Martial Artists...Is Anyone else offended by the shows "Fight Quest" or "Human weapon"?

Question

The stars of the above listed shows train in a martial art for about a week then face off against masters of that art and try to win the fight. To me it's like saying "you may have trained in this art for 10 years but all that training means nothing cause I've been here for a week!" I just don't know how these guys even expect to have a chance at winning.

i.e.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=LP3kpm4FDZo

Answer 1

Not at all.

I understand your side of the story and agree that it's kinda silly for these guys to train for only a week in one place. There are times when the essence of each style can be missed by their training. I prefer to watch Mind Body and Kick A** Moves, as it's more of a documentary type, but I still enjoy the other two.

I think that they have a good thing going with these two shows and if they continue, maybe they could make the stay longer and really do some research into the lives of the practitioners and the heart of the system. Making a documentary style instead of a weekend training with a sparring match at the end.

No, these guys aren't that good either, and it's kinda too much a competition between the two shows. Look at the guys they spar against, they aren't really the best, and they are only going half power...But... the hosts don't seem to be disrespectful to the people they meet and that I think is a decent thing to do.

I would LOVE to be able to travel the world getting different insights from other ways of thinking, even if only for a week at a time.

Answer 2

I agree but most of the time it ends up looking like a freindly

sparring match. I saw one of the fight quest guys face off

against Ricco Rodrigez and it looked like Ricco was just

toying with him. If anyone took offense to it it would be the masters who obviously dont because it promotes their art, and they're are the ones setting up the fights.

Answer 3

I personally feel those guys make themselves up higher than their true skills.

Everyone they confront... if you notice their comments.... "these guys are masters of their art" about the Hapkido group, the krap maga group.

Everyone they fight is a master!!!

So what are they saying about themselves?... they fight MASTERS and sometimes win!!!

That is BS.

That's not saying much for the people they fight either!

Answer 4

I've never watched Human Weapon, but I have seen a few episodes of Fight Quest, and the impression that I got was not  that they actually expected to win their fights, but just that they wanted the experience of training in the style and sparring with someone who has trained for a long time.  I think they go into it knowing that there's no way for them to win, but it's about the experience.  The guys train hard for the week they're there, and I for one admire them for being willing to go up against these guys who have years training over them.  So no, I'm not offended by these shows, but I've gotten a different vibe from them than you have.

Answer 5

Not really. Jason Chambers, if you didnt know, was already a well rounded mixed martial artist. He even said he was going to use his jiu jitsu trining on him. He trained with Eddie Bravo. besides in that video the judo guy won. the only time they had a victory( off the top of my head) was Jason Chambers in his MMA match.

Answer 6

I am not offended at all by it, i actually think in a way it's good just because it exposes the world to different arts. I think all the UFC nuts(this is not directed at fans that actually have a clue, and some commen sense, or care enough to actually research different arts before slamming them) should be forced to watch it so they can see that there are many varied arts, most deadly in their own right.

I too have a slight problem with the I am there for a week and now I am going to fight one of your best. My guess is that the champions/good fighters from the styles take it semi easy on them. I also think that Bill Duff rely's too much on his size and power when he can't do the techniques correctly, and just overwhelms his opponents with his sheer size and strength.

Between the two I prefer Fight Quests format, where they break off and each trains with a seperate instructor, rather then traveling around picking up some here and some there.

I do find some of the more obscure arts, and the culture and history behind all of them facinating, but I wll garuntee you that almost all of  these people that recomend Kyokoshin karate (great style) as the best karate style first saw it on Human Weapon.

Good question.

Answer 7

When Human Weapon came out I was so excited somebody finally came out and did a show like this, I was ecstatic!  All in all the show was ok because the big guy really wasn't that talented to begin with but he tried, I can't begrudge him that.  I felt something in the show was lacking.

Fight Quest is much, much better and I think both the guys are awesome.  

As far as an attitude, I haven't seen any attitude other than respect from both shows.

What the one contributor said about these guys calling each other 'masters of their art' is RESPECTFUL.  They have the utmost respect for everybody they challenge.  That's more than I can say for the general American philosophy right now.  That's certainly not how we treat eachother.

As a life long martial artist of several different styles I'm very happy with the way Fight Quest is run and if anybody doesn't like it they should take a step back and try to give it another shot with an open mind.  =)

Answer 8

It doesnt offend me at all.  I enjoy both shows, but prefer human weapon.

It's not like the guys are white belts coming off the street.  

Doug - former military bodyguard and amateur boxer

Jimmy - competitive mixed martial artist

Jason Chambers - competitive mixed martial artist

Bill Duff - former pro football player and college wrestler

Interesting fact, Jimmy Smith has fought Jason Chambers in the cage (before the shows) and Smith submitted Chambers.

I think that all 4 guys are very respectful of their hosts and are competitive guys.  Most of the time they lose anyway.

James

Answer 9

I see your point but really they are just showing the world the variety of styles in fighting to let us see for ourselves how intense the training actually is, personally i believe when they confront the champion or person chosen by master i think the master will tell them to go easy on them really cause i mean for instance the Thai boxing one he didn't exactly unload the normal barrage of attacks on him. There point ain't exactly about just winning just like i said to let us see the fighting styles.

Answer 10

No, the stars in the show have already made it clear that that matches are just friendly sparring, their opponents don't go full force, they go about 60-70%

Answer 11

It is just another attempt by the TV producers to exploit something that has gotten very popular lately.  I see it in the same way as all these "Reality" shows. They are all set up from the start to cause friction between those nit wits that agree to make fools of themselves on national TV.

Answer 12

I look at it just the opposite - instead of making it look like I'm gonna come in and become a master in a week, it's a view of that even an experienced individual with a broad background can come in and just pick up a new style and expect to be a bad m**o... I think it shows a lot of respect and gives people a better look at the arts beyond karate and judo.

Answer 13

Quite often, the hosts of both Fight Quest and Human Weapon lose to the skilled practioners in the styles they have only studied for one week, which just goes to show how little a person can learn in just one week. If anything, Fight Quest and Human Weapon make MMA look inferior when the MMA fighting hosts lose matches to the skilled fighters in a particular style.  The show lets the viewers know that it takes quite a while to become proficient in a particular style. I think it promotes each style pretty well.

Answer 14

I think the show is a complete joke and I agree 100% that it is disrespectful to other martial arts. Just like you said, they go there for 5 days and they act like they should beat them. That idiot with the goatee is the worst. He always compliments himself when he does anything good against one of his opponents.

I think the show is a joke and I find it disrespectful. Pathetic.

Answer 15

As someone who trains in Krav Maga I was EXTREMELY excited to see Krav Maga on both programs. IMO the Fight Quest version was a much more interesting showing of the skills of Krav Maga. They really hurt those guys to show how balls to the wall Krav Maga is. I don't think they are talking down the martial arts that are exhibited on the show, in fact the entire time they are praising them. The ending fights are to show off what they have learned and demonstrate the effectiveness of each.

Answer 16

Do you go around looking for things to offend you?It is what it is .

The best shows of this type is DEADLY ARTS and LAST ONE STANDING.

In LAST ONE STANDING they took on some more obscure and unknown martial arts practiced by BRAZILLIAN AFRICAN and SOUTH SEA ISLAND tribes and a few ASIAN METHODS like MONGOL wrestling.

Most martial artists dont like this show as the only martial artist in the group a full contact kick boxer fared worst over all and a strong man power lifter did the best over all.

The technique was very unorthodox and fights were less than friendly as the local "champs" were upholding their tribes honor.Only half the episodes were about fighting the other half involved some nasty endurance tests.The strong man suffered on the endurance trials but made up for it in the fighting segments.

The ZULU stick fighting and the SILAT  episode were real nasty .

Answer 17

Reality has many viewpoints.  I believe the purpose of this show is to entertain first.  And the focus of the show is to introduce viewers to different forms of martial arts in a travelogue way.  And I think the show succeeds in it's focus.

I am disappointed with a strategy used by some of the "martial art instructors" in that it appears to me that in some of the episodes, Japanese and Malaysian in particular, the "guests" were over trained in the five day training period to the point of being injured just before their match.  Wear them out and damage the fighters before putting them into a ring with well rested experts is a way to stack the deck in your favor.  Not friendly, not fair, and not honorable.

Answer 18

yes it offends me a lot,  however i think the show is about giving more of an overview of the art, but yes i am offended