur Championships scheduled between Dec 10 - 16, 2023 December 2023 promises to be an electrifying month for mixed martial arts fans as BRAVE Combat Federation gears up for a series of action-packed events, concluding the year with a grand display of combat sports excellence. Here are the BRAVE CF December 2023 showdowns - The BRAVE International Combat Week is set to host four high-octane events, each showcasing a diverse array of fighters and styles from around the globe along with BRAVE CF 78, scheduled to be held in Brazil. BRAVE CF 77: Bahrain Showdown Kicking off the month, BRAVE CF 77 is slated for December 5th at Khalifa Sports City in Bahrain. The highlight of the evening is the Lightweight championship battle between Kubanychbek Abdisalam Uulu and Lucas Martins. Not to be overshadowed, the Welterweight championship co-main event features Marcin Bandel squaring off against Kamal Magomedov. Alongside these title bouts, three additional fights are set to keep the adrenaline pumping. BRAVE CF 78: Brazilian Fury Continuing the momentum, BRAVE CF 78 on December 7th brings the action to Fortaleza, Brazil, in collaboration with Victorious MMA. This event is headlined by a Welterweight clash between Joilton Lutterbach and Luan Santiago. The co-main event adds to the thrill with a Flyweight bout featuring Edilceu Alves and Marciano Ferreira. Five professional MMA bouts in total will captivate the audience along with a 6 bout prelims card. BRAVE CF 79: The Bahrain Encore Bahrain once again becomes the center stage on December 8th with BRAVE CF 79. The Middleweight main event pits Tahar Hadbi against Ismail Naurdiev, while the Heavyweight co-main event showcases Pavel Dailidko versus Janos Csukas. The card is packed with seven bouts, offering a diverse mix of fighting styles and international talent. BRAVE CF 80: The Grand Finale The grand finale, BRAVE CF 80, is set for December 15th at Khalifa Sports City. This event is headlined by a Bantamweight title fight where Nkosi Ndebele challenges reigning champion Jose Torres. In the Middleweight co-main event, Jarrah Hussein Al-Silawi faces Nenad Avramović. Featuring a special clash between Arab Legends and UK & Ireland fighters, the event includes nine bouts in total, with three early prelims fights adding to the excitement. IMMAF Asian Amateur Championships The premier amateur tournament in the continent of Asia will take place for the first time in the Kingdom of Bahrain - the stars of tomorrow will gather between December 10 - December 16 and will be representing their nations in a tournament format for each weight-class, male and female. Amateur fighters from all corners of the continent will have the opportunity to gain experience in a global combat sports festival, as well as measure their skill sets to their future rivals in the professional ranks, as BRAVE CF continues to uphold its commitment to the development of the sport from a grassroots level, and paving a true pathway from amateur to professional. Each event in BRAVE CF's December lineup is more than just a series of fights; they are a celebration of the sport's global appeal and the diverse talent it attracts. From Bahrain's vibrant arenas to Brazil's passionate crowds, these events encapsulate the spirit of MMA and promise to end 2023 with a bang.

Train Right to Prepare Yourself to Survive By Jason Brick If you ask 100 different martial artists what kind of training is most important, you’ll get 100 different answers. You’ll get 200 if you come back a year later and ask them again. Moni Aizik has trained in multiple martial arts genres — in the classical arts, sporting arts and military arts — and the worldview he developed led him to a set of answers he regards as universal truths. He went on to found Commando Krav Maga, Combat Survival and Elite Combat Fitness, and he’s taught those systems to countless clients in the military and in law enforcement, as well as in the civilian sphere, for more than 40 years. I had an opportunity to talk with Aizik about what Commando Krav Maga is, what it does and how martial artists like you can apply it to their reality-based training on and off the mat. CHECKING YOUR REALITY Although renowned for his contributions to the Israeli art of Krav Maga, Aizik is also a longtime fan and practitioner of the traditional arts. Black Belt readers don’t require much reminding of the benefits they get from the martial arts that are taught in the dojo. An incomplete list would include stress relief, cardiovascular exercise and falling skills. What’s more, those benefits are likely to protect us from the most common killers of modern humans, dangers like heart disease, diabetes and some forms of cancer, which are far more common than assailants lurking in alleys. However, those ancillary protections don’t include surviving sudden violence. That requires training with intention, and it’s what Aizik specializes in. “When you train in traditional martial arts, you tend to believe that’s the way it is,” he says. “You don’t open your mind to the different things that really happen on the street. If you deal only with grappling, as an example, you forget that somebody might have a knife or a gun. If you do striking only, you forget you can fall.” While creating Commando Krav Maga, Aizik reviewed more than 20,000 videos of violence collected from CCTV cameras, dashcams, bodycams and similar sources. He used this research to develop a system of self-defense that addresses the realities of street violence in the 21st century. Although every criminal incident is unique, Aizik’s research identified patterns. One of the most important patterns is how people respond when attacked. “Most of the time, when adrenaline kicks in, people will do what they are trained to do,” Aizik says. “A wrestler normally likes to engage by grabbing somebody. If somebody attacks them with a knife, they might find themselves trying a double-leg takedown, which is the worst thing to do against a knife. A karate practitioner might try to kick the knife, which is not advisable because against a knife, you need extremely good stability.” On a similar note, consider how most training sessions that involve sparring or self-defense focus on light blows delivered while on a level floor, one that’s often covered with mats, while participants are wearing comfortable clothes and have warmed up their bodies. This bears almost no resemblance to fighting for one’s life in a litter-filled alley at night while wearing jeans and a pair of work boots, Aizik says. While recognizing the value of traditional and sport training, he insists that people need methods that more closely mimic reality as it manifests in the modern world, and he applies that insight to things you can do before, during and after an attack. KNOW BEFORE YOU GO Training to survive — and prevail in — a violent attack is a matter of building reflexes that work under the conditions that occur during the commission of a crime. A friend throwing a pulled punch in a controlled environment does not equal what you’ll encounter in the real world, Aizik says. On the other hand, you can’t train under conditions that are identical to a real attack because that kind of force would carry the risk of serious injury every time you stepped on the mat. This is why Aizik suggests his students alter how they train sometimes so the circumstances more closely match a realistic assault. “When training in a traditional martial art, you need to remember there are specific concepts for handling reality,” he says. “But reality is cruel and unpredictable!” As an example, Aizik talks about lighting conditions. If your only training is under fluorescent lights in a strip-mall dojo or under sodium lights in a warehouse space, your situational awareness will suffer when you’re in a parking lot at night. To combat this, Commando Krav Maga conducts workouts in dim lighting, near-total darkness and even under strobe lights. Sometimes instructors add audio elements like the sound of an angry crowd or a police siren. This changes the context of training so practitioners don’t unconsciously rely on having a certain set of conditions when they execute their self-defense techniques. Altering the environment when you train is key to preparing for the realities of street self-defense, Aizik says. “We train in street clothes,” he adds. “We initiate training that involves things to make it more like [a fight] on the street. For instance, we know that in real fights, you’re going to sweat a lot. Everything will be slippery. So we put oil on a gun or knife and then you have to do the disarm.” WHEN IT’S GO TIME When you’re attacked, even if you’ve trained to the context, you have to account for the impact of adrenaline and other fear factors, Aizik says. This isn’t news for any serious student of self-defense, but he takes it a step further. He built Commando Krav Maga to factor in how our physiological responses degrade our fine-motor skills. “It’s based on simplicity,” he says. “The only things that really work on the street are simple. Anything that takes more than two gross-motor skills will not work for you under stress and pressure. All moves are straightforward and simple, and [they] don’t require strength.” Take, for example, a defense against an aggressive right hand. It could be a punch or a push or a grab. Relying on simple sequences of grossmotor skills, Commando Krav Maga teaches a response called “the rhino.” It unfolds like this: • Raise your left hand and place it behind your head as if you’re combing your hair. Point your left elbow forward, toward the attacker. • Step forward with your left foot, catching the attack on your arm. If possible, strike the aggressor in the face with the point of your elbow. • Follow up with a right palm strike to the face. After that initial response, you have a fraction of a second to decide what to do next, Aizik says. Depending on the situation, that might mean retreating, stepping forward to reposition yourself behind the bad guy or continuing with additional strikes to neutralize him. It’s important to reiterate that the rhino doesn’t differentiate between types of unarmed high-line attacks. Taking the time to identify what’s coming and then choosing a specialized response can make you freeze even under ideal circumstances. Instead, Aizik’s system encourages you to practice a near-universal response until it’s reflexive. As you can see, the rhino uses only large-muscle, gross-motor skills — the ones we can rely on when our bodies are flooded with adrenaline. ALL ABOUT CONTROL Against a knife attack, Commando Krav Maga teaches you to create distance and disengage, but if that’s impossible, you should seek to control. “The delivery system for the knife is not just the edge of the blade,” Aizik says. “It is the entire arm and the shoulder and the legs. All of that has to be controlled.” Only after achieving control can you safely attempt a disarm, as in the technique he’s dubbed “the wiz.” It’s perfect for use against a lunging knife attack: • Step clockwise offline and swing your left arm forward to redirect the knife. Be certain to face the back of your hand and forearm forward to protect your radial artery. • Raise your hands into a prayer position, using both to control the opponent’s knife hand while your left elbow pinches and traps his arm. • Strip the weapon with your right hand, then counterattack or disengage. As with the rhino, the wiz applies the strength of your entire body against a single vital point of your attacker while relying on grossmotor skills that remain after an adrenal dump. These concepts apply across a broad spectrum of attacks, Aizik says. Students of Commando Krav Maga learn them from the beginning, but traditional students can incorporate them into their own training and take their self-defense off the mat and onto the street. But Aizik’s system goes ever further. It teaches other techniques and training methods that are designed for reality-based attacks. “We teach gun disarms from standing, from kneeling and from lying on the back — from so many angles,” he says, illustrating the fact that martial artists might be called on to defend themselves in positions other than on their feet in a stance they’ve practiced. The same goes for ground fighting — which Commando Krav Maga doesn’t teach, he says. Instead, the system schools its students in ground survival, which Aizik describes as “how to escape and get to your feet from any situation.” This verbiage and the subset of skills it refers to implicitly convey the message that rolling on the ground is dangerous because it leaves you exposed. It also stems from the fact that stand-up systems like krav maga do better while the practitioner is standing. THE FIGHT AFTER THE FIGHT Many knowledgeable martial artists lament that students receive very little training in the skills they need before violence begins, and they’re right. Most instructors pay lip service to the importance of de-escalation, situational awareness and other soft skills but then spend very little mat time practicing them. That situation pales in comparison to how little attention most workouts allot to what happens after a fight. At worst, self-defense instructors dig out the old saying, “I’d rather be judged by 12 than carried by six” — as if those are the only two options available when confronted with potential violence. Reality is far more complex. “The fight is not always over when you get out of the situation,” Aizik says. “If you hurt the guy too much, you might find yourself in jail. You need to know what happens post-attack.” There are legal, moral, ethical and financial issues associated with self-defense that any system billing itself as realistic and responsible must prepare its students for. One way Commando Krav Maga accomplishes this is through teaching students to attack an aggressor’s mindset as well as his body. An attacker feels big and powerful, at least compared to the person he’s attacking, Aizik says. Otherwise, the person wouldn’t attack. To inflict pain and fear — what he calls “becoming the bully” in that moment— it’s possible to destroy the assailant’s will to fight. If you make the other guy run away, it’s better for everybody. How so? You haven’t had to seriously injure another human being. The bad guy isn’t maimed or killed. Bystanders — by which I mean witnesses — see that the person is in good enough shape to retreat. All this combines to help you mentally and emotionally survive the altercation, as well as help protect you in any legal battles that might follow. A second consideration is how to deal with fear. As a violent event approaches, your body’s physiological response limits your higher order mental skills just as much as it erodes your fine-motor control. By training in situations that induce or mimic the body’s stress response, you don’t just train yourself to apply your physical skills; you help yourself stay calm before violence erupts, which can help you avoid a fight in the first place. Aizik also advises students to learn the self-defense laws of their area. In particular, you should endeavor to understand when self-defense becomes assault, what rules surround firearms and other weapons, and whether you live in a stand-your-ground jurisdiction or one with a duty to retreat. The better you know the legal context of self-defense, the more prepared you are for the after-fight battles. PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER The key, Aizik says, is to “insert a piece of reality into what you do to be able to face a street fight properly.” For some, this might entail direct training in a reality-based system, but it doesn’t have to mean giving up your art. According to Aizik, many students of Commando Krav Maga are also traditional martial artists who add the street-oriented lessons to what they learn in their conventional classes. Others, however, are all in. They absorb the reality-based concepts like the role of environment, the need for simplicity and the importance of stress training, then inject that into the martial portion of their brains. They’re confident that making such realistic considerations part of their lifestyle will better prepare them for anything they might face off the mat. Jason Brick is an Oregon-based freelance writer and martial artist who’s trained in a variety of styles for more than 35 years. His website is brickcommajason.com.

BRAVE CF Lightweight champion will look to become the first man to successfully defend his title when he takes on former titleholder Lucas Mineiro at BRAVE CF 77, on December 5 One of the most devastating fighters to ever grace the BRAVE CF arena, Abdisalam Kubanychbek has finally earned the world title he worked hard for: he`s the undisputed BRAVE CF Lightweight champion of the world. But ahead of his first defense against Lucas ‘’Mineiro’’ Martins at BRAVE CF 77, on December 5, a curse rears its ugly head once again. In total, BRAVE CF has had seven titleholders, and none of them have been able to defend their belt. The Lightweight world title has traveled the world, being contested in Bahrain (3 times), Brazil (2 times), Jordan, Poland, Uzbekistan, and Serbia. Each time, the champion failed to defend, losing the fight – and the belt- immediately after winning it. The belt has been in possession of Ottman Azaitar (Morocco), Lucas Martins (Brazil), Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady (Jordan), Luan Santiago (Brazil), Cleiton Silva (Brazil), Amin Ayoub (France), Ahmed Amir (Egypt), and is now with Kubanychbek, widely regarded as the number one fighter from Kyrgyzstan. On December 5, he will have a golden opportunity to break one of the biggest curses in MMA today. In front of him, lies a former victim of the curse, who’s now eager to keep it alive – Lucas ‘’Mineiro’’ is more determined than ever to regain the belt, and make history as the first-ever BRAVE CF two-time Lightweight champion of the world, and only one of two men to hold the same belt twice, after Jarrah Al-Silawi at Super Welterweight. For Abdisalam Kubanychbek, this is a chance to stake his claim as the most feared man on the roster and keep his undefeated BRAVE CF record alive. A chance Omok is eager to take and has prepared his whole life to achieve – from the boogeyman of the Lightweight division to its king and destroyer of curses. On December 5, it’s all to play – and fight – for.

BRAVE CF former two-time champion Jarrah Al-Silawi is set to make his historic return to the promotion at BRAVE CF 80 this month. From December 5, BRAVE CF will be hosting three blockbuster events in the Kingdom of Bahrain over a span of ten days, as part of the BRAVE International Combat Week. The third and final show will be BRAVE CF 80 on December 15. The expectation has always been that we’d see some incredible bouts from top to bottom and the promotion has delivered on the promise, bringing a world-class fight card to finish the year. For Arab fans, two occasions will be unmissable and historic at BRAVE CF 80: the duel between Arab Legends and UK & Ireland, and the return of Jarrah Al-Silawi. A two-time BRAVE CF Super Welterweight world champion, and widely regarded as the best Arab fighter of all time, ''The Jordanian Lion'' will return to his second home, and even though he won't be a part of the Arab Legends team, he still felt compelled to return to action in the Middle East at such an occasion. One of the biggest examples of BRAVE CF's commitment to the development of Arab fighters, Al-Silawi became known worldwide through his battles with BRAVE CF, putting together a formidable 9-1 record with the promotion, and his only loss coming via split decision, and avenged in an immediate rematch with a TKO victory for Jarrah. It is this legendary run that he hopes to recreate for one night only, at the Khalifa Sports City Arena, which is the home of many of his biggest accomplishments, such as his wins over Erik Carlsson and Carl Booth. As an Arab legend, missing the opportunity to fight at such an impactful card for the region's fighters was simply not an option.

ONE Friday Fights 43 delivered non-stop excitement from Lumpinee Boxing Stadium on Friday, December 1. The 12 incredible contests only seemed to get better and better as the action drew on throughout the card. Atop the marquee were two flyweight Muay Thai showdowns. In the co-main event, Kongthoranee Sor Sommai finished the job against Iran’s Parsa Aminpour. After two rounds of solid work, Kongthoranee got the knockout at 67 seconds of the final round. A beautiful left elbow from inside the clinch put his opponent down for good. The main event followed with Pettonglor Sitluangpeenumfon and Kongsuk Fairtex firing away for three complete rounds. After nine minutes of a back-and-forth battle, Pettonglor got his arm raised by split decision. Kongsuk showed himself well, but two of the judges sided with his opponent. Six of the 12 bouts were finished by KO/TKO, continuing to showcase the dynamic striking action that ONE Friday Fights provides each and every week. Mustafa Al Tekreeti, Aslamjon Ortikov, Petnamkhong Mongkolpet, and Kongthoranee Sor Sommai all picked up performance bonuses for their finishes inside the ring. There was plenty of action to be had for fans around the world. Mixed martial arts action was not left out. Three bouts helped start the night inside Lumpinee Boxing Stadium. Nachyn Sat got his ONE career started with a bang. In an exciting bout, he defeated Carlos Alvarez by TKO in the final minute of the second round. Ryosuke Honda and Faine Mesquita also picked up wins in their MMA bouts to get the evening started. ONE Friday Fights 43 Full Results Pettonglor Sitluangpeenumfon def. Kongsuk Fairtex by split decision Kongthoranee Sor Sommai def. Parsa Aminpour by KO at 1:07 of the third round Sibsan Nokkhao KorMor11 def. Award Kazimba by unanimous decision Chokdee Maxjandee def. Yousif Qadir by KO at 0:48 of the second round Jomjai Naksugym def. Kaoklai Chor Hapayak by unanimous decision Petnamkhong Mongkolpet def. BM Fairtex by KO at 1:45 of the third round Aslamjon Ortikov def. Chatanan Sor Jor Joyprajin by KO at 2:33 of the first round Mustafa Al Tekreeti def. Chanajon PK Saenchai by KO at 1:43 of the second round Rambong Sor Therapat def. Jiduo Yibu by unanimous decision Nachyn Sat def. Carlos Alvarez by TKO at 4:27 of the second round Ryosuke Honda def. Dave Bangguigui by unanimous decision Faine Mesquita def. Baktygul Kurmanbekova by unanimous decision