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Interesting to see the fundamental elements with each weapon.

A champion and friend has left for Vietnam. Our last battle was totally epic and a great sendoff! Train with Asians you lanky warrior and give me a rematch!

Savate + Fencing

So this is a traditional fencing balestra which is really just a hopping advance and then a lunge in quick succession. (& http://sworddueling.com/2009/08/12/the-balestra-quartata/). So what I’ve been calling a balestra isn’t one – ah, terminology.
What I’ve been doing is when leaping forward powering out with the leading leg, with a rising hip & the quad kicking, like skipping on air, out forward, gaining extra distance. It works best with backhand & rising cuts.

From a martial perspective, this video demonstrates how a stronger small opponent can control a lankier weaker opponent’s knife-arm at the elbow.
I’m also a bit of a relentless jerk during this video. Oops! Sorry.
The song is Quitter’s Raga.


This lunge is pretty good. Slo-mo at 10% speed is interesting. It lets me see the wasted motion in the knife/leg, during seconds 3-5. Needs work. The recovery however (stepping from low extended lunged leg passed the lead leg) is great.

Perfect soundtrack for a knife-vs-knife fight.

Formally trained guy in the white shirt, self-trained in the black. Pretty even match. It just goes to show that it’s not the martial art that counts, it’s the fighter performing it. Even if you practice the most bad-ass ancient tradition that was ever forged in the blood of enemies on the field of battle, in a lot of ways you’re on your own. An artist must develop his own voice.

(EDIT: Don’t get it twisted, though — I expect Mr. white to outstrip his opponent eventually. Formal training is a huge advantage if you can A) get your head right and B) find a teacher who’s the real deal. Neither one is easy. How does a beginner recognize a good teacher? When progress is slow, you have to take it on faith that you’re improving — how do you do that and keep from being a mindless follower? I don’t blame Mr. black for going it alone.

The fight between different philosophies here is so interesting that I kind of hope I’m wrong, and these two stay evenly matched, progressing at the same rate forever. I want to see Quenton get even more grounded in classical technique, and Vin get even more idiosyncratic.)

Song is Nlogax by Boards of Canada.