Editorial

There is an intrinsic problem that exists in many forms of non-competitive, "self-defense" martial arts - mostly older martial arts styles, but can be applied to any martial art that does not contain or emphasize a competitive sports component.

At the time of the movie's release, many viewers came away confused at some of the parts and storylines of Ip Man 4, and thought that Ip Man 4 was an over-the-top action movie with an unrealistic storyline and cartoony villains.

It turns out it was much more than that, as we will explore, since Ip Man (and his star pupil Bruce Lee) were now on foreign soil, and the storyline sheds light on Bruce Lee's beginnings and his experiences in America.

This time around, everything the 'Ip Man' characters do in this movie didn't just represent Chinese / Asians back home anymore, but Chinese / Asian Americans (and history) as well.

Here is our analysis of the film's biggest themes, moments, and Asian-American history lessons to help better make sense of them for everyone.

Let's cut the crap and get right down to it - we hate fake martial arts teachers.

The reason why we're calling out fake martial arts teachers is because they promote unsafe training environments that could get their students seriously hurt or even killed, scam innocent people out of their hard earned money, and contribute to a cult-like culture that is scummy and predatory.

Not only do these fake martial arts teachers profit off of unsuspecting students, they ruin the legitimacy and image of real martial artists who practice their art seriously.

Here is our list of the top signs or traits of a fake martial arts teacher. If your teacher or some other teacher you know matches most of the signs on this list - run away - as they are most likely a fake!

The definition of a "McDojo" is a martial arts school that is solely established to make money instead of genuinely teaching martial arts.

Are you concerned that you, someone you know, or your child may be stepping into a McDojo to learn martial arts?

Read on to find out the top signs of a McDojo, and if your school has checked off the majority of these boxes, your school might very well be a McDojo!

In the world of martial arts, most of us were first exposed to it through movies and media - such as Kung Fu classics made by the Shaw Brothers' studios, Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, the Karate Kid movies, or some similar combination of the above.

The romanticized idea of martial arts was always presented to us more or less in a very classical way: Learn martial arts, defeat the bully, exact revenge on the bad guy, win the tournament, and become the hero.

To us, martial arts was about training as hard as you could, winning the most amount of competitions as you could (in forms or fighting, or both), becoming a tough, hardened bad ass with world class martial arts / fighting skills, and becoming the best version of yourself that you possibly could be in the process.

Former Two-Division UFC Champion Georges St-Pierre, the definition of a model martial artist and champion.

The mindset of a true martial artist was to continue to train for life as an eternal student to keep bettering oneself on the path of perfection (perfection of course, doesn't exist), and continue to seek new challenges, conquer new plateaus and reach ever new heights - as long as the body was able and the circumstances allowed it.

We had always thought this was the way of the warrior, and the "hardcore" path that everyone took to mastering their martial arts.

Then we realized, we were in the minority that held that mindset or belief.

We take a look at the Okinawan Karate techniques utilized in a world class competitive fighting environment, (ie. the Ultimate Fighting Championship / UFC), and mainly the only man who is able to make use of such techniques in former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion and UFC Middleweight contender, and current Bellator MMA contender, Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida.

We will breakdown the most important moves that the rest of the MMA world or new school fans unaccustomed to Karate will find "elusive" and "weird".