Classic uraken knockout in MMA!

Some of you will recall my article back in 2010: "Uraken: karate's greatest folly?" in which I discussed the relative usefulness of the uraken - the backfist of karate.

Over the years I'd heard many opinions on the worth of this technique - mostly disparaging ones.

I'm heartened to see that my opinion of the uraken wasn't misplaced.  Paul Felder's knockout of Danny Castillo use of this very technique at UFC 182 on January 3 was, as it turns out, a classic execution - albeit in the context of a spin.  It even used a snap-back at the elbow (rather than a swinging follow-through)!

And it had a devastating effect.

At first it was suggested by many that the technique was a hammer fist.  Or was intended as a hammer fist.  But, thanks to the work of my friend Noah Legel, the gif below demonstrates that it was indeed a pretty standard uraken as taught in karate - right down to the wrist extension at the end (see the picture above and my uraken example below) which presents the knuckles as a striking surface, rather than the back of the hand (as I discuss in my previous article).



Note the way Castillo is knocked out by a "shock" that doesn't move him much  - rather than a pushing force (ie. a technique that looks relatively "weak" was used, yet produced a determinative result).

And I like the way he pulls back his other hand to his hip at the moment of the strike.  But no one chambers at the hip, do they...?



Lastly, I love the way Paul Felder used a classic ashibo kake uke to deflect the roundhouse kick.  So many great examples of traditional karate in one short clip.

Copyright © 2015 Dejan Djurdjevic


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Karate punches vs. boxing punches

Image
Introduction In my article “ Kime: the soul of the karate punch ” I described the essential feature of the karate punch as being “focus” – ie. a combination of minimal deceleration before impact and optimum distancing – usually performed in karate with a straight thrust . Many have, and will continue to, argue that this straight thrust is less powerful than a boxer’s follow-through punches. This is true. But to understand why this does not necessarily mean that the former is less effective we’ll have to examine punching methods – what someone I know calls “delivery systems” – in greater detail. To the extent that karate punching is “less powerful”, I will then go on to examine why this is a tactical choice rather than a necessary failing. Categorising punches In a very general sense karate punches can be divided into 2 kinds: straight line and curved. In boxing, punches can be divided into 2 different categories that overlap with the karate ones, namely: 1. jabs (ie. punches which
Read more

"Combat tai chi"? Seriously?

Image
Back in about 2009 I was talking to a friend of mine who does krav maga, telling him I was off to Taiwan to train in combat taijiquan (tai chi). He laughed. "Combat tai chi? Isn't that an oxymoron?" I can see why he thought that. Because when you look at the soft, slow art of taijiquan, adding the descriptor "combat" does seem to be a contradiction in terms. In fact, the idea of it being used for fighting can appear  ludicrously funny . And to be frank, in the case of most taiji practitioners - including many who profess "fighting skill" on the interwebs   - it almost certainly is. [In the case of the preceding link, note the string attacks against zombie opponents - more on that later!] By now, I doubt there is anyone in the martial arts who hasn't heard of the debacle that constituted the recent fight between MMA fighter Xu Xiadong and self-described Yang style taijiquan "master" Wei Lei. Xu beat Wei senseless in under 10
Read more

Zhan zhuang: grounding, structure, intention and qi

Image
Introduction There is a tendency in the Chinese, and increasingly in the Japanese, martial arts to venerate “standing post” training - what is known as zhan zhuang (站樁 - literally “standing like a post”).  In particular the internal arts of China are known for this practise.  Even more particularly, the art of yiquan (意拳 - literally “concept fist”) focuses almost entirely on this as a martial training method. Yiquan, which is also called “da cheng quan” (大成拳 - literally “great achievement boxing”), was developed by xingyiquan master Wang Xiangzhai (26 November 1885 - 12 July 1963).  One of his students was the Taiwan-based martial artist Wang Shujin (a master of xingyiquan, baguazhang and taijiquan who happens to have also been one of my grandmaster Chen Pan Ling's main students). In Japan the yiquan tradition was continued by Kenichi Sawai, founder of the school of taikiken (体気拳 - literally “mind and spirit fist”). So what is the point of “standing post training”?  Can
Read more