Chuck Norris was cross training as far back as the mid 1960s. He was originally a judoka, who switched over to Moo Duk Kwan-Tang Soo Do. In 1965, he began cross training with legendary shotokan (Oshima, Nishiyama) and shito-ryu (Demura) masters, reviving the Japanese influence that the Koreans had tried to snuff out. He also went back to his judo roots adding throws to his curriculum. In the 70s, he dabbled in hapkido and jujutsu. In 1990, two years after meeting the Gracies in Brazil he became [possibly] the first American master to add jiu-jitsu to his organization's curriculum. Roughly over a decade ago they began adding krav maga and inviting people like Iaian Abernethy to their annual conventions. Ed Parker was also originally a judoka. After earning a black belt, then met the Chow brothers and studied kenpo under them. After moving to the mainland, he sought out Chinese masters to further his knowledge. One of his earliest black belts was Dan Inosanto, who had a FMA background, which allowed Parker to add knife and stick fighting elements to his art. In public Parker stressed striking in street combat, but in private according to the late Frank Trejo taught his most senior black belts judo throws. Benny Urquidez, holds black belts in 9 or 10 different arts, including shotokan, kenpo, judo, jujutsu and aikido to form his ukidokan system. Names like Joe Lewis and Bill Wallace, also deserve a mention. Cross training in nothing new (the kajukenbo guys are proof of that) in karate. Unfortunately, it's only a small group of masters who were willing to open their minds that far back. Also unfortunate, is that many of these same masters only tended to keep this open mindedness within their own associations. Imagine how far we could have evolved as a karate whole had cross training been more widespread back then.

@KarateUnity

Ай бұрын

Thank you for your well thought out response.

@KarateUnity

Ай бұрын

These people you’ve mentioned I hold in high regard. You are correct about this history. Training has been around always, to me, it’s the most obvious and necessary training method to evolve.

hey chris, i might post a response video. thoughts?

@KarateUnity

29 күн бұрын

Go for it

Are either of you old enough to have been involved in pre-UFC karate? I am thinking that neither of you have enough experience to even breach this topic. No offense, but to me , it is like two little boys trying to talk like men with experience,

@KarateUnity

Ай бұрын

Thanks for the feedback🙌 I’ll be 56 this year, no offence taken, I’ll take that as a compliment…. And the answer is yes…. Started Karate in the late 70s early 80s….. It was brutal back then….. then it changed.

@mastermcelona

Ай бұрын

Homeboy needs to upload videos of his own skills. He says “no offense” then proceeds to insult. I have over 34 years training… I don’t need to prove myself to keyboard warriors.

@NotDoNotDisturb

Ай бұрын

Nice