How to defend against TKD or Karate fighter?

You will have to clinch him if the fight is unavoidable, and when you do clinch him, work fast, because believe it or not, Karate has a lot of painful jointlocks you DO NOT want to be in in an actual fight. You will have to block any strikes using your Muay Thai, and when you can get close, your best chance is to clinch, and hope he's a tournament Karate fighter.

Against someone trained in Okinawan Karate, the traditional style whose emphasis is serious street fights, you stand no chance. They are trained to polish their techniques, and if necessary "fight dirty." Not only that, because Okinawan "tests of strength," although not frequent, are bare fisted, and either strikes or joint locks are allowed if it will "win" the match by proving superior skill and a stronger work ethic, that means that such an "ancient school" trained Karateka or TKD guy even, will really ruin your day.

However modern tournament Karate only allows strikes, and even then they are told to pull their punches. A few throws and trips are allowed in some tournaments but ultimately, its only the "safe" ones. See, an "ancient school" trained Karateka, will make full use of all the dangerous tactics, all the dangerous locks. The library of "stand up" grappling moves in Karate, believe it or not, is actually pretty extensive, so extensive that Gichin Funakoshi had to simplify it. In Shotokan Karate, you learn roughly half of what they originally taught in Okinawa, all across the board, including the grappling moves. See though, that is the reason you can't learn Karate from a book; sure, punches, kicks, and blocks, and even Kata, and you may even do them perfectly, however to learn how to grapple, you need a partner. There is no escaping that.

So anyway; tournament Karateka operate only about, maybe, 60% of Karate's striking arsenal, and probably only 10% of its grappling arsenal. Because of this 60% 10% limit placed on tourney Karateka, because they do not fight at near 100% like fighters in Thailand, or even MMA guys, and of course the Gracies, when they fight those people they always get embarassed. "Owned" if you will, although frankly "owned" I think is the most retarded slang ever devised but okay. Well, "owned" and "rad."

If they are a tournament Karateka or TKD, odds are they are used to fighting a pugilistic (striking) fight, and he is not prepared, nor well trained for, a clinch. See, a traditionally trained Karateka, emphasizing "street fights," has an armament of joint locks and throws they can use in a clinch. However, a tournament Karateka does not, however DON'T RISK IT. Don't test it, so if you do clinch him, work quickly, get to work quickly.

Muay Thai's main weakness is that it uses way too many power moves for its own good, so do not go into a striking match against that guy. You miss, you're screwed. It is best, if you work from the clinch.

Now this is assuming you can't talk things out, you can't get a third party to settle things, and you have no choice. If you don't have to fight, if it isn't a bully threatening your peace of mind while you go to school, or even your health, or if it isn't a thug then damn man, you don't need to do it. There are instances when a dude has a legitimate right to whup someone's @ss, there is no denying that.

Also, I offer this wisdom; tied in a knot, even a fancy move is worthless. Clinch the bully, and get to work on him, if you don't have a choice, but work fast, don't even give him time to breathe.

good luck, and try to avoid it if you can.

Well, what martial arts you do can't really tell who can hit harder, who's faster, has better eyes, can think more, or is more technical. But knowing something about the style really does help. The biggest advantage you have against those two styles might be clinching, but a lot of Karate fighters nowadays in tournaments like K-1 seems to use clinching and knee strikes so using elbows might be good too. TKD requires distance so closing in with those Muay Thai moves would be preferable, and never back up when they start kicking because you're only giving them more advantage. Depending on the style of Karate, some likes to fight in a very close range, and some prefers long range(Karate has more than one style so same logics doesn't always apply). Some newer Karate styles are mixing some MMA, and some teaches how to defend and fight against grapplers.

Quite honestly i am not doubting your word, cause in all probability the person probably told you that he was a black belt or whatever, however I agree with Shihan on this one, if he is a true Black Belt from a good school you would not have to worry unless you attacked him.

TKD and Traditional karate people are taught from the start that what they are learning is for self defnse only, never street fighting. Muay Thai is an excellent style, and I hope you stick with it, and maybe even try TKD or karate some day. Many people do nto realize that watching a good Okinawan karate-ka fight is very similiar to watching a Muay thai fighter.

I applaud you for not fighting, and really doubt if the person was a black belt.

I suggest you make friends with them and train together. You can all learn from each other and it's great to spar against different styles.

Against either style, you have to close the distance. I would suggest a takedown as well, but only if you know what to do on the ground.

Also, if you can catch a leg and knock down, or kick out the supporting leg, you can get some take downs that way as well.

I am a TKD guy. I would not fight unless I was competing, training, or defending myself or someone else.

What works best against me is to get in close to me where I can't use my kicks as well.

In taking MMA recently, and sparring "mma style", I have found out how much I really depend on my kicks. It's usually very effective, until I get taken down. It's really helping me to discover my own weaknesses and the weaknesses of my style, and then to learn techniques to shore up those weaknesses.

Good luck, and good job not fighting for pride and ego. You should remind the black belt of that if you have another confrontation.

James

practice your style for a few more decades. you haven't even began to train yet.

and if the guy was really a black belt you would have to worry unless you went after him a true black belt in karate would not start a fight, but he will finish it if he is any good

once you have your style down, study karate a tkd for a little while the best way to defeat your opponent is to know your opponent.

Edit> mortimer, few dozen kicks to the leg does not work on all karateka. and if you ever fight in japan you would know this. there are quite a lot of us it does not effect. but there are those who will also instantly fold from a strike to the leg, but not all.

Just keep in mind that many people who train in traditional karate will also be well versed in other traditional Japanese arts such as Aikido and Judo, and will also have at least some knowledge of pressure points.

How To Fight Karate

think about how you would defend agains mauy thai. if you can defend agains someone who has been trainign for as long as the black belt has been training then it shouldnt be a problem. but you should just try avoid the fight. remember most martial arts have very similar basics sure they might do it slightly different but its still almost the same.

oh come on if you do muay thai you will wrech the karate guy just kick him in the leg a few times and elbow him in the face, all he will be thinking about is his kats