Any one want to get behind me on this?

Question

Remember actual "kickboxing"? Remember Chuck Norris actually fighting in ring with pads on his feet and boxing gloves on his hands fighting for a title shot back in the early 1980's? What ever happened to that old style? As a MMA coach it sure does get boring watching a bunch of kids throw each other to the ground and street fight in a cage. Where did IKA Kickboxing go? None of this shin bone contact c**p, but actually using the pad on the top of the foot or a thrust kick to kick with the old timers did it. The kicks and the style it's self was so much more fancier when it came to a solid technique. What ever happened to that? Only you older fellas know what I'm talking about. Did we completely lose such a beautiful sport to modern day c**p? Remember the long "Gi" styled pants in the ring with the old stripe? What happened to "real Kickboxing'? I don't want to hear any, "Well it's more like this now" c**p either. What happened to real Kickboxing?

Answer 1

You really wanna know what happened?

Professional wrestling.  Culturally, we have become more and more "bloodthirsty," so to speak, and the more actual contact, and the more, for lack of a better term, "brutal" our sports become, the more we watch.  Therefore most things with substance and style, such as "old-school" kickboxing disappear and things like UFC rise up to quench our thirst for conflict.

Yep.

Answer 2

It's still going on buddy.  Its not over you just arent looking hard enough.  Ive seen it everywhere.  Its just not as popular cause no one likes kickboxing anymore.  I know what you mean to by saying what happened to real kickboxing.  That stuff was exciting.  But hey its a new era and people just dont like it anymore

Answer 3

No way, I disagree.  Kickboxing is just a lame version of Muay Thai.  And Muay Thai only covers half of what you need to know in a fight.  Why would you want to focus on a sport that doesn't incorporate knees, elbows, and takedowns, when you know that guys on the street are going to be using knees, elbows, and takedowns?

Answer 4

I remember those full contact bouts well, especially the Bill "Super foot" Wallace ones. As with all other events that don't attract large crowds or pay it's fighters large sums of money they get swallowed up into obscurity by more trendy, money generating events.

It takes money to make money and to keep a sport alive today. The full contact promoters and others talked about big and better things for full contact fighting but never backed their talk with money.

The mixed martial arts people did., and it paid off big. hopefully the full contact lovers of today who are in positions to reintroduce this style of fighting again will put their money where their mouth is.

Chuck Norris had the idea first of a fight league( full Contact) but the MMA people beat him to it because they put the money up and created the IFL.

The art  of fighting can Only be appreciated by true Martial artist's like us and not Brawlers who fight for big pay checks.

Answer 5

As someone has said kickboxing is still around just not as popular.  Organizations like the ISKA, KICK, etc still hold cards you just don't see them on cable as much since they have been largely displaced by other sports.  There is a pretty strong push on to get it into the Olympics and it does have a legitimate chance for that in 2012.  Chuck Norris has the World Combat League going which is very similar to full contact kick boxing and sport karate mixed into one.  The matches are very short so there is plenty of action, fighters lose points for not being aggressive enough and knockouts score extra points.  You also see many good techniques like what you mention executed with speed and power since it is not light to medium contact as in sport karate and is a nice change from watching MMA which I also enjoy.  Check it out on cable television or their web site which I have left below.

http://www.worldcombatleague.com/

Answer 6

70's and 80's style kickboxing was a beautiful sport. But thats just what it is: A sport. MMA tries to simulate a FIGHT as closely as possible without including techniques that pose a rediculous amount of danger to fighters. Grappling (Kids throwing each other to the ground) ensues so much these days because that is what is truly effective in a fight. Why would you want to risk recieving a roundhouse kick when you could do a double leg takedown, mount your opponent, and beat him into submission?

Kick boxing is still out there, but a pure kickboxer (one with no interest in going to the ground) has no place in the octagon against a modern MMA fighter.

Answer 7

It's still around brother. Just not here. You want some real kickboxing, they got rings every few blocks in Thailand. h**l everyone fights not just the pros. Fun stuff to watch.

Answer 8

Someone hit too hard and they got sued. It happens to the best of us in every aspect. I'm glad I graduated high school before the damage of watered-down lesson plans coudl be done.

Answer 9

Your yahoo 'question' sounds more like a rant.

What you're talking about is Karate not Kickboxing.  Kickboxing is a generic term and doesn't describe Karate.   American Kickboxing does not use a gi.  Also Chuck Norris participated in Karate tournaments.  I've never seen him fight since he stopped participating in the early 70's (not 80's) and I don't know what system they used at the time but it could be one of two things.  Full pads or 'knockdown karate.'

I've seen karate tournaments back in the 90's and the fights were finicky-looking at best.  This was the full pad fights, mind you.  Depending on the fighter (which was a lot of them) you'd see one guy, or both, bouncing back and forth on their feet.  I know it helps set up a quick snap kick but it made a mess of the fight.  And the boxing is atrocious as what I can describe as who can slap their opponent faster without getting hit back.  I hated this system.

Last I checked the style of Karate is pretty timeless.  There are some changes in different schools but the style is still there.  Same kicks and same punches.  So what is this 'old style?'  Unless you're talking about the tournaments as you described would be knockdown karate.  It's still around.  Like the other people have said it's not as popular as MMA hence you don't see it as much.

If you're a MMA coach why would you describe a MMA fight as 'kids' throwing each other to the ground and as a street fight in a cage?  MMA fights also take place in a ring (and just recently also a yamma pit....).  I don't know what you're teaching but styles such as jiu-jitsu, wrestling, judo, or sambo even cannot be loosely described as 'throwing each other to the ground.'  Each martial art has its intricacies and deserves more respect because that's what these 'kids' in MMA are learning.  And they're learning it because karate alone is not as superior as you think.

Answer 10

The ISKA still does it, but it is so unpopular, you never hear about it anymore.

The closest you get to it today (as far as actual promotion) is the IFL and WCL (Chuck's org. is so much more fun to watch).  While the WCL does allow some muay thai, knees and elbows are rare because of the intensity required by the rules.