Our Guys Are Being Set Up 

I have watched the Fight Quest teaser and now a couple of hours of the show.  All I can say is that I’m happy that our combatants are “honored” to receive their training and to compete against the best fighters in each venue.  I guess in some cultures the honor is in the “win” at any cost – so hungry for attention and to “strut their  stuff”.

I was distinctly taken aback at the training given to the fighters in the Mas Oyama karate school.  Our guys fought nothing but their best black belts in training and competition, adhered to some strange rules more likened to Tae Kwon Do than Karate (no punches to the head area and non-stop body kicking).  It was ridiculous and so “not” like real fighting.  Of course they would be very tough at front kicks and chest punches – that’s almost their complete repertoire.  The trainees would never be screamed at and physically knocked around in the USA if here under similar circumstances.  And, just to put things in perspective – American fighters are probably the best in the world (properly trained).

The Kali was a joke as well.  One guy was promptly handed two oversized bastons which his wonderful teacher was kind enough to lop off for him.  Then he practiced a few sets of arrow cuts and he was ready to spar.  Needlessly they were thrown in against the toughest guys in the class to take a terrible beating again.  Teacher says: “I will be satisfied if they show the true warrior spirit”….right, they’ll need a lot of that since you certainly haven’t taught them as much as we cover in 1/2 of any Eskrima classes that I’ve attended.

After having been so thoroughly trashed by the local schoolmates, they head to the big event and it’s made very clear that they will be fighting the best and that none of them will allow any foreigner to best them at their native martial art.  You guessed it – bing -bang - boom!  But, when it came to the hand fight segment, our guy’s boxing carried things off in a new direction.  Using some smooth boxing they were able to rock a few fighters and inject some much needed life into their fighting spirit.  They definitely won the hand fights IMO.   We’ll check it out again next week and see if the next batch of “hosts” are a little more fair in matchups and if they offer much needed training.