Combatives expert Michael Janich writes in Black Belt Magazine about the influence and contributions of legendary Vietnam veteran and Hwa Rang Do practitioner Michael Echanis. A contributor to Soldier of Fortune and profiled, if I recollect correctly, in Black Belt Magazine, Echanis is today recognized as a pioneer in hard-core combatives training. Black Belt Magazine recently published The Complete Michael D. Echanis Collection: The Special Forces/Hand-to-Hand Combat/Special Tactics Series, originally published as three separate volumes.
Speaking about combatives, Grandmaster John Pellegrini, founder of the International Combat Hapkido Federation offers readers a short demonstration of Combat Hapkido’s weapons disarms, specifically long firearm self-defense techniques.
Who says Aikido has to be a gentle art? Take a look at this young woman giving an impressive demonstration of aikido tailored for self-defense training. She clearly shows the connection between aikido and daito-ryu aiki-jujutsu.
Law Enforcement Officer Ross Torquato questions the viability of Mixed Martial Arts training for police officers in a PoliceOne.com article, Is Training in Mixed Martial Arts the Right Thing for Your Officers? MMA, argues Torquato, is just too complex to be practicable for police officers. “The physical skills,” he says “needed to win must be simple, based on gross motor movements, learnable in an eight-hour session once a year, and practiced for about ten repetitions.”
Haywire, a film by Steven Soderberg is scheduled for release tomorrow. The action-adventure romp stars MMA champion Gina Carano as covert-operations professional. She’s backed by an impressive cast, including Ewan McGregor, Channing Tatum, and Michal Fassbender. The New York Times panned the movie, calling the plot “almost defiantly preposterous and uninteresting.”
Insight from Confucius:
“One who wants something will find a way; one who doesn’t, will find an excuse” Confucius
(Thanks to Master Al Medina, Chief Instructor and Owner of the Bronx Combat Hapkido Club for this quotation. Want to learn real self-defense techniques that work? Check out his school.)
I love that disarmament video. That was awesome the way he pushed forward when he had the gun pointed up. He’s Definitely right in that the guy with the gun would be wanting to play tug of war with you but you could totally get him by going forward instead. And that Aikido video was a work of art.
Rick Saxby,
Publisher, FightingPhilosophy.com
Rick,
I appreciate your taking the time to write. I’m glad you liked the two videos. Grandmaster Pellegrini is an extremely impressive martial artist. Truly unique. And I agree with you, that woman in the aikido demonstrations deserves kudos. Again, thanks for writing. GK Zachary, Editor & Publisher, Adult Martial Artist.com