This week in martial arts October 2020 week 1
UFC 253 took place on Saturday, Sept. 26, 2020, on “Fight Island” between reigning middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya and Paulo Costa. Paulo Costa made it to the second round after a brutal leg beating for the majority of round one. Adesanya kept Costa’s left leg in check and left him finding it hard to make a strong stance to strike from. Beginning round 2 with another attack on the swollen leg of Costa, Costa had to start attempting retaliation but he was getting desperate and sloppy on his attacks. With 2:29 left in round 2, Adesanya opened Costa’s right eye with a left leg roundhouse. That rattled Costa hard and left him vulnerable for Adesanya’s obvious finish. At 1:11 left of round 2 Adesanya connected with a right-left combination to send Costa to the deck. The following flurry of unorthodox headshots on the ground lasted for 10 seconds until the referee stopped the match. It started as a patience game as Adesanya wore down Costa’s left lead leg and ended in a TKO letting Israel Adesanya retain his Middleweight title in this main event. Other fights on the card that night, Jan Blachowicz won over Dominic Reyes in a striking contest in the second round (04:36) as the Light-Heavyweight co-main. Flyweight Brandon Royval won over Kai Kara-France in round 2 (00:48) with submission only after both men being knocked down during the fight. The Women Bantamweight fight went to Decision with the judges scoring Ketlen Vieira the winner over Sijara Eubanks and the men’s Featherweight went to decision as well with Hakeem Dawodu getting the judges preference over Zubaira Tukhugov in a striking competition with only 1 takedown in the match.
Here was the final scorecard
Saenchai vs. Rodrigo Freitas
This was the first Muay That fight since January 2020. Saenchai is now 40 and still performing like he was many years ago. His class act in the ring and his confident demeanor make his presence set an intimidating tone. His main event on the ‘Thai Fight: New Normal fight card helped him show the world that age adds nothing but class to the Muay Thai world. This marked his 55th win in a row. His ability to read his opponent is second to none as he anticipates their every move. In the fight, we experienced the amazing abilities of Saenchai as he threads a knee past the hands of Freitas and a split second later his right elbow connects perfectly sending Freitas back on his heels in the chance to collect himself. A bevy of head kicks, sweeps, elbows, and his infamous CartWheel kick entertained us as he collected the win over the course of the fight.
67-year-old woman uses decades of martial arts experience to fight off intruder
Lorenza Marrujo is 67 years old. An intruder recently confronted Marrujo at her seniors apartment complex in Fontana, California. Not only did she protect herself, but she is a hero too — she also defended her neighbor.
“As he was coming towards me, I said, ‘back off.’ Right away,” Marrujo said.
Marrujo has 26 years of martial arts training. She definitely wasn't afraid of the man so when she told him to step back, he listened. Eventually, made his way to the apartment of 81-year-old Elizabeth McCray, who was Marrujo’s neighbor.
“He grabbed me and shook me, and I went down on the floor,” McCray said.
“I squeezed myself between her and him. I put mama on the side, and I jumped on him, and I was punching him and everything,” Marrujo said. “And I had the cane against his throat.”
“He lifted up and tried to twist my hand. At the same time, I twisted his and turned it around real fast,” Marrujo said. “And he was saying, ‘you’re hurting me, you’re hurting me.’ And I said, ‘I don’t care. I don’t care what happens to you. You had no right to hurt an elderly person.’”
The police eventually came and arrested the intruder.
Cobra Kai
You might have seen the show Cobra Kai already. If you have, you might have noticed an Easter egg on the show, paying homage to an Okinawa Karate master. In Daniel’s dojo, we saw a picture of Master Miyagi, Chojun, Creator of Goju Ryu. This makes you think if Miyagi-Do was Hollywood’s Goju Ryu. Seiunchin kata is performed many times, though I think the crew only really knows the first ½ as that’s all we see.
Karate by Jesse actually has a really great video on this theory and explains on it at length.
Side note: Season 3 of Cobra Kai will release Fri Jan 8 on Netflix
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