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What's happening in MA News?...

Martial arts instructor Sifu Cosmo Zimic broke 4,425 boards in 44 minutes and six seconds, eclipsing what he said was the previous world record during an exhibition at Lakeview Park in Nampa Saturday. A team of volunteers stacked several boards at a time for Zimic, who broke them alternating between his feet, hands and forearms. Zimic said he trained by punching sandbags, conditioning his bones so they wouldn’t break. He came in well under his goal of an hour to break all the boards, but “it felt like forever,” he said. The board-breaking demonstration raised money for martial arts scholarships for at-risk youth.

 

Joe Jaszewski / Idaho Statesman

Martial arts instructor Sifu Cosmo Zimic said he trained by punching sandbags, conditioning his bones so they wouldn’t break. He came in well under his goal of an hour to break all the boards, but “it felt like forever,” he said. The board-breaking demonstration raised money for martial arts

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Teens get a kick out of karate

Luke O’Meara, 15, and Mitch Lollback, 17, both won medals at the Karate Budokan International World Championships in Noosa.

Tom Williams

TWO teenagers are kicking their way to the top in karate.

Mitch Lollback, 17, a black belt 2nd dan from Kawana, successfully defended his world title in sparring in the Karate Budokan International World Championships in Noosa at the weekend.

Luke O’Meara, 15, also a black belt second dan, who attends St Andrew’s College at Peregian, won silver in weapons fighting.

The pair travelled to India last year to compete in the championships. Both returned victorious, earning the title of world champion in their own age group and chosen discipline.

The home crowd at the competition last weekend gave vocal support to the boys.

Lollback paid a high price for his victory in the under-17 age group, though, tearing a hamstring during the competition.

In a sport that embraces discipline and respect, the two young men are helping to pass karate on to the next generation, whatever the age or skill level.

“Karate is all about co-ordination and speed, which can be learned over time,” Lollback said.

“It’s not a sport, it’s a lifestyle.”

Mitch is teaching the lifestyle to others, forming Karate Budokan Kawana, his own Dojo after leaving school in Year 11.

Training people of all ages, Lollback is looked up to by the young, and the elderly respect him.

Garry Maher, a 67-year-old from Noosa, and the oldest competitor at last weekend’s championships, trains with Lollback.

“In what other sport can you have half a century between teacher and student – it’s fantastic,” Mahersaid.

“I am willing to learn from anyone. The happiness that karate gives you seems to be infectious.”

As the two boys continue to develop their skills, they expect to still be training when they too are 67.

Zakaria going for gold

Steve Zemek | 4th May 2010

Zakaria Khalid, 13, left, and Rohan Bangalolelu, 13, of India spar ahead of their confrontation at this weekend’s Karate Budokan World Championships.

Nicholas Falconer

SUNSHINE Coast karate ace Zakaria Khalid plans to use his home-town advantage at this weekend’s Karate Budokan World Championships.

Cooroy-based Khalid, 13, goes into the tournament as the competitor to beat after returning from last year’s world championships in India with five gold medals.

Khalid’s coach, Wayne MacDonald    , said his pupil would take a lot of beating in front of his home crowd.

“He’s a real perfectionist. He likes to get things right,” MacDonald said.

“You need that in karate. It’s an individual sport, because you’re on your own. There’s no one else to blame if things don’t work out.

“If you’ve got the attitude that you really strive to get everything spot-on, you’re going to go a long way.”

Khalid’s five golds at last year’s championships were in the kumite (sparring), kata (artistic), team kumite, team kata and weapons divisions. He has also been dual Queensland champion twice.

The championships will be held at Good Shepherd Lutheran College from Friday to Sunday.

Competitors from all over the world, from under-7s to over-60s, will take part in the event.

However, MacDonald said he would not be surprised if local athletes dominated the medals.

“We’ve got quite a few guys and girls who are medal chances,” he said.

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UFC 113: Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida's Continuous Battle for Respect

by

Cage Stoker

UFC 113 will feature the 205-pound elite champion Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida, as he once again attempts to defend his UFC light heavyweight title against the man who has given him his toughest test so far—Mauricio "Shogun" Rua.

Rua is a "tough as nails" Muay Thai kickboxer by trade, and in the initial meeting with Machida—due to his precise kicks and excellent Octagon control—he seemed to have returned to Pride Fighting Championships form. So much so, in fact, that many of his long-time loyal fans had actually thought he'd won.

Strangely enough, one of Rua's most outspoken supporters was the boss himself, UFC president Dana White, who was so irate regarding the judges in the match that he called for an immediate forthcoming rematch to be held—a rematch that'll take place Saturday night at Montreal's Bell Centre in the heart of downtown Montreal.

The fabled "fire-breathing dragon" is a legend of folklore, a mysterious and dangerous creature; Lyoto Machida, the elusive mixed martial arts "Dragon," however, is very real.

A third-degree black belt in Shotokan karate, a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and a left-handed (southpaw) striker to boot, Machida presents many dimensions of skill and represents a "clear and present" danger to any and all who have—so far—had the misfortune of facing him.

That being said, it seems extremely unfortunate that the karate stylist has yet to gain the sort of fan popularity—or respect—that has been freely offered to other world champions, such as the UFC's 170-pound titlist Georges St-Pierre and former 155-pound elitist BJ Penn.

One possible reason could be that sometimes, to the casual fans of the sport,  Machida apparently seems boring, or awkward.

The Dragon employs a very effective defensive posture, a karate stance.

It sees Machida bending backward at the waist, and not unlike a boxer, he somehow stays just slightly out of the reach, or out of the punching range of the relentless attack of his oncoming opponents.

Machida also at times appears to be running and gunning, yet at other moments he might appear to be lethargic. We can easily chalk that up to his years of karate self-defense training.

Machida has been awarded his great fighting skills in an honest fashion; he is one of five Machida brothers born to a first-generation Japanese-Brazilian Shotokan karate master.

Young Lyoto began training in martial arts at the age of three, subsequently earning his black belt in Shotokan karate at the age of 13.

Machida is a highly trained, self-disciplined, and intelligent fighter, a martial artist in the truest sense of the word, who also holds a college degree in physical education.

Early in his career, the UFC seemingly tried its damnedest to end the undefeated Dragon's reign of terror on the MMA world by matching him with opponents who were supposed to rip him apart.

One by one—like heroic cagefighting soldiers seeking fame and fortune on a deserted battlefield—they came.

One by one, they were outgunned.

Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, Tito Ortiz, BJ Penn, Rich Franklin, Stephan Bonnar, and the 205-pound champion Rashad Evans each found themselves under siege in a stand-up battle with little chance of winning.

As was the case after the "fight or get out" test of Anderson Silva against Forrest Griffin proved frivolous, another win-win situation for the UFC was created here with The Dragon.

Born either out of the need to please the bloodthirsty casual MMA fans or to test the great Machida's superior skills against the best the UFC had to offer, it ultimately worked out great for the fight promotion.

After the dust had settled surrounding Silva and Machida, the UFC jury had returned with its verdict. The pair emerged as two of the most elite divisional champions in MMA history.

Alongside St-Pierre, the UFC promotion now has seemingly acquired three, possibly four, such fighters, with the recent domination in the lighter 145-pound WEC weight class by featherweight champion Jose Aldo.

Bruce Lee, a legendary master of martial arts, once stated that brains will almost always triumph over brawn, and skill can easily overcome force—if used correctly.

The greatest heavyweight boxer ever, Muhammad Ali, not unlike Machida, was also an extremely intelligent fighter, a genius at formulating clever gameplans to beat bigger, stronger opponents such as Sonny Liston and George Foreman.

During 1974's famous "Rumble in the Jungle" match against the aforementioned  Foreman, Ali developed a style called "rope-a-dope."

"Big George" threw bone-crushing haymaker after haymaker at the crafty Ali for a full seven rounds while "The Greatest" did little more than simply lay back, cover his head, and try to protect his ribcage and vital areas.

After weathering the tornado-sized seven-round punching storm, Ali then proceeded to knock Foreman out cold in the eighth with a perfect one-two combination.

I'm predicting that The Dragon—with his superior defensive skill and knockout striking power—will once again prevail over the extremely durable and iron-chinned "Shogun." 

Machida will concentrate, I'm sure, on the small details of his masterpiece instead of the entire painting as a whole, as a true martial artist should.

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Australian karate champion for the U/21 over 78kg division, Matt Tickle.

He might look like your average SCU Business student by day, but you wouldn’t want to mess with him in a dark alley. Lismore’s Matt Tickle recently took out the Australian Karate Championship for the U21, over 78kg category in Melbourne.

A few weeks earlier he won the same division at the state titles in Sydney, as well as the senior heavyweight division and was runner up in the men’s open competition.

Karate is not an Olympic Sport so Matt said his goal now is to make the Australian team for the World Championships in Serbia later this year, describing himself as “an outside chance”, but having a better shot for France in 2012.

“I’d be 22 then, which would be a good age to be there,” he said casually.

Matt has been doing karate since he was about 13 and trains up to 10 hours a week in between his university commitments.

Matt’s story is all the more remarkable because he broke his neck in three places while playing rugby two years ago. He was in a brace for six weeks and made a full recovery in just six months.

“I gave away the rugby and took up soccer and pretty much got straight back into the karate,” he said. “I’m a pretty competitive person. I’ve always enjoyed contact sport and the competition of it... when you find something you’re good at you just want to stick at it.”

Matt also praised his training companions Shawn Sivewright, who came fourth in the 14/15 boys open, Dean Morgan, who came second in the 12/13 boys heavyweight, and Ben Morgan, who was second in the 14/15 light heavyweight division.