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Happy Wednesday, kids. We’ve got a lot of action to get to, and we’re glad you’re joining us again. Apart from Manny Pacquiao’s recent opponent teaching questionable martial arts, we’ve also got some great midweek violence to placate your thirst for it amid all of the fight week coverage we’re delivering. It’s rough going, and we’re doing our best for you all.
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So, uh… let’s get to some weird stuff, shall we?
Yoo gotta be kidding me, fam
Remember Systema? We talked about it a while ago. In fact, we’ve done so more than once. But we’re not revisiting the chunky Russian dude this week. No, we’re going to go somewhere different with it. We’d like to introduce you to DK Yoo. Yoo is a Korean Systema instructor/expert that really gives some lovely demonstrations with a lot of flair. I’d highly recommend he do fight choreography for TV and film.
And that’s honest praise, but it’s stemming from the fact that so much of what he does appear staged. Don’t believe me? Observe:
He does the usual “I’m standing still and some dude comes to hit me” thing, countering with a deft right hand. That’s cool, and it looks great. But that partner compliance is doing some Karelin-levels of lifting, brother.
Ayo, my man… you ever been in a two-on-one fight and one guy is standing over here and the other one is specifically over here? Alright, here’s where you strike!
What’s more impressive than a 2vs1 sequence? How about we up the ante and see how to deal with three people?
That’s how it’s done, baby. Chin up, moving straight back, dude to his left not actually throwing a punch and kind of just pantomiming. Real elite shit, top to bottom. Did I mention that this demonstration was for the fucking Korean Special Forces? Did they really learn anything from this Systema masterclass?
He knocks down the guy on the right, and there’s a pause in the action. Perhaps it was unintended, or some game of red light, green light. But watch my man in the middle as the action resumes and he gets a stiff jab to the face.
Now that he’s not a problem, dude on the left decides it’s his turn. He’s stopped by the instructor, who probably ran out of flashy shit to do. There’s only so much Systema you can mainline in a day, you know?
Compliance is the name of the game in Systema. The most egregious thing about this shit is how this guy is clearly exerting some level of authority as the instructor that is ostensibly demonstrating “realistic” techniques but stripping away the realism of the attackers and how they behave.
If you’re getting jumped by three people, two of them aren’t gonna stand by and wait for you to bust out your flashiest Ultra Combo. Here’s another lovely combo. Parry the first attacker and hit the second one immediately. It assumes the first guy is gonna stand still and the second one won’t actually attack. That’s Systema magic in action, my friend.
It also assumes that the second guy is gonna go flying back with one backhanded punch.
As for practical experience, we have to give Yoo some credit and praise. He did have a boxing match with Filipino legend Manny Pacquiao. Don’t get too excited. It was an exhibition, and he didn’t get to do any of those fun lethal techniques you saw above. Systema apparently has limits when it comes to 1v1 fisticuffs with gloves.
Maybe that was doing Pacquiao a favor, though. Gotta limit Yoo’s power before he destroys him with his secret hidden techniques or whatever. Oh, we should mention those. Like the time-honored tradition of punching a dude in the nuts. No, seriously.
All of this absurd content is straight from his own YouTube channel, too. It feels like a missed opportunity for him to not refer to it as as his YooTube Channel (boo, hiss) as a marketing gimmick, and he can thank me later for getting him some exposure over there.
One last thing we need to talk about with this guy is the absolute giant balls it takes to pull this next stunt off. He takes clips of him demonstrating shoulder strikes and juxtaposes it with Conor McGregor’s implementation of that same attack against Donald Cerrone. Just massive swinging nuts.
Big man Dambe is a thing
Gotta show some more love to African Warriors Fighting Championship, because they’re really delivering on the action. This week we have a battle between two tall dudes. How tall? Taller than the usual guys you see. And that means they’re gonna have some crazy reach.
But there’s more! Yet another collection of knockouts, knockdowns, and great moments! Check out the sequence at the 0:39 mark.
Austria GP? Yes.
Judo Highlights keeps giving us plenty to rave about. Here’s a compilation of the best Ippons from the recent Austria Grand Prix. Lots of technique and dedication to appreciate here.
Spinning elbows on Bloody Elbow
This collection of spinning elbow knockouts won’t make you forget the iconic Jon Jones vs Stephan Bonnar one, but it’ll impress you. That’s for sure.
Kyokushin is still a breathtaking martial art
Another Karate highlight vid, courtesy of SportsForEver on YouTube. Aleksandr Eremenko is a name I’d heard but I hadn’t really seen any extended highlights of until now. This was amazing, and check out the Andy Hug-style spinning heel to the thigh.
This is a far cry from Systema, I’ll tell you that much.
Irish stick fighting? Sure!
While it would have been nice to have found this around St. Patrick’s Day, we’ve got a quick little feature from Ireland’s Independent on a gentleman attempting to revive what’s referred to as the “ancient art of stick fighting”. See for yourself.
Rodtang is not human
Back to Muay Thai: enter Rodtang Jitmuangnon. The man has a rock-solid reputation for being one of the most devastating fighters in the world. There’s plenty of good reasons for that. And here’s some of that body of work that shows why he’s so fearsome.
That’s all for this week, kids. Have fun, be safe, and try to eat right. And remember that Spider-Verse sequel drops this weekend. And remember – you might think you can fight, but there are many guys like you all over the world.
Bloody Elbow excels at covering fight-related nonsense like this. We do it for the eyeballs and the ad revenue and to amuse our loyal audience who appreciates that nonsense is a big part of the combat carnival.
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