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In the past if you wanted tpo learn self defense techniques to help you keep yourself and your loved ones safe in case you were attacked, or to take up martial arts as a fun hobby and a way to keep fight, slim and healthy then you had no choice but to find a club or class in your local area who could teach you to fight using their particular system.

But today there is a vast wealth of information out there, with videos and articles on the internet, DVDs and many other sources which claim that they can teach you martial arts and self defense techniques which will enable you to win a fight against any attacker. But can you really learn martial arts from an online video?

Certainly I would not say that these resources are completely useless, and the best one can be very helpful, but there is certainly a limit to the amount that you can learn like this. There is one main problem with learning from videos in this way which cannot be overcome – sometimes you will be making mistakes that you don’t realizre you are making, and which would only be spotted by an expert. The other main problem, however, can be addressed. it is never enough to simply practice solo forms and perform shadow boxing style practice. At some point you need to test your techniques against an opponent. Classes are ideal for this, but if you have a friend who wants to learn with you then this will help.

There are some things that video tutorials are ideal for. If you have trainined or are training at a dojo, gym or class in one martial art, then it is much easier to learn how to fight using the techniques of another martial art from videos, books and articles. So, for example, if you already train in Wing Chun Kung Fu, then you can learn Jeet Kune Do from videos quite effectively. Also they can be good for teaching general principles and basic techniques. You will never be a martial arts master learning like this, but a brief primer in self defense for someone who doesn’t want to commit to a regular class can offer a very useful service.

Article Source : Learning To Fight Using Videos : ArticleBase

Dean Walsh
Dean Walsh runs a blog featuring a selection of the best martial arts fight videos online and another about street self defense

Dealing with aggressive people, is something you need training for, one way or another. If you can calm aggressive people down, then that is a skill in itself, but sometimes it is not enough. When people act irrationally, sometimes through drink or worse, then no amount of talking can get you out of trouble.

So what do you do? As a backup, it is always a good idea to learn how to fight, because one day it could save your life.

Some passive aggressive behaviors, such as bullying by name-calling or similar, do not warrant physical self defence. The art to dealing with this kind of behavior lies elsewhere. However, if you are confronted with, or likely to be confronted with real physical violence, then if you know how to fight, you will now how to defend yourself.

Learning to recognise potential trouble spots is an important survival skill, particularly if you live in a certain areas. Learning how people behave in their own environment is also important, because certain types of behavior can be misinterpreted. For example, joking and name calling can be taken in the right way, but sometimes, they are a pre cursor to violence. You must learn to understand your adversary, and be prepared.

I am nor suggesting that you look for trouble; far from it. You need to be ready for it, especially if you find yourself in a situation where trouble might be brewing. Parties are certainly one place where trouble can turn up unannounced, especially if there is copious quantities of alcohol available. In fact anywhere where drink can be bought cheaply, especially where young people congregate is a place where you probably want to be on your toes.

The flip side of this of course is that you need to keep a clear head yourself as well. If you are drinking as well, then your thinking could be affected, which means that you could misread signals that you get from other people. To learn how to fight also means to learn how to control!

Sometimes you have to learn how to fight to get yourself out of trouble that you didn’t even see coming. So if you are going to learn how to fight, then take the trouble to do it properly.

Article Source : Learn How To Fight And See Off Aggressive People : ArticleBase

Charlie Cory
Charlie Cory makes his living from computers as a consultant, and has been creating web sites and marketing them for a number of years.

Here are the confirmed earnings for the fighters from last Saturday’s UFC 102 as reported by Sherdog.com:

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira – $460,000 ($150,000 win bonus, $60,000 Fight of the Night bonus) def. Randy Couture – $310,000 (including $60,000 Fight of the Night bonus)

Thiago Silva – $58,000 ($29,000 win bonus) def. Keith Jardine – $55,000

Nate Marquardt – $140,000 ($40,000 win bonus, $60,000 knockout bonus) def. Demian Maia – $28,000

Jake Rosholt – $86,000 ($13,000 win bonus, $60,000 submission bonus) def. Chris Leben – $30,000

Brandon Vera – $70,000 ($35,000 win bonus) def. Krzysztof Soszynski – $8,000

Aaron Simpson – $18,000 ($9,000 win bonus) def. Ed Herman – $24,000

Gabriel Gonzaga – $120,000 ($60,000 win bonus) def. Chris Tuchsherer – $10,000

Michael Russow – $20,000 ($10,000 win bonus) def. Justin McCully- $15,000

Todd Duffee – $10,000 ($5,000 win bonus) def. Tim Hague – $7,000

Mark Munoz – $24,000 ($12,000 win bonus) def. Nick Catone – $5,000

Evan Dunham – $14,000 ($7,000 won bonus) def. Marcus Aurelio – $13,000

Prior to his fight with Nogueira on Saturday, Randy Couture re-signed with the UFC.

First of all: wow!  The guy is 46 years old and keeps pluggin’ along.  His fight with Nogueira was one of the best heavyweight fights recently, if not the best, even though he lost.  Second, the contract is a 28-month six fight contract.  If he goes the length of his contract, he will be 49 years young when his contract is over.

He proved again that you can never count him out.

This comes shortly after signing with EA for their MMA game that will compete directly with THQ’s UFC-branded game.  What happened to Dana’s statement that any fighter that signs with EA is no longer welcome in the UFC?

Guess that only goes for the non-hall of famers, huh?

Cain Velasquez was scheduled to fight Shane Carwin at UFC 104 for a possible shot at the UFC Heavywight title.

Due to scheduling and a quickly healing Lesnar, the UFC made a quick change to give Lesnar a fight in November, but they had to break up this fight.  The UFC let Cain know that they feel he’s not ready for Lesnar by giving Carwin a shot at the title first.

And Velasquez’s runner-up door prize?  He gets to welcome Ben Rothwell to the UFC.  Rothwell was victimized with Affliction Entertainment’s crumble and decided to sign with the UFC.  Rothwell was a beast in the ill-fated IFL and boasts a 30-6 record.  Hey! He’s fought 30 people, too!  Guess he’s almost as good as Fedor!  Oh wait.  He’s not Fedor, but he’s not a slouch and could possibly put the first blemish on Velasquez’s currently perfect record.

On the flipside, a strong performance by Cain in this fight and it keeps him right in the mix.  I think a win at UFC 104 over Rothwell and Cain should pick up the winner of the Cro Cop-Dos Santos fight to prove he’s got the potential.

A number of people question his power after punching Kongo in the face a million (okay, so that’s an exaggeration) times in their fight and not able to put him to sleep.  So I feel another fight even after Rothwell would do him some good.

That all depends on the climate though.

Imagine for a second that Carwin beats Lesnar, Cro Cop headkicks Dos Santos, and Couture is able to lay and pray Noguiera successfully.  Suddenly, there’s a couple of big names with wins, a whole slew of contenders.  Velasquez would put himself at the top of the pile with a win over Rothwell and any one of those names that’s not currently holding the belt.

Cain’s problem will be finishing any one of those guys.

First, though, he’s gotta take care of the 6′5″ 265 lbs. mammoth waiting for him on October 24, 2009.

The rumors around the mill were saying that the more impressive winner of either the Couture-Noguiera fight or the Carwin-Valasquez fight would get to give Lesnar his first belt defense as the undisputed UFC Heavyweight Champion.  Even Dana White had said that either “The Natural” or “Minotaro” could get a shot if they looked impressive enough.

Well, that’s all a wash now.  Due to some scheduling issues, the Carwin-Valasquez fight (Carwin would have destroyed Cain) is not going to happen. It appears that Brock is going to be ready to go sooner than anticipated after some minor surgery following his destruction of Frank Mir.  Sooner as in: November.  Apparently the matchmakers hadn’t thought it possible for Brock’s lay out to be so short and had all the would-be contenders scheduled for other bouts within the promotion.

Since Brock is going to be ready, they need someone (maybe fodder) to put in front of him to keep building on his legacy and claim as the best heavyweight in mixed martial arts.  That lucky individual appears to be Shane Carwin.  Sorry Cain, but if you can’t finish Kongo, you have no prayer against Brock.

Earlier today Carwin had not given comment, but has since posted the following blurb in his blog confirming he has been offered the fight:

“I have verbally been offered the fight with Brock and I have verbally accepted this fight. My manager and the UFC are handling the the details. I am honored that the UFC has given me this opportunity. The fans of this sport are what makes MMA so great. I expect to be fighting at UFC 106 in November.”

Carwin looks to give Lesnar the good fight after Brock’s post-fight antics at UFC 100.  Carwin called Lesnar out stating “The flipping off of the fans that just lined your pocket with millions of dollars is just LAME. He may be a Champion but he has a long ways to go before he earns the respect of a Champion.”

If Carwin can tame the beast at UFC 106, he can show Lesnar how he thinks a Champion should act.

So for the forseeable future, there will be no Fedor-Lesnar fight.

I’m with Dana White when wondering what actually motivates Fedor.  We know what motivates M-1 Global: a cut of the stake (pun intended).  But what about Fedor?

Does he not want to prove, once and for all, that he is the best heavyweight in the world?  The speculation that he will prove this in Strikeforce is ludicrous at best.  Strikeforce houses three, maybe four guys that are worth sticking in the ring against Fedor: Alistair Overeem, Brett Rogers, Fabricio Werdrum and Sergei Kharitonov.

Just glance at the UFC and and its easy to see who houses more proven talent and a deeper pool of fighters to choose from.

The UFC stipped away all points of contention that could keep Fedor from fighting there.  He gets an “assload of money” (Dana’s words, not mine), an instand title shot, he can fight in Sambo whenever he wants, and on and on and on.  The only thing that kept the deal from going through is M-1 Global’s greed and Fedor’s willingness to be a puppy on a leash for them.

Maybe Fedor is being loyal to M-1 and wants to finish out his contract with the “promotion” with zero points of contention.  I don’t think so.

I think he sees Lesnar and a couple of the others and thinks he likes his 29 win-streak and that his face isn’t messed up.

Frank Mir’s probably thinking the same thing right now.  About his face, not the win streak.

On July 31, 2009, Dana White made a couple of annoucements.  The first affected this fight card.

Vitor Belfort has been signed with the UFC and he will take Hendo’s spot against Rich Franklin for the fight.  The fight will happen in the 205 pound bracket.

For the UFC’s return to Texas, the promotion is not fooling around with its card. Not only is the undercard sick, but the recently announced Main Event card is looking nice.

Here are the announced fights for the September 19, 2009 event:

Main Event: Rich Franklin vs. Vitor Belfort
Mirko Cro Cop vs. Junior Dos Santos

Under Card: Mike Swick vs. Martin Kampmann
Efrain Escudero vs. Cole Miller
Josh Koscheck vs. Frank Trigg
Tyson Griffin vs. Hermes Franca
Drew McFedries vs. Tomasz Drwal