Cobb: The Black Dragon Fighting Society

October 20, 2005

The Black Dragon Fighting Society

OK this guy is the ultimate badass. Check it:

Count Dante personally went to Muhammad Ali's (Cassius Clay) house on the south side of Chicago and challenged the Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the world. Count Dante' also challenged the World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion and the World Heavyweight Judo Champion. Count Dante personally entered the contest and defeated all the comers. The December 1970 issue of Mr. America magazine praised Count Dante for his attempts to update the science of self-defense. In the same article, featured in the August 1971 issue of Official Karate magazine, Count Dante proved the inferiority of the traditional martial arts as they were being practiced at that time. In this book, "The Worlds Deadliest Fighting Secrets", the Count elaborated on the shortcomings of all the present day defense systems. In both this book and his "Karate is for Sissies" article, Count Dante stressed the weakness of the martial arts systems as concerns their use and practicality on the street, and stressed that the self-defense arts should become FIGHTING ARTS. This book and article completely changed the structure, attitude, and application of the martial arts, and since that time most top martial arts leaders and publications have stressed the STREET APPLICATION of their arts and articles much as if they had conceived the idea themselves.

What makes this guy particularly interesting is this comment:

" ...Special note: Proper emphasis on courage, aggressiveness, and actual training hall and street application of effective fighting techniques, is the most serious lacking segment in modern day karate and kung fu schools... most karate schools place little emphasis on courage or "guts fighting" and aggressiveness and usually even frown on it. They also do not permit body contact in their self-defence and sparring practice. This makes for a safe training hall but does little to help develop the body to withstand strike punishment and actually hinders the student when they are forced to use it on the street."

Fascinating. Are we really learning practical matters in our strip mall Karate Dojos? This is the other side of the coin that I will be exploring today when I talk about higher education.

Posted by mbowen at October 20, 2005 11:35 AM

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Comments

I'm a 40 year old geek who's taking karate (kenpo, actually) from a "strip mall studio". There's ups and downs to it, but our instructor is keenly aware of the difference between sparring for points and "street". Actually, our sparring instructor is an 18 year old boy who has learned most of his technique the hard way - constantly getting jumped by other kids who wanted to prove he wasn't so tough. His lessons tend to leave me quite sore.

Another point our instructor makes over and over is the importance of dealing with sexual predators. This means I often find myself playing the ape who's trying to paw a 14 year old kid while she tries to control her panic reaction and slow me down or manuver me so she can get away. These episodes tend to be quite creepy for all concerned and I'm usually grateful my wife is there as a "safety zone" for the girl.

Posted by: Mike Heinz at October 21, 2005 09:45 AM

But are the girls taught aggressive fighting techniques that would actually disable an attacker? I say this because I specifically recall Krav Maga that is taught in NYC. It's not about getting colored belts at all. Instructors have to make a choice about whether they are going to 'proof' students from violent predators or whether they are going to setup an annuity for themselves by teaching a martial art, with the emphasis on art.

Posted by: Cobb at October 21, 2005 10:39 AM

They are taught a number of disabling pressure-point moves and they practice on me. But with that said, they are repeatedly taught to think about what happens if the move doesn't work or isn't totally disabling. The emphasis is on: prevent him from getting hold of you, if he does, break the hold and, in either case, get away.

To me, that seems sensible - while I've met female martial artists who could destroy me in a moment, the typical 2x / week student doesn't have the conditioning, the practice or, really, the killer instinct, to destroy an attacker. It seems much more practical to teach these girls - heck, the guys, too - how to buy yourself enough time to get out of there. If the student in question has the aptitude to go further, I'm Tempest (my sparring instructor) can take them there. But he's having a heck of time just convincing them to overcome their adolescent shyness and throw a real punch.

Oh, and again I should point out that I fall into the "typical 2x/week" category. They use me as the ape because I'm 6' and 240 pounds, wear a goatee and shave my head in the summer. I'm a martial "artist" the way an elephant with a paint brush is an "artist".

Posted by: Mike Heinz at October 21, 2005 01:35 PM

Around the summer of '72, I had a younger friend who got all wrapped up in this dude. Cat grew up to be an MP. You've done it again man.

Posted by: Bijan C. Bayne at October 22, 2005 05:22 PM