http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoji_Horiguchi
"Karate, boxing, shooto" is what it says.
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=7chgTABiRW8
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_Zsgh1TgOI
This plus six months sprawl training what do
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yf7JH9f3l5E
Ogami Itto - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoji_Horiguchi
"Karate, boxing, shooto" is what it says.
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=7chgTABiRW8
yeah, that doesnt really help though. ;)
What style of karate? Im guessing he is not Kyokushin/FC but a point/traditional style judging by the way he darts in and out and he's modified it for MMA.
He's the best prospect out of Japan for a while esp starting in the UFC while still relatively young.
I think there is some similarity to point karate and judo to how the emaphasis is on the first strike/throw and disregarding what happens after. In judo, this often leads to losing position after the throw because its the throw that matters although the throw is done with full strengh and does not hold back to point karate for example.
But with every emphasis, becomes a stength in that area.
Btw, believe Horiguchi trains with Kid and Killer Bees? Seems he's got all the right aspects:
Athleticism, footwork, leaping ability from karate.
Striking power as well.
Wrestling training with Kid and KBs.
And he has seemingly made the transition to MMA early enough and getting climatized to the UFC early enough.
Yes.
lol, Wasa, this article he says "My is 100% karate" - but he doesn't say WHICH ONE!
http://fightland.vice.com/blog/japans-karate-kid-kyoji-horiguchi
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOX-IgyGKkM
Wait, around the 2:00 minute mark he says "The type of karate I did was called sports karate" and then they show him doing point sparring. So, shotokan or similar with point fighting emphasis? Maybe even TKD?
Oh, shit, they're a FL episode, sweet!
He talks about karate in that vid a lot actually.
"Compared to KB or boxing, i make my move from 1 step further away, that makes my different."
They showed a clip of him in his karate days in comp, it looked to be point but they were wearing face masks. Def not Kyokushin or the like as expected.
Yes, there is some value, but that doesn't mean you should train Karate to become an MMA fighter.
Before you can start in Karate point fighting, you would have to devote time in learning kata's to achieve gradings. I believe belt color is parallel to competition's, so you must achieve a specific belt color before competing. That takes effort and time away from your schedule.
Although point karate offers benefits (movement, speed, defensive awareness, timing) it's not realistic. The first clean strike causes action to stop. This doesn't help your instincts.
It's a helpful drill at best imo.
Interesting he talks about the lack of head coaches in JMMA....there is def something broken there while they are still doing really well or relatively in judo, karate, KB, boxing, wrestling.
Japan has more world champs in boxing than the Phillipines. They have a good wrestling history. The KB scene and full contact karate scene is alive and well, 2 of the best FWs in Glory are Japanese. WTF happened to JMMA?
Donoghue88 - Yes, there is some value, but that doesn't mean you should train Karate to become an MMA fighter.
Before you can start in Karate point fighting, you would have to devote time in learning kata's to achieve gradings. I believe belt color is parallel to competition's, so you must achieve a specific belt color before competing. That takes effort and time away from your schedule.
Although point karate offers benefits (movement, speed, defensive awareness, timing) it's not realistic. The first clean strike causes action to stop. This doesn't help your instincts.
It's a helpful drill at best imo.
Yeah, i dont think anyone is saying they should devote a lot of time to the overall point karate type programs and lke you said, some of the aspects can be incorporated for drilling for MMA and even KB.
I still think the range thing is the biggest benefit but like you said and like i compared with judo, the habits of stopping once you hit the target has to be trained around. Horiguchi seems to have the right idea and seems to be one of the first Japanese point karate guys to make a good transition to MMA.
Most karate guys in KB or MMA are usu from Kyokushin and the FC styles iirc.
Wasa-B - Interesting he talks about the lack of head coaches in JMMA....there is def something broken there while they are still doing really well or relatively in judo, karate, KB, boxing, wrestling.
Japan has more world champs in boxing than the Phillipines. They have a good wrestling history. The KB scene and full contact karate scene is alive and well, 2 of the best FWs in Glory are Japanese. WTF happened to JMMA?
Well, is he talking about JMMA or Japanese martial arts in general? In traditional Japanese teaching of any art, including martial arts, the emphasis is on the students figuring things out for themselves. So the traditional pedagogy is teacher provides model, student copies, student asks teacher questions and tries to absorb teaching, but otherwise has to do things himself. It's a Zen thing, in part. Is that what he meant? As opposed to a western coach that does more programming of his athlete.
"Before you can start in Karate point fighting, you would have to devote time in learning kata's to achieve gradings."
I don't think so. I'm sure it depends on but everyone spars at the appropriate level.
The ability to read a fight is very significant, the timing, distance and ability to control the rhythm and set things up is brilliant too.
I did a lot of that style from 12-15 before moving to full contact more manlier sports such as mma, muay thai and K1 rulings and found i had significant ability over my opponents in those areas.
Personally i find being able to evade and set your opponent up for a trap to be the most useful.
It's nothing without other styles being implimented however, it's not practical outside of its strict rules. 
Sub'd for later 
Darth_Vladar - The ability to read a fight is very significant, the timing, distance and ability to control the rhythm and set things up is brilliant too.
I did a lot of that style from 12-15 before moving to full contact more manlier sports such as mma, muay thai and K1 rulings and found i had significant ability over my opponents in those areas.
Personally i find being able to evade and set your opponent up for a trap to be the most useful.
It's nothing without other styles being implimented however, it's not practical outside of its strict rules.
Good post dude. makes sense. Thats MMA. Taking the best part of something and applying to the core fundamentals of what's been established to work in MMA.
With guys like Machida, Wonder boy and Horiguchi, win or lose, it makes the game more interesting too with different styles to watch.
I dont think there is any coicedence that guys like Anderson and Pettis have TKD elements. THere is a lot more openess and creativity in their game. But then again, a guy like Saenchai made me rethink what i thought i knew about MT (which isnt to say very much that i know... but...).