The Rise and ?Fall? of Kyokushinkai

[Shinobi_Kokujin]

source: Journal of Martial science:


many people have heard of Kyokushinkai's founder Mas Oyama, a legend who challenged and defeated artists from around the world who represented many different styles.

one notable fighter that Oyama went up against was a Muay Thai fighter known as the invincible "black cobra" in 1954 at lumpinee stadium, bangkok.

Oyama defeated him with an elbow strike followed up with a triple aerial kick. but he later said in an interview that it was a very close fight.

in 1964, Oyama's senior disciple, Kurosaki. took a team of 3 karateka to challenge the Thai boxers again at lumpinee stadium. the Karate team won 2 out of 3 bouts. but the ringleader Kurosaki got KOed in the first round with an elbow strike by a Thai middleweight.


that fight changed his life and Kurosaki gave up Karate and trainned in Muay Thai, he became the father of Japanese kickboxing.

people like Kurosaki, Yoshiji Soeno another kyokushin legend, and Oyama were some of the Karateka who were bold enough to challenge the strongest muay thai fighters.

they along with the Thai legends such as black cobra is where you get the characters Ryu and Sagat from the street fighter game series.

Yoshiiji Soeno and Oyama came the template for Ryu while Sagat was based off of Black Cobra. (in addition Ken is modeled off of He-man and Karate legend Joe Lewis)


[IMG][/IMG]






in 1974, soon after the 5th All Japan Open, Yoshiji Soeno, the "Tiger of Kyokushin" (paired with the equally famous Terutomo Yamazaki, known as the "Dragon of Kyokushin") decided to follow in the footsteps of Mas Oyama. With the blessing of Sosai Oyama, he went on a solo mission to Thailand to re-determine which is the ultimate striking art on Earth - Karate or Muaythai?

Soeno was tricked into loosing wieght by the fight promoter, he ended up fighting a middle wieght while he was a light wieght. Soeno almost got killed in that match but he won by using a Judo sacrifice throw on the Thai fighter an then knocking him out with an aerial roundhouse kick


this caught the attention of Reiba who was also known as the "Dark Lord of Muay Thai" it is said that he was stronger if not as as strong as the black cobra.

Soeno fought against Reiba's disciple who was known as the "Dark Warrior". Soeno defeated the Thai fighter with the same triple aerial attack that Oyama used on black cobra 20 years ago.

Reiba was shocked as well as the crowd that his disciple got beat so he challenged Soeno himself.

but Reiba's brother Daya also a thai boxer and a chief in the Thai mafia intervened and challenged Soeno. Daya fought using a technique known as
Pahuyuth which is animalistic an uses every part of the body as a weapon

after a very bloody match, Soeno won in the 4th round with a flying elbow to the top of Daya's head knocking him out instantly.

this really pissed off Reiba an he knew he was the only Muay Thai artist who could take on the Karate man. but unfortunately, Reiba was shot and killed by a Thai gangster who was part of a syndicate mob that ambushed him.

it is reported that not even all of the mob men could stop Reiba even though they had weapons and Reiba was empty handed.....but it was the bullet that killed him.

Soeno continued to win matches at lumpinee stadium but he always felt an empty void because he never got to fight the "Dark Lord of Muay Thai" an see what the outcome would be.

[Shinobi_Kokujin]

1975 was the year that Kyokushin had the 1st World Open tournament which featured challengers from all over the world representing all kinds of fighting arts.

all the challengers from the other styles were blown away. kyokushin fighter Sato became the Champion.

2nd runner up Ninomiya, the founder of Enshin Karate
In that period other first generation disciples of Oyama also went out to challenge the best of the rest

(including Muaythai, Kickboxing & Kungfu) & achieved awe-inspiring results. Kyokushin at that time was indeed the strongest karate on Earth, the ultimate striking art.

In the 80s, Kyokushin started to close its doors to challengers, and it no longer sent fighters out there to challenge other styles. The later generation Karateka seemed content to rest easy on the fruits of the success & dominion left by their brave predecessors.


Kyokushin turned inward, focusing only on its own tournaments and its own rules, so much so the whole style started to revolve around the tournament system of fighting.


They were becoming in the words of Bruce Lee, "fixed to a pattern" of doing things. As a result, certain obvious flaws started to surface in the Kyokushin style, and when dissenting views was not accepted, cracks in the organization became inevitable.


Off-shoots or sub-styles (like Ashihara, Shidokan, Daidojuku) started to form out of Kyokushin. Their differences were not only in combat efficiency, but many were also politically & financially motivated.


One of Kyokushin's weakness stem from its tournment rule that disallowed punching to the face. While the first generation fighters had to learn to defend their head because they challenged other styles, the later generation who focus only on their own tournaments completely ignored this important aspect of striking.


In the tournaments they could stand close to their opponent and throw continuous low kicks without having to worry about an opponent punching them on their exposed face. This rule created a false sense of security in its fighters, & as it became a fixed pattern, they don't expect others out there to do otherwise either.


Even Shokei Matsui, the chosen heir of Mas Oyama displayed such a weakness when he faced an Indian fighter in the 3rd World Open (1984) who flouted this rule repeatedly - he was punched in the face & brought down several times.

Even though Matsui won the bout because the Indian was disqualifiied, one cannot help but wonder - what if it was a real fight? Would the outcome still remain unchanged?


Another weakness of the Kyokushin style is its banning of all aspects of grappling in their tournaments. In UFC 1, the first Kyokushin fighter to experience this was Gerard Gordeau.

To his credit his karate skills were strong enough to defeat opponents bigger than him, bringing him to the finals. However that winning streak ended immediately when he faced the then invincible master of Jujutsu, Royce Gracie.


Another of Kyokushin's significant weakness is its banning of all aspects of grappling from their tournment fighting, even stand-up grappling. While most of the first generation fighters had a high degree of training in Judo before they learned Karate, the same could not be said for the later generations.


Because in the past Judo in Japan was compulsary in school, that gave all Japanese fighters of old some experience on grappling more or less. Furthermore in the past, the rules on grappling was much relaxed, such that throws & take-downs could be seen quite often in early Kyokushin tournaments.


But as time passed, to protect the later generation Japanese fighters who weren't as good in grappling from the heavyweight foreigners who were using grabbing to their advantage, the rules became very strict. That ensured that the Japanese keep their winning edge, but it also made the Kyokushin style less & less resistant against grapplers.


And it is worse for those foreigners who learn Kyokushin fresh, without any prior grappling experience. The first foreign Kyokushin stylist to learn this the hard way was Gerard Gordeau, a Dutch Karateka,


when he faced the then invincible Royce Gracie in the UFC 1 Final. He was impressive all the way until he met Royce the master grappler. Although Gerard had some fighting experience against other lesser grapplers, but against Royce he was took down and choked from the rear before he had a chance to throw a single blow

[Shinobi_Kokujin]

Flash forward to the development of the K-1 fights. premier tournament of the heavy strikers.

two of Kyokushin's best heavyweight Karateka, Andy Hug & Francisco Filho. Although both of them started shakily due to weak boxing skills, they eventually adjusted to the K1 rules & went on to become World Champions in different years. In the case of Andy Hug, who left Kyokushin to join its off-shoot Seidokan (also the Organizer of K1),

he trained intensively in Muaythai & Kickboxing in order to correct the weakness in his Karate skills. Even so, he had never given up his identity as a Karateka, Kyokushin or otherwise. As for Filho, he also had to put in a lot of effort to practice boxing.


Without these additional training, both could not hope to do well in K1 with only their Karate. This tells us that even the best in Karate concede to being disadvantaged by the conventional Kyokushin system


After Andy Hug and Francisco Filho, Kyokushin had a new hope in Nicholas Pettas, who was one of the last closed door students of Oyama. Although his boxing skill was inadequate (just as Andy & Filho were in the beginning fighting K1 - a general weakness of the Kyokushin style), his superb kicks cut down many strong opponents in K1, finally becoming Champion in Year 2001.


In K1 Survival (6/2/2002) bout against Sergei Guru, Pettas was in great form as usual, dominating the initial round with his axe kicks & low kicks. Then tragedy struck.

In the 2nd round, when Pettas threw a powerful right low kick to Sergei's leg, he ended up breaking his own shin bone in a freak accident

was his days as a fighter over? fortunately....no Pettas currently coaches and runs a dojo, has starred in dozens of martial arts films

and made a comeback to K-1 as recent as 2007.


some other fighters with a Kyokushin background who bring/ have brought the heat to the ring are:

GSP
Rory Markham
Bas Rutten.

[JackG]

cool article , but however much I respect kyokushin fighters taking on a mob of the thai mafia single handedly only to get stopped by a bullet ...

[Shinobi_Kokujin]

it was the Thai boxer Daya who took on the mob

[47MartialMan]

Any of these martial artists from this style in the UFC?

[Torre]

GSP, I think.

[Them's Fighting Words]

Interesting and informative post. +Rep. Kyokushin guys I've trained with are brutal compared to most other Karate guys. Used to play "dead leg" with one Kyokushin guy. His low leg kicks were every bit as effective and MT.

[Shinobi_Kokujin]

Originally Posted by 47MartialMan

Any of these martial artists from this style in the UFC?

GSP is a UFC welterweight champ and blends his Kyokushinkai with Bjj, wrestling and boxing

Rory Marham is an up an coming UFC fighter who blends his Kyokushin with the styles of his MMA school which include boxing, kickboxing,jiujitsu,judo, wrestling, and muay thai

and Bas Rutten a former UFC champ blends his Kyokushin with TKD, muay thai, and pancrase.

though i havent seen someone who just does pure Kyokushin in recent UFCs