Who are you to say....?

I was having an interesting discussion on the issue of disabled people taking part in MMA and boxing the other day. As you may be aware there are plans to have wheelchair bound fighters compete in both disciplines.

The Wheeled Warriors organisation wants to bring the concept to both the cage and ring next year. But it has met with opposition in some areas. Some people are more than a little uncomfortable that two guys in wheelchairs will be slugging it out in front of cheering crowds.

Yes, I can see that it might make some feel uncomfortable, some squeamish and some think it’s immoral...

BULLYING IN MARTIAL ARTS

AS martial artists we all like to think that somehow the arts have made us better people.

We hear all of the time through magazines and publications such as Martial News how martial arts have changed this person or that one and led them to have more compassion, understanding and be more ethical as a human being.

And in the case of many people this may be true.

Yet there is a dark side that we rarely acknowledge in the cold light of day, a festering sore that has to be covered up and ignored.

And this is bullying...

Martial Arts are full of myths.

Take the legends that swirl around old masters. This one could kill a bird with his kiai, that one could defeat whole armies and that one could actually fly.

Of course those are exaggerations...a bit like the stories of masters.

Yes I’m sure they were excellent martial artists and had profound knowledge of their subject.  But as I’ve yet to see a master of today actually fly or be employed as a country’s secret weapon (although maybe he exists as I wouldn’t know it being secret!). Nor have I ever read of one that could defeat armies in any other periodical other than Captain America.

Although they might have more knowledge I think the past master would often struggle against modern fighters simply because of modern training methods. They were, after all, only humans...

Cage fighting and the unconventional Duchess...

Alnwick Castle, Northumberland

ALNWICK, England…

The Duchess of Northumberland, no stranger to controversy, is to stage a televised cage-fighting tournament in the grounds of the 1,000-year-old Alnwick Castle, the (London) Sunday Times reported.

On October 21, the Northern Free Fighters and Team Shotai Kai will slug it out, not in an aircraft hangar, a dingy social club or a smoke-filled pub, but in a stunning glass atrium usually reserved for elegant weddings, silver anniversaries and 60^th birthday parties...

Blogs and film companies...

I’VE got a new blog care of Bey Logan, the former editor of Combat Magazine and now Hong Kong film director and documentary maker.

The blog platform – where you can read blogs from the movie starts of the Hong Kong film industry as well as Bey’s own blog – is called alivenotdead.

Will be doing my first entry next week – so check it out and of course Bey’s own blog.

Sooooo busy…

Welcome to our new blogs and a new blogger...

PHIL DOHERTY: WELCOME to our new style blog platforms. As you can see the new blog platforms are interactive and you can now leave comments on the blogs. We hope that you will enjoy being able to talk to our contributors and discuss the issues, ideas and concepts they bring to Martial News.

We also would like to welcome Paul Green to Martial News. Paul is an American tactical defence systems expert who trains US police officers.

He will be discussing many different aspects of this field and has started his blog off with a perspective on what is known as the "Bystander Effect". This is a must read for any martial artist who teaches self-defence and something we all should be aware of...

Evolution of Martial News

THE evolution of Martial News is continuing.

You may have noticed but we now have direct email on site on a number of pages including the contact page, advertising, and comment among others.

This means it is now easier than ever to send stories directly to us.

The Cage Fight Night section - which we have put up for you to have a looksy will be going fully live at the end of this month...