May 11th, 2012
Who says “traditional” Eastern martial arts can't be used in the ring? Well, a lot of people...but not the guys in this video!
Karate and closely related styles usually get tossed to the side when you want to talk about cage-effective martial arts. MMA has evolved over the years and is known now for hosting fighters specialized mainly in muay thai, boxing, wrestling, and Brazilian ju-jitsu. In an MMA environment with MMA rules, it's really no surprise that it's very difficult to pull off a good career grounded in Oriental martial arts.
So today, we salute those fighters who managed to take their karate-dominant martial arts backgrounds, bring it to the MMA world, and – consistently – deck their opponents in the face with it! Such is a feat that has earned professional fighters like Lyoto Machida and Bas Rutten their fame and reputations. Sit back and enjoy the end of the week with front kick K.O.'s, palms to the liver, and glorious battle music.