When South Africa’s first black MMA champion Ronald Dlamini was left in a 10-day coma by meningitis, he woke to discover he was blind. But his life in the ring wasn’t over. The fight had just begun. At 78kg and 1.76m tall, Ronald Dlamini has the broad, muscular frame of an athlete. Clear signs of…
The samurai of Japan have fascinated the world with tales of their valor, honor, and skill in combat. Many aspects of modern culture, from Japanese cinema to Western media, all have received inspiration from these warriors in one way or another. While the samurai are long gone, their legacy lives on, and their legendary moral…
Karate dates back hundreds of years, but is still going strong, and for good reason. First beginning on the trading island of Okinawa, the word Karate was used to describe a weaponless self-defense style that at the time was very important to know – thanks to all the pirates, thieves, and dodgy locals. The name…
We get these comments a lot, asking why martial arts (be it judo, taekwondo, boxing or even MMA) don’t teach the ‘art of running away’. They claim that in the real world, most of the time the best way to win a fight is to run away, because on the street fights can be violent…
Nobody said that the martial arts was gonna be easy, or fair, or even possible to succeed in. How many practitioners do you know? How many black belts are among them? Heck, how many black belts do THEY know? It’s a long, grueling training process and not everyone can make it through. The road to…
Many of us are inspired by fantastic movies and great martial artists on screen. Here are 10 of the best kung fu movies of all time: Fist of Fury (1972) In one of the decade’s most masterful martial arts films, Bruce Lee as Chen Zhen challenges a Japanese kung fu school to redeem the…
DK Yoo is a YouTube sensation. Videos of this South Korean martial artist attract millions of views as he piles through dozens of martial arts styles. One video of his which has racked up over 4.5 million views is a somewhat amateur looking compilation of 15 martial arts of which he boasts master-dom in. Comments…
The crow is a 1994 fantasy action film packed with martial arts and dramatic storylines. For a few years now, talk of creating a modern remake has been on the cards, with actors cast and directors hired to take on the project. However, the movie seems to be cursed somehow thanks to the fact that…
American actor Wesley Snipes, best known for his lead role in the Blade series (1998 – 2004), attributes a lot of his fame and acting prowess to the long and interesting relationship he has had with martial arts. Although earlier roles in films such as New Jack City (1991) and White Men Can’t Jump (1992)…
For those who don’t know him, Grandmaster Hee il Cho is one of the worlds greatest taekwondo masters. Spending a lifetime fighting taekwondo, this grandmaster influenced martial arts bodies worldwide through his traditional practices and innovative techniques and is now regarded as one of the founding masters of modern-day taekwondo. Starting martial arts at a…