[franz_grinder]

I recently wrote this article for my site. Give you a little history on guys like Liddell and Bas Rutten. Thought the Doggers might be interested as well.

"Karate is a traditional martial art developed in the Ryukyu Islands of Japan from indigenous fighting methods and Chinese Kenpo. Primarily a striking art, Karate utilizes punching, kicking, knees and elbows to disable an opponent. Some schools will practice groundwork, joint-locks and throws. In North America, Karate is widely misunderstood as a washed up art due to western practitioners gentrifying the grading system. A lot of illegitimate black belts opened shop all over the Americas in the latter part of the 20th century.

Karate has helped groom some of the most dynamic strikers we have in combat sports today. Here is a list of the most effective karate stylists or Karateka’s in Mixed Martial Arts."


rest of article here:

Top Ten Karate Fighters in MMA - Top Gun MMA

[Tim Chan]

i'd rank GSP and Bas over chuck, because they are somewhat more technical, while chuck relies more on being tough and hard to ko. but thats a fairly good list and everyone's bound to have different opinions. You can't disagree that Chuck's number 1 in terms of popularity. and it's hard to compare

[Island_Warrior]

I'd put Chuck at #4 or #5. Other than that, it is a good list. I never knew Gomi's style was Karate.

[NinjaKilla187]

Lyoto 1st for me since he is the only guy on the scene who not just trained traditional Karate, but actually makes semi-orthodox techniques work for fighting.

I am really pulling for him to beat Tito...

[diceisgod]

Cung Le's not bad

[WatcH OuT]

Originally Posted by diceisgod

Cung Le's not bad

He's a kung fu dude ...

But I personally think TMA's are a good way to get started...

Now you see mostly just good well rounded athletes but they don't stand out in anything just good allround athletes...

If you for example were a good Thai-kickboxer, Karate or kungfu dude or wathever TMA, it's actually more entertaining and it gives them a trade mark as a very good stand up or let not forget a good grappler.

I love seeing guys as Lyotto bc they use their art, that most ppl here bash here on the forums and guys like Lyotto represent it like an effective combat sport...

Just like Nog his groundgame is just wonderfull to watch just like some other great grapplers who are know to pull out things you won't see from a regular well rounded fighter, like we call the new breed fighters of today...

I do see American fighters does have mostly their Wrestling as their main style but nothing like Coleman, Randlemann, etc...

[Phil Lao]

Originally Posted by diceisgod

Cung Le's not bad

LOL...

[diceisgod]

Karate...Kung Fu...whatever....same thing, punch and kick.

[John L Sullivan]

If Seth Petruzelli is in your top 10, it's time to pick a new TMA.

[franz_grinder]

Originally Posted by John L Sullivan

If Seth Petruzelli is in your top 10, it's time to pick a new TMA.

Petruzelli, although not the best mmaist, is a great striker, It's amazing the lack of respect laymans throw out there. Pls watch other combat sports fans. These guys bleed for your sport and are willing to throw spinning back kicks in mma comp just to entertain YOU. Petruzelli himself stated that Sakuraba was his favorite fighter due to the fact that he preformed and fought at the same time. If you ask me, that's an admirable trait in a fighter. A fighter that's game to fight anyone at that.

I definately thought about moving chuck up the list. Lyoto just hasn't done enough for me to be #1. I still think GSP's wrestling is a bigger factor than the few things he still retains from kyokushin.

Check out the way Chuck drops his hands to chamber a punch. Watch him tee off on ortiz against the cage and than watch a kyokushin-kai like Midori blast somebody in comp - very similar. His snap-kicks are underestimated as well. Guys from the pit really just use a hybridized hawaiian kempo style. Glover is very similar in style as well. Chuck does retain some god given talent of course.

I think this list was more useful to actually explain karate techinique and why these schools exist than for the rankings. I was hoping to educate.