“Secrets” of the Filipino Fighting Arts
Words from a Modern-Day Warrior

Learn how to point fight and maybe you too can be a dangerous killing machine on the streets, like Ralph Macchio! LOL!

Point Karate to help develop streetfighting ability? Now, there’s a radical theory!

Reminds me of a joke:

Guy walks into a restaurant and orders a steak, the waiter brings him a hamburger. “That’s not a steak!” the guy protested. The waiter goes, “I know, but steak’s not available, but it’s the next best thing!”

Then he asks for glass of apple juice, and the waiter brings Kool Aid. When the man protests again, the waiter tells him, it’s the next best thing.

When the bill comes, the man leaves an IOU. When the waiter insists on cash, the man tells him he’s got no money, but it’s the next…

Fighters can’t call themselves “fighters” unless they fight. They must fight in any way they have available to them, and in as many ways that they can in order to develop their skill. I have heard arguments from non-sparring men ranging from they don’t like tournaments, to tournaments not being “realistic” enough, to tournaments creating bad habits, to there simply being no tournaments in their area. All this may be true, but in order to prepare for a streetfight it is best to spar often and spar with strangers. Truth be told, no tournament format (even NHB/Cage fighting) is quite unlike the streets. But in order to develop the skills needed for fighting successfully on the street–that cannot be developed through drills, focus mitts and bag training–you must have time squaring up with an aggressive opponent. And since no tournament format has it all, it would be a good idea to give yourself a good mix of tournament styles in order to capture experience and the benefits of the various types of competition.

I am an advocate of boxing and point fighting, because this is where the bulk of my fighting experience occurred. I did fight in Olympic style TKD tournaments, Muay Thai style, and regular kickboxing, but it wasn’t much compared to what I gained from boxing and point fighting. But I can tell you that my experience there was greatly enhanced by boxing and point fighting. I was faster, had better timing and was able to see and move in the middle of exchanges, where most fighters experience a blur. I know that if I had not owned a school and could have pursued my full-contact experience more avidly, I would have gone far because of the ease I beat some of my opponents.

The weapons used in point karate are somewhat “lame”; but they are necessary to esnure the safety of the fighters and also help you increase the speed by which you move. Can you throw a hook in point fighting? Yes. Can you throw a rear-leg, power Roundhouse kick? Yes! But those weapons are slower than Ridgehands and front leg Round kicks, and if you can deal with them, the Hook and the Roundkick won’t have a chance to reach you. You can always transition from one weapon to the next, depending on the rules of the bout you are about to fight. And fighters must be versatile. After all, not every fight you engage in will be a knock-down, drag-em-out death match. What if you must subdue a neighbor? Or a minor? Or your own son?

And in training, I’m sure you spar with your own Dojo brothers and training partners with some level of control, correct? We all adhere to rules, just like in competition, and it is actually a good practice to limit what you fight with in order to isolate certain limbs and techniques to focus our practice. Tournaments are no difference. As I said in the last “Using Spor Karate” article, we are only developing one part–while a very important part–of our fighting skill and the altercation, when we point fight.

I’d like to challenge you to try something… an experiment! The next time you spar, set the timer, and then you will spar for 3 minutes and not get hit 5 times before you land 5 hits on your opponent. Keep a count; you don’t have to stop the clock like they do in the tournaments to call shots.  You will find that this is very difficult to do if you’ve never fought this way. If you are an FMA fighter, this is an extremely important skill to have, as we fight with blades and even a cut on the forearm can main or kill you.

Try the best two out of three. Now, if you can’t do it, I would like to appeal to you to check back with me and I’ll give you some tips. If you can, then I would say get a better-skilled opponent or then again, maybe you already have the skill I’m referring to. But I am willing to bet that most of you do not, because point karate is one of the best ways to develop this ability.

Or you could always do what many of my friends have done at my request: spend an entire year fighting in Point Karate competitions. You’ll be surprised at how much your speed and timing will improve. This is the fast track to developing skill in full-contact fighting, including streetfighting. The premise of all of this is that you need to have actual fighting experience in order to join your practice with theories and ability. And I’m not talking about that time some guy punched you in the nose in the 12th grade–nor am I talking about that club security job you had tossing drunks on their bottoms. In the absence of consistent, real fighting experience, tournament fighting is the safest, “next best thing”.

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