Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Fightland: JOANNA CHAMPION'S STRIKING CLINIC

 

 

Joanna Champion's Muay Thai pedigree has been prattled on about at great length in the media, but fighters with a ton of accolades in Muay Thai and kickboxing have often looked nothing like quality strikers in MMA. Often guys have excelled in the clinch and with long kicks in Muay Thai, and when they come to MMA and meet quality grapplers, they can't risk using either of those weapons. 

 

 

We were discussing Joanna's loss to Duannapa Mor. Rattana Bundit at World Muay Thai Angels in another thread and how styles, rules and judging make fights.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

She's not scared of someone shooting in on her, that's why her striking excels. Similar to Jose Aldo, although he doesn't have a background in striking, his striking is better than most mma guys, his take-down defence is so good that he can throw whatever he likes without worrying.

I think JWP spoke about this before, when he trained sparred mma his striking was crap, he was scared to throw anything. Though I wonder what it would've been like if he wasn't scared - just had a f*ck it mentality, you can try take me down, but I'ma land a few too; although this can only take you so far until you need some solid grappling skills.

So in my opinion it comes from confidence and grappling skills, I think Jessica was scared of getting hit by Joanna and Joanna wasn't scared of anything.

PS. I wrote that before I read it 'cause I already had an opinion on it, after reading it this guy said some stupid sh*t 'In kickboxing, the body jab is almost worthless.'   I don't think it's useless at all lol, I've seen it used in the exactly the same way he's described its use for mma.

' she has opted for the Fedor Emelianenko kick,' I know people like to refer to kicks punches and sh*t like they belong to someone, but in reality this is used so much in kickboxing/thai/mma it's just a variation, and I read a post stating, there's no right way to throw a leg kick; it's correct because it depends what you're trying to achieve with it.

He also criticises her for dropping her hands to sprawl in case someone throws a boxing combo after, and to be honest, as she wants to strike she probably would like someone to throw a boxing combo, perfect opportunity for a solid kick counter. 

I know I'm being a boner about it but I struggled reading that article, truly painful in some sections.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

She has opted for the Fedor Emelianenko kick,' I know people like to refer to kicks punches and sh*t like they belong to someone, but in reality this is used so much in kickboxing/thai/mma it's just a variation, and I read a post stating, there's no right way to throw a leg kick; it's correct because it depends what you're trying to achieve with it.

 

I think Jack Slack is kind of awesome, some of the best MMA writing in general. He draws from lots of historical source, puts things in wide context, etc. But his treatment of Joanna is a little over the top. I think UFC people are kind of drunk on her success, a lot of it coming from her fighting somewhat physically smaller opponents without much striking skill. I'll completely agree that the Fedor kick analysis was an example of this over analysis:

"Jedrzejczyk has to consider that a caught low kick, even perfectly landed, is bad news for her. Consequently she has opted for the Fedor Emelianenko kick, almost upwards and forwards more than it is about turning the hip over."

The impression he gives is that she had some how adopted this kick as some kind of MMA compromise to avoid being taken down. But this is the same same kick she used, very ineffectively, against Duannapa in Thailand, in a Muay Thai fight. She's a low-kicker, she's not avoiding the takedown by adopting a special kick.

I don't know, people get carried away.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Haha yeah I feel USA is kinda getting into a Joanna-hype, but I'm sooo happy for her, that she has her time to shine! 

She puts a lot of hard work into it, so I'm totally up for letting her enjoy the Joanna-Champion-hype. The article was okay for me, good read, with lots of references, but in the end only she and her team know her real abilities and work on them. 

I'm happy and proud that a small girl from a small city in Poland has such a big fist and big personality, that she can make UFC and the US-American fans worship her :D :D

I'm also looking forward to her history in the UFC and how far she will take it.. But for now, I hope she enjoys this moment of stardom to the fullest!

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Haha yeah I feel USA is kinda getting into a Joanna-hype, but I'm sooo happy for her, that she has her time to shine! 

 

Do completely agree, great to see. Everyone expected JoJo to be the Muay Thai breakthough fighter. I was really pulling for her, loved her attitude in the house, admittedly a highly edited version of reality. In a strange way Joanna has become the anti-JoJo, fulfilling the promise. I wonder if they will ever fight? Jojo's strength appears to be knee fighting and it's unsure if Joanna Champion can defend that. But Jojo seems a very forwards and back fighter, something Joanna might eat up. Still, a fight I've love to see one day, if only for the world of female Muay Thai.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Joanna's style is much more aggressive than JoJo's, as far as I have seen it. So I think she will deal with knees and with everything that JoJo might want to throw at her. I also liked JoJo in the house, but I heard Joanna talking about JoJo having some private stuff to deal with during the UFC Fight Night Cracow, and it seemed like she was concerned for her, so maybe they are friends?

At this moment, I don't see anyone in the strawweight division who might have what it takes to beat her in the Octagon. She will have a perfect game plan ready and will stick to it - this is what I'm amazed at, she really sticks to the game plan.

But I really love hearing and watching videos of other fighters react to her. The straw-weight division seems also split - some think she's one-dimensional, some think she's great. Sooo...I think the UFC strawweights should lift their training to a whole new level, if they want to be Joanna-ready. They are amazing athletes anyway and I'm happy that WMMA is becoming a choice of proffesion for young girls who are into martial arts! :) So many great athletes to look up to!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I heard Joanna talking about JoJo having some private stuff to deal with during the UFC Fight Night Cracow...

 

I think I had read that two things had happened. The first that Jojo had been in a romantic relationship with her trainer for a long time, and that this ended. And also that Jojo had experienced something that sounded inappropriate during her training camp just before Cracow. This is just from memory, not sure I got all that right.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think I had read that two things had happened. The first that Jojo had been in a romantic relationship with her trainer for a long time, and that this ended. And also that Jojo had experienced something that sounded inappropriate during her training camp just before Cracow. This is just from memory, not sure I got all that right.

I stumbled across this MMA Hour with JoJo just now, where she talks about it. 

I don't know how to embed videos, so here's the link

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Kevin, why is it political? I don't quite get it :( I get that it's funny, but why political?

 

To me it is done in the aesthetic of political cartoons. But I also think it has a political tinge in that westerners, and I am one, see all those constants and just give up, but it's asking for kind of humanization, treating her as a person. What is ironic about it is that she's depicted as a non-person, a robot, which is how UFC fans try to depict her, describing her in extra-human or sub-human terms: a force of nature, a beast, so technical, a machine. Fight fantasy has a whole sci-fi, geekdom feel about it, nerdy dudes buying PPV, and in video game mode mentally. It's funny, and meaningful, to ask that people spell your name right. But hey, that's what came to mind for me. I think it's brilliant.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Most Recent Topics

  • Latest Comments

    • The Three Great Maledictions on Desire I've studied Deleuze and Guattari for many years now, but this lecture on the Body Without Organs is really one of the the most clarifying, especially because he leaves the terminology behind, or rather shifts playfully and experimentally between terms, letting the light shine through. This is related to the continuity within High level traditional Muay Thai, and the avoidance of the culminating knock-out moment, the skating through, the ease and persistence. (You would need a background in Philosophy, and probably this particular Continental thought to get something more out of this.)   And we saw on previous occasions that the three great betrayals, the three maledictions on desire are: to relate desire to lack; to relate desire to pleasure, or to the orgasm – see [Wilhelm] Reich, fatal error; or to relate desire to enjoyment [jouissance]. The three theses are connected. To put lack into desire is to completely misrecognize the process. Once you have put lack into desire, you will only be able to measure the apparent fulfilments of desire with pleasure. Therefore, the reference to pleasure follows directly from desire-lack; and you can only relate it to a transcendence which is that of impossible enjoyment referring to castration and the split subject. That is to say that these three propositions form the same soiling of desire, the same way of cursing desire. On the other hand, desire and the body without organs at the limit are the same thing, for the simple reason that the body without organs is the plane of consistency, the field of immanence of desire taken as process. This plane of consistency is beaten back down, prevented from functioning by the strata. Hence terminologically, I oppose – but once again if you can find better words, I’m not attached to these –, I oppose plane of consistency and the strata which precisely prevent desire from discovering its plane of consistency, and which will proceed to orient desire around lack, pleasure, and enjoyment, that is to say, they will form the repressive mystification of desire. So, if I continue to spread everything out on the same plane, I say let’s look for examples where desire does indeed appear as a process unfolding itself on the body without organs taken as field of immanence or of consistency of desire. And here we could place the ancient Chinese warrior; and again, it is we Westerners who interpret the sexual practices of the ancient Chinese and Taoist Chinese, in any case, as a delay of enjoyment. You have to be a filthy European to understand Taoist techniques like that. It is, on the contrary, the extraction of desire from its pseudo-finality of pleasure in order to discover the immanence proper to desire in its belonging to a field of consistency. It is not at all to delay enjoyment.   This is not unrelated to the Cowardice of the Knockout piece I wrote:  
    • This is very beautiful, listen with the sound on. I'm not sure she understood what he meant in the beginning, "take me for a walk", but just watching him teach and talk. So much beauty.    
    • Wow, Dangkongfah "moo deng" (as they call her) won again. It fits a beautiful way.   Always enjoy watching her fight. Such an interesting fighter, we know her so well. Her opponent fought valiantly, trying to solve Dangkongfah's frustratingly minimalist style, but it wasn't enough. Dangkongfah won an important, decisive exchange in the 4th that locked up the narrative win, and then coasted to close femeu in the 5th, what she's so good at, retreating and nullifying. It's very nice to see Patong stadium reffing and judging in the traditional style, holding the line against Entertainment Muay Thai. A very well reffed fight. The promotion looks so solid, right in the middle of Phuket's Muay Thai scene. Very cool. This was a great test-case fight for those kinds of differences. Two fights in a row (at least) down in Pkuket, I wonder if Dangkongfah has moved down there to live and train. If so, she'll have a substantive trad promotion to fight on regularly.
  • The Latest From Open Topics Forum

    • In my experience, 1 pair of gloves is fine (14oz in my case, so I can spar safely), just air them out between training (bag gloves definitely not necessary). Shinguards are a good idea, though gyms will always have them and lend them out- just more hygienic to have your own.  2 pairs of wraps, 2 shorts (I like the lightweight Raja ones for the heat), 1 pair of good road running trainers. Good gumshield and groin-protector, naturally. Every time I finish training, I bring everything into the shower (not gloves or shinnies, obviously) with me to clean off the (bucketsfull in my case) of sweat, but things dry off quickly here outside of the monsoon season.  One thing I have found I like is smallish, cotton briefs for training (less cloth, therefore sweaty wetness than boxers, etc.- bring underwear from home- decent, cotton stuff is strangely expensive here). Don't weigh yourself down too much. You might want to buy shorts or vests from the gym(s) as (useful) souvenirs. I recommend Action Zone and Keelapan, next door, in Bangkok (good selection and prices):  https://www.google.com/maps/place/Action+Zone/@13.7474264,100.5206774,17z/data=!4m14!1m7!3m6!1s0x30e29931ee397e41:0x4c8f06926c37408b!2sAction+Zone!8m2!3d13.7474212!4d100.5232523!16s%2Fg%2F1hm3_f5d2!3m5!1s0x30e29931ee397e41:0x4c8f06926c37408b!8m2!3d13.7474212!4d100.5232523!16s%2Fg%2F1hm3_f5d2?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MTAyOS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D
    • Hey! I totally get what you mean about pushing through—it can sometimes backfire, especially with mood swings and fatigue. Regarding repeated head blows and depression, there’s research showing a link, especially with conditions like CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy). More athletes are recognizing the importance of mental health alongside training. 
    • If you need a chill video editing app for Windows, check out Movavi Video Editor. It's super easy to use, perfect for beginners. You can cut, merge, and add effects without feeling lost. They’ve got loads of tutorials to help you out! I found some dope tips on clipping videos with Movavi. It lets you quickly cut parts of your video, so you can make your edits just how you want. Hit up their site to learn more about how to clip your screen on Windows and see how it all works.
    • Hi all, I am fortunate enough to have the opportunity to be traveling to Thailand soon for just over a month of traveling and training. I am a complete beginner and do not own any training gear. One of the first stops on my trip will be to explore Bangkok and purchase equipment. What should be on my list? Clearly, gloves, wraps, shorts and mouthguard are required. I would be grateful for some more insight e.g. should I buy bag gloves and sparring gloves, whether shin pads are worthwhile for a beginner, etc. I'm partiularly conscious of the heat and humidity, it would make sense to pack two pairs of running shoes, two sets of gloves, several handwraps and lots of shorts. Any nuggets of wisdom are most welcome. Thanks in advance for your contributions!   
    • Have you looked at venum elite 
  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      1.4k
    • Total Posts
      11.2k
×
×
  • Create New...