Can the Dreamcatcher slay The Dragon?

Posted on February 14, 2014 by ALar

A UFC Fight Night 36 Preview

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After a decision heavy UFC 169 card a few weeks ago, the Zuffa brass are hoping that this event going down in Brazil will have plenty of excitement for the viewing public. A slugfest here or there would be nice, but what the UFC needs most out of Saturday night is a legitimate and viable Middleweight contender. Both of the evening’s final two tilts feature highly ranked 185ers that could lay claim to #1 contendership with an impressive outing. The issue is that aside from Jacare Souza, the other three fighters involved in the collective fisticuffs are noted for their ability to act as a proverbial glasses of warm milk before bed… Who knows what could happen when you toss two martial artists in a cage for five rounds though! On to the preview!

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Posted in Commentary, MMA | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Karate in the Snow

Posted on February 13, 2014 by moaimartialarts

I live in New England.

Temperatures have been below freezing almost all winter.

It’s snowing, again.

Do I need any other reason to post some of the best videos of intrepid karateka training in the snow?  I like to work on stepping and stances on days like this, personally–kind of like training on the beach but with boots on.  Here are how other, hardier folks approach winter workouts!  (Notice none of the videos are very long?)

I admire this guy for standing in just one spot.  Brrr!

This father and son combo shows good defense–and discipline!

Gotta love when your camera man throws snowballs at you . . .

Mas Oyama, founder of Kyokushin, was all about outdoor training.  The winter fun starts about five minutes in.

Are you inspired to get outside and train today?  Or are you more in the mood to stay warm and watch more videos?  Either way, let us know if you have some cold-weather training routines you like, or if you have videos to share.  Thanks!

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UFC 169: SuperBrawl in Jersey – A Preview

Posted on February 1, 2014 by ALar

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If you have any sort of connection to American pop culture, you know that the biggest annual event on the entertainment calendar is going down this weekend. UFC 169: Barao v. Faber! Just kidding, I’m talking about the Super Bowl. While I will be rooting on the Broncos on Sunday, as any red-blooded American would, I will also be tuned into the fights on Saturday. The UFC has a ton of media competition and I’ll admit, it is quite ballsy for them to throw an event just yards away from where America’s biggest game will be played just 24 hours later. For the average MMA fan, this Pay Per View card is loaded. We get two title fights, a loser goes home tilt between two legendary Heavyweights, and two top contender bookings that could be easy candidates for Fight of the Night on paper.

With that said, the UFC will get their usual crew to tune into this card, but will they be able to swing any of the national media their way with a card that doesn’t feature the sports biggest stars? Urijah Faber is the most recognizable athlete in either of the title fights and let’s face it, he isn’t exactly a cultural icon outside of our odd little world. There is no Jon Jones on this card (which would have made perfect sense since he has TWO brothers in the NFL, the cross promotion could have been MASSIVE, but Bones needed some time off…) and megastars Anderson Silva and GSP have gone on to greener pastures for the time being. Therefore we are left with two title fights at 145 lbs. and below on one of the traditionally larger cards of the year. Will America watch? Who knows, but our crew will be tuned in! On to the preview!

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Thoughts on UFC on FOX 10: Henderson v. Thomson

Posted on January 23, 2014 by ALar

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Hey, we can’t complain about free Saturday night fights now, can we?

Your boy ALar may be able to find a way…

Let’s be real, this is probably the weakest UFC on FOX card to date (Seriously, take a gander at FOX 7 compared to this one…). I am having trouble catching the fire for Saturday’s event and it could be a victim of the dreaded DVR treatment in my house. I can usually gather my ‘casual fan’ friends to watch these FOX cards, but I have very little to sell them on here. We all know my relative distaste for Benson Henderson’s fighting style, though he claims to be ready for a ‘war’, whatever that means…. He could throw together a fun scrap with Josh Thomson, but I highly doubt it. These cards that look boring on paper often end up providing some form of unexpected excitement and let’s hope that is the case on Saturday. The card lacks the typical FOX name power, but could make up for it with a few barn burners and vicious KOs. Let’s hope for the best! On to the preview…

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Posted in Commentary, MMA, Opinion | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Why I Don’t Trane UFC

Posted on January 18, 2014 by moaimartialarts

I generally don’t disclose my lifelong interest in martial arts to my English classes.  The inevitable conversation ensues:

You do karate?  Why are you a teacher?  You should fight in the UFC!

After all, if Kevin James can do it, so can I, right?

here comes the boom, kevin james, mma, ufc

If it were only that easy.  (Funny that I’ve actually struck that same pose in front of my classes a few times . . .)

But even if I wanted to leave teaching high school, even if I had the genetic talent to fight professionally, even if I wasn’t crippled by introversion and a fear of failure (Would I get punched in the face in front of a live audience?  I don’t think so!), I would never fight in a ring or cage.

There are many reasons I will never “trane UFC”. Continue reading →

Posted in Jiu-jitsu, Karate, MMA, Opinion, Philosophy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Taking a Look at UFC Fight Night 35: Rockhold v. Philippou

Posted on January 14, 2014 by ALar

Rockhold-Philippou

(Author’s Note: First things first, yours truly will only be previewing MMA/UFC events that air on American television from here on out. I personally won’t be rolling out of bed at 6 AM and tuning into events like the recent Singapore card, and I doubt you will either. When most of the fighters on the card don’t have their pictures up on UFC.com it is safe to say that a large part of the North American MMA community has absolutely no clue who these valiant warriors are. Therefore, if you are looking for in depth coverage of the foreign cards, leave a comment and I can refer you elsewhere.)

On a better note, the UFC is treating us to a mildly decent Fight Night event this Wednesday to ease the deep freeze of the mid-winter doldrums. This card marks the return of Luke Rockhold who has been out of competition since May when ViToR BelforT nearly took his head off with some sort of Street Fighter move. His opponent, Costas Philippou will be looking to right the ship after a decision loss to Francis Carmont in a snoozer back in September.  These two have promised fireworks and I expect them to deliver on that claim. On to the preview!

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Popular Workouts for Martial Artists

Posted on January 6, 2014 by moaimartialarts
martial arts workout, fitness, review

Meh. Kids’ stuff!

There’s a neat review of some popular, efficient, and effective workouts posted on our sister site, Jacked Dad you might enjoy.  These workouts are great for martial artists looking to improve performance, to supplement their conditioning, and who don’t have a lot of time.

Check out the reviews of popular workouts for martial artists here.

Also, here are three videos I made awhile back that show how you can combine martial arts training with strength and conditioning exercises.  I’m not a great athlete, but I have a good imagination.  These videos are a few years old, so be sure to check back for new content soon!

Share this post, and let us know what you think!

Posted in Fitness, Reviews, Workouts | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Moai Martial Arts 2013 in Review

Posted on January 2, 2014 by moaimartialarts

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.  It’s always fun and fulfilling to look back on the year and community that we share.  Thanks for a great 2013.  Here’s to an even better 2014! – Bill

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 11,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

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Heroes Get Remembered, but Legends Never Die: A UFC 168 Preview

Posted on December 27, 2013 by ALar

It all comes down to this, the cherry on top of the greatest year in the history of Mixed Martial Arts. After the Main Course that consisted of some of the greatest fights in history and some of the ‘old guard’ moving on, we get the tasty treat of the Michael Jordan of MMA attempting to cement his true legacy. There is no doubt that Anderson Silva’s loss at UFC 162 tarnished his unblemished record for some. The showboating, the cockiness, the acceptance of failure after the fight did not endear the athlete to many that populate the MMA Universe.

On Saturday night, Anderson Silva will look to regain his perceived cage fighting genius against Champion Chris Weidman (Still weird to say that…). Weidman may not possess the physical gifts that allowed Silva to go unbeaten for nearly seven years, but I’ll be damned if that guy doesn’t have a story to tell. From the injuries, to the hurricanes, to the Rocky-esque ascension to Champion, the kid is a feel-good tale on all accounts. Though, most of the MMA blogosphere feels that Weidman’s surprising July win over Silva lacks legitimacy. The common belief is that Silva simply got caught and was showboating too much. The Internet trend is to predict that in the rematch the Spider will regain his gold. That is one thought, but I may believe something vastly different… Did I mention Ronda freakin’ Rousey was fighting on this card too? On to the preview!

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Posted in Commentary, MMA, Opinion, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

The 2nd Annual Moai Martial Arts Year-End MMA Awards!

Posted on December 24, 2013 by ALar

Hosted by none other than your favorite MMA blogger, Alar.

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What a year it was!

Sitting here on the couch, I flipped the dial over to FOX Sports 1 and found that UFC Tonight was counting down the ’50 Best UFC Moments’ of the year. I thought to myself, what better time could there be to pen a year-end wrap up blog? First, we will take a look back at the ‘Bold Predictions’ I made to close out 2012 and see how awfully wrong I was about the sport that we know and love. Next, I’ll hand out some of those coveted M.M.A. MMA awards! You know the typical stuff, Fight of the Year, Fighter of the Year, etc. Last, I will make some ‘Bold Predictions’ for 2014 and beyond! Let’s get it on!

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Posted in Commentary, MMA, Opinion | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments