Should Martial Artists Practice Kata?

One of the oldest forms of martial arts training is the practice of techniques in a choreographed pattern. Each pattern has it's own name and purpose. This is known primarily as "Kata", taken from the Japanese language. Korean schools call it "poomsae" and most Westerners just call it a "form". Regardless of what name you use, it's the same thing and most martial arts schools swear by it and regard it as the most important aspect of one's training. However, I disagree.

My opinion on Kata comes from my approach to martial arts, which is that of a full contact practitioner and one who strives to be prepared in the event of a realistic altercation. The basic theory behind Kata is that the continual practice of the technique will allow it to be perfected and ready for application and that the discipline required for this practice will ready one's mind.
Many instructors, such as a Wing Chun instructor I spoke to, also argue that Kata helps the practitioner remember the many techniques of their chosen martial art. A Tae Kwon Do instructor I spoke to went so far as to say that Kata "is the basis of ALL sparring". There are several flaws in this entire line of thinking. Lets begin with the idea that rehearsing Kata will ready your technique.

I agree that people who continually practice Kata have good looking techniques. I don't think there's any argument about that. The problem is that a good looking technique is not necessarily a realistic and efficient technique. The main problem comes with the fact that Kata, with a few exceptions such as Kendo, is not practiced against a target or an opponent. There is no way to judge your distance, timing, accuracy, or power. Imagine a baseball player who practices fielding pretend baseballs, throws baseballs at the air instead of to a team mate, and practices his batting without having a ball thrown to him. It doesn't take Mickey Mantel to tell you that when the time comes, this individual isn't going to perform very well. Why then, when it comes to fighting, is there such a difference? I don't think there is. When you practice, make contact against targets. You can practice all the same techniques and learn to add power, timing, and distancing at the same time. Hitting the air will not prepare you for hitting a person.

Can Kata help you remember the techniques? Of course, any type of repetition will help muscle memory. But a problem arises. The techniques in Kata are performed with incorrect movements. When someone throws a punch during a Kata, their stance is usually far too wide. When your stance is too wide, you cannot move freely or use effective footwork. Your legs are also very vulnerable to cut kicks. The next step of the punch requires the student to draw the punch back. This is a serious mistake in sparring and a deadly mistake during a real altercation. When you draw any technique back, you are telegraphing your movements. You might as well wear a sign with your intentions written on it. Then the punch is snapped out and held at it's extended point for a brief moment. This pause is meant to allow the practitioner's instructor to view the form of the punch. However, this promotes one of the biggest mistakes in all fighting which is leaving gaps in your offense. Gaps in your offense will create the gaps in your defense. If you pause at any moment, you are vulnerable to a counter attack and will most likely be hit by one. It's called "waiting for a receipt" or "asking for an autograph". There is also a major flaw in the application of defensive postures during Kata. Practitioners will draw their rear hand back to their hip when throwing a punch. This is highly unrealistic. You should keep your rear hand up by your chin. Your opponent is not trying to hit you on the side of the hip. Of course, instructors will say, as my instructor said to me at one time, that you should first learn this "proper form" but you won't use the techniques in this manner when actually fighting. Then why practice them that way? This cannot be equated with any other sport. All other athletic endeavors require their practitioners to practice movements the same way they will use them in competition. Kata does help you to memorize the techniques but you are memorizing them in an unrealistic fashion.

Now lets take on the idea that Kata is the basis for "ALL sparring". Is the practice of these choreographed routines necessary for one to become an efficient combatant? The answer is no. Boxing, Kickboxing, wrestling, Muay Thai, and Jiu-jitsu are just a few examples of fighting arts that do not use Kata and these arts turn out world class fighters on a regular basis. When you think about it, how can a choreographed routine possibly prepare someone for a fight in which there are no set patterns or movements. Fights are always chaotic and the very nature of combat is centered around the fact that your opponent will resist your intentions. Lets go back to our baseball player. Imagine now that his entire team practices the same way he does. Lets also add the idea that his team practices entire choreographed games with no actual opponent. Imagine they told you that this method of practice is "the basis of ALL baseball". You would know they were crazy. But when a seventh degree "Grand Master" tells you about Kata, you sit and listen to his "wisdom", and join this practice in hopes of one day becoming a master through it's application. It's no different than the fake baseball game. Real opponents do not follow choreographed patterns and routines. It's just not going to happen in the universe we live in. By the way, if Kata is the basis for ALL sparring, where are the katas for ground fighting? Think about that for a while.

Does this mean that a martial artist should not practice Kata? Not necessarily. Although not an efficient method of preparing for combat, it may be useful for elderly practitioners who may not enjoy hitting a heavy bag or sparring anymore. Kata is also part of the traditional art form of many martial arts styles. If you are looking into martial arts for traditional purposes or learning a specific style as an art form, then you should practice the Kata. I do not practice Kata and because of this I do not claim to be a practitioner of any one specific style. I am simply a free style martial arts practitioner who focuses on full contact and training for realistic altercations. For this purpose, I have no need of Kata. In the end, the choice of learning Kata is neither right nor wrong, just don't expect it to save your life.

Blind Hero Worship

I have no idea who might have been the greatest martial artist of all time. Too many men and women have passed through history unnoticed for one to make such a claim for any individual. And many who have been noticed for greatness never had the opportunity to compare skills with certain others in their field, due to time or location constraints. However, I do know one thing. I have met students of the greatest martial artist on multiple occasions. You see, nearly every martial artist I meet believes their instructor is the greatest practitioner of the arts to have graced our Earth. This is the problem of blind hero worship.

Everyone is selling something. This is not good or bad, only reality. We each sell an idea, opinion, belief, or product by our very existence with other human beings. It is essential for anyone trying to make a living by acting on this salesmanship to understand the importance of building up your product. Martial arts instructors must build their product also, and this product is the instructor's skill and knowledge combined with his or her ability to relate this information to their students.
Unfortunately, some mistakes are often made in this sales process. Sales experts proclaim and defend the superiority of their product over the competition and many salesmen come to believe their own claims. When the product you are praising is your own ability and knowledge, this encourages self absorption. Self absorption is individually, and yet all at once, the source, equivalent, and result of pride. In fact, "pride" could be considered layman's terms for "self absorption". In the essay "Tao of Gung Fu: A Study In the Way of the Chinese Martial Art, Bruce Lee states that "Pride emphasizes the importance of the superiority of a person's status in the eyes of others. There is fear and insecurity in pride because when a person aims at being highly esteemed and achieves such status, he is automatically involved in the fear of losing his status. Then protection of his status appears to be his most important need, and this creates anxiety."
It is here, at the protection of status, that one loses sight of true mastery of martial arts. It is now essential for this individual to guard this self fulfilling state of mind.

Martial arts instructors ensure this status by systematically drilling their students to believe that no one can compare with their skill and wisdom. The instructors insist on tittles such as "Master" or "Grand Master". Co-instructors will repeat the head instructor's sales pitch, only with firm belief in it's reality, and the students pick up on this behavior, resulting in hero worship.
Hero worship leads to blind acceptance of an individual's ideas as truth and therefor, the rejection of all others. Co-instructors and students are now philisophically blinded to outside influence and will be unable to tolerate a difference in opinion. About a year ago I visited one particular martial arts school to observe the instruction and curriculum. During the conversation after class, one of the co-instructors vehemently stated that the head instructor was better than Bruce Lee. By merely remaining silent, instead of joining the hero worship, I was revoked for my "pride" and told that I didn't understand martial arts. A few minutes later I was asked to leave for mentioning another instructor's name.

In the end, the problem of hero worship is the result of one individual who feels the desperate need to acquire and maintain status as being superior to others. True experts in the martial arts are those individuals who have both the incredible skill and knowledge and have no fear of not being esteemed. Such is the essence of self sufficiency and the first step towards true mastery.

Use Proper Safety Gear

We as martial artists need to practice our techniques on resistance equipment. Instead of just punching in the air, or "dry land swimming" as Bruce Lee called it, we must make contact with different types of targets. And then there is sparring, when we make contact with each other. I don't know about you, but twenty years down the road I don't want to be hearing those bells that aren't really there. I want to make sure I use the best safety gear for the appropriate training. I practice full contact. I need gear that will protect my hands and wrists, shin and insteps, groin and kidneys, head, and mouth. You see, the human body can take punishment but it isn't designed to be hit. Lets begin with your hands and wrists. These are very fragile areas and just holding your wrist at a wrong angle during a punch can easily break any one of the eight bones located there. If you think that's sounds bad, consider the hand has twenty-seven bones. So, when practicing full contact against a heavy bag or a real opponent, you will want a good pair of hand wraps. If you have ever watched a boxer in the gym, you should know what these are. They are long bands of very strong and flexible gauze like material. You loop a strap around your thumb and follow a specific pattern around your hand until you reach the velcro strap on the other end. When you are done, it will essentially look as if you are wearing thick, wrist length gloves with no fingers. This will keep your hand semi insulated and fairly stable. MMA and kickboxing practitioners have jumped on the band wagon with boxers and have incorporated these into their essential fight gear. These are not mean to be used alone though. You need gloves also. Here is where things start getting tricky. For a very long time, martial artists didn't use gloves...of any sort. Bare knuckles where the normal fighting practice. But before you freak out, consider that the fighters of the day weren't actually allowed to make hard contact in competition. Unless you fought in certain specific states you would be required to pull your techniques short. This changed around 1972 when Master Jhoon Rhee innovated the idea of martial artists wearing safety gear (See "History of Martial Arts: History, Traditions, People" by John Corcoran). This allowed much more contact to be made. Unfortunately, the material used for the sparring gloves, and is still popularly in use today, was made of foam. Foam was never made for insulation or safety, it was made for flotation. This resulted in the safety gear being nearly as dangerous as bare knuckles. I remember sparring with one of my more advanced students who was much bigger than me and we were both using the foam safety gloves. I had helped him develop a mean right hand lead and one day he caught me square in the side of the head with it, right in the temple region. I shook it off at the time but I had some severe headaches for the next two weeks. It was partially because I was an idiot and not using head gear, but mostly it was because of the thin, insufficient insulation of the gloves we were using. I probably had a minor concussion. What my student and I should have been wearing were a good, 12-16 oz set of boxing gloves from a reliable company like Everlast or Top Gear. Many people think boxing gloves will hurt more, but they save you from a world of pain and injury. It provides good insulation for your hands and wrists. High quality boxing gloves will actually allow you to punch a brick wall without damaging your hands. And with all the newest technology being put into these gloves, they just keep getting safer and safer to use. They will also protect your head. That insulation and shock absorbing technology could save you from anything from a headache to severe brain damage. They also build very real confidence. From my first day studying boxing, theres nothing I love quite as much as putting on a good pair of boxing gloves. Now for the foot gear. Unfortunately, the exact same story entails here but without one important detail: there were no boxing gloves for your feet to replace the foam foot pads. What eventually came about was the use of shin guards. Martial arts like Muay Thai use protective shin and instep guards that are exceptionally safe for both the weapon and target. I highly recommend you pick up a pair of these and ditch your old foam foot gear. The great thing is now with all the major martial arts suppliers putting shin guards on the market, there are many different styles. Although people associate shine guards with hard and heavy kicking, there are also very light shin guards that will enable practitioners of Tae Kwon Do to keep there quick lead leg and spin kicks. Next, you need good mouth gear. Once again, technology steps into save the day. Not only will being hit in the mouth possibly damage or remove your teeth, but the shock may damage your brain. When people go down from a punch in the chin, it's not because we have any vital organs in our chin. It's because of the shock through the jaw bone into the brain. Originally, fighters used once piece mouth guards. These were better than nothing but still inadequate. Then came along the double sided mouth guard that could actually conform to your mouth structure if you dipped it in hot water first, much like making your own dentures. This helped protect the teeth, but the brain was still suffering. Shock waves travel through rubber too. Now days we have some really nice mouth guards by Shock Doctor. They are expensive but highly worth it. You would probably end up paying more for capped teeth or a CAT scan. Buy the mouth guard. If you have a school, you can usually purchase them in bulk for a major discount. Now for the groin and kidneys. You do not know the meaning of fear until your third degree black belt sparring partner side kicks you right next to the groin area by mistake. The best groin and kidney protection will again come from boxing suppliers. They have been making them for over half a century and they are getting pretty good at it. I won't go into detail but you can find what you need with Everlast, the oldest and best boxing company there is. Just be sure that you buy a product with proper insulation and don't be fooled by any cheap foam models from unreliable companies. Last but certainly not least, is the head. In fact, it is the most crucial area to protect. Your brain is the command and control center of the body. When it has a problem, your life changes forever. When it shuts down, your life ends. And in fighting you will be making lots of contact to your opponent's head and you will take contact to your own. It's crucial you choose good effective head gear. Once again, no cheap foam models most schools use. It may help against a backfist or ridge hand, but when you get caught with a spin hook kick or round house with the shin, you will wish you had made a better selection...if you can remember anything, that is. The more reliable the company name is with professional fighting organizations, the more expensive the product, and the newer the research, odds are, the better the head gear is. It's not cheap but was is cheap that's worth buying, especially when your health is on the line? Of course, some good advice will also help some. Such as, remember that when you are sparring, you aren't working on power. Your sparring sessions should be dedicated to practicing and perfecting distancing and timing along with strategic principles. You need power on the heavy bag. So it's important to know how to train and to know what safety gear you should use accordingly. Otherwise, you will have people looking at you funny when you are seventy and constantly shouting "Someone answer that phone!".

Psychology In Self Defense

(This part one of a two part post on self defense)

It is always best if you can avoid a fight if you can. However, sometimes it doesn't work out. Anytime you find your self in a realistic altercation, there are a few things that won't hurt to know. When teaching on this subject, most schools and instructors will delve right into the plethora of self defense techniques, paying no mind at all to the more important aspect of fighting for your life: your thought process. Knowing ten thousand self defense techniques is useless if you are not psychologically prepared for the situation. The biggest problem anyone has in a fight is our natural reaction to freeze up. This is especially true when we are crowded by our attacker. And it is a fact that most realistic attacks happen at very close range. Forget what you read in defense manuals where you see two people squaring off, face to face. Your attacker will likely come from behind or the sides and be less than a foot away. It doesn't matter how many moves you know or how many boards you can break, if you freeze up in this situation, you are in serious trouble. Therefor, the most important part of fighting for your life is to have the will and mental power to execute under pressure of physical violence. As they say in wilderness survival situations, "Don't panic". They same applies hear. Instead of letting fear control you, you use it as a tool to sharpen and heighten your senses. Let it come to you as a friend, a reminder that your life is on the line. It's impossible to completely rid yourself of fear in a fight. It would also be detrimental, for fear keeps us in check with our reality.

Your next hurtle to jump is the one concerning your attitude and intent toward your attacker. To put it in context, in a realistic altercation where you may be the victim of anything from murder to kidnapping or rape, there is no win or lose, only survival and the alternative. You must completely forget your preconceived notions of morality and dignity. You will have plenty of time to think on those things later. The only thing that should be in your mind at the moment of the altercation is how to enforce your will over that of your attacker. Nothing else matters. Should it even come down to killing your opponent, if your life is on the line, kill him. Also, have no hesitations about attacking first. It's called pre-imminent attack and it can save your life. I've seen schools teach their students to never attack first, always counter. They teach this as a facet of morality. Similar to the idea that the good sheriff in the old west waits for the evil gunman to draw first. Do you know what would happen to such sheriff's? They'd get shot.

The third step is understanding that it's all about self preservation. Finish an attacker only if you absolutely must to ensure your survival. If you can get away, you should. Many schools teach their students how to use finishing techniques once they have their opponent on the ground. This is very foolish. If your opponent hits the ground, keels over, or even takes his attention off you (if he is not within reach) then make a run for it. One of my favorite self defense illustrations for my students is a simulation where I have them role play and try to talk their way out of a fight with me. I act mad and push them, yelling for them to "just try and hit me!". If they play it smart and handle the situation properly, I let them walk away. If they act like a tough guy, I always do something that shocks them because they never once let this possibility cross their mind. I yell for three or four students to come help me beat this guy up. It completely shocks them. It's all safely simulated and I never actually let anyone in this particular drill actually touch anyone else. But the point is made and they never forget it. You never know the extent of your situation. Your opponent could have ten friends around the corner. He could have a knife in his pocket, or worse, a gun. Always get out if you can.

In the end, remember this one thing: it's about preserving your life. Forget anything else you have ever been told. It's not about honor, justice, morality, or anything else that was conceived by men who never really fought. At the end of the day, if you go home alive, you've done well.

My Top Seven Martial Arts Influences

Everyone has influences. Fighters are no different. In each and everyone of us, there is a part of someone else, someone who helped make us who we are. In my practice of martial arts and my strive for excellence in this field, there are many individuals who have helped guide my path. But there are seven who stand out from the rest. I owe each of them a part of who I am.

The first was Muhammad Ali. As a fourteen year-old, I saw Rocky for the first time and knew immediately that boxing was for me. Whoever thought up that training montage knew what they were doing. My first thought was that I should find out who the greatest boxer of all time was, and study what he did. And of course, the greatest was "The Greatest", Muhammad Ali.
Interestingly, finding Ali was pure luck. I rented a boxing documentary from the library featuring some of the all time greats. But when Ali came on, and I saw the man move, I was in awe. There was something more here, this was no ordinary man. No one even told me he was the best, I knew the moment I saw him. From Ali I learned not only how to move, punch, and be very sneaky against my opponent, but I learned about incredible heart. When I saw the clips on the documentary taken from the Fight of the Century in 1971, I couldn't believe my eyes. How could a man endure that and even jump up off the canvas after being hit with the hardest left hook of all time? Heart, that's how. He was willing to die in that ring.

The second major influence was Bruce Lee. What I have learned and am still learning from Bruce Lee goes beyond martial arts, so far in fact that a later blog is due on how this man changed my life. But for now, let's keep it in scale. I took up martial arts when I was sixteen. I remembered hearing some friends once talk about Lee as "the all time best", so I began doing my research.
I purchased a book of compiled writings by Lee...and my mind nearly exploded. I don't know what it's like to see what's at the end of the universe or learn the last digit of pi, but I imagine it's the same kind of enlightenment I experienced upon reading the writings of Bruce Lee for the first time. This man had a profound understanding of philosophy, psychology, life in general, and how it all related to, as he put it, "the art of expressing the human body". Oh yeah, let's not forget how good the man was in his chosen field. It was by studying Lee that I learned for the first time just how skilled an individual could become at their chosen endeavor. His technique border lined an inhuman perfection. His physique nearly incomparable. Whenever I get a little arrogant and think I'm all that, I imagine myself next to Bruce Lee. It puts me in my place every time.

The third influence was my good friend and only martial arts instructor, Joel Puryear. He is a talented and knowledgeable third degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do. When I began martial arts I asked if he would teach me and he did, at a fraction of the normal cost someone would normally have to pay for his time and expertise, I might add. Joel taught me about basic technique and combinations. I had already known how to punch and throw hand combinations but this was a whole different ball game. I remember the first time we sparred I tried to hit Joel with a right hand lead. He picked up his front foot and punched a side kick into my ribs I'll never forget. I had never been kicked before. I had a lot of unlearning to do. Joel helped me learn to spar effectively. I had private lessons so I was fighting a third degree black belt all the time. He encouraged full contact as well. It really helped me learn quicker than most.

The fourth influence was Chuck Norris. Chuck Norris was most influential on my thought process. I learned from him that your mental attitude was just as important as your physical skill. A lot of people talk about the power of positive thinking, but Norris demonstrates the power of positive action. You cannot for one second allow yourself to have doubts because your body will literally accept it as a command. If you think you will fail, odds are you will, even if you are skilled enough to succeed. You have to always move forward. And if you hit a stumbling block, turn it in to a stepping stone. And if Chuck Norris hits a stumbling block, it explodes on contact and assembles a stepping stone automatically, out of fear. (I met Norris in 2008, a great day)

The fifth influence was Joe Lewis. I think it's only fair to say that Joe Lewis has had a greater impact on my fighting skill, mental toughness, and fighting mentality than any one else. I actually divide my martial arts into two eras: pre-Lewis and post Lewis. Joe Lewis is five inches taller than me, fifty pounds heavier, and there is no comparison in our power and speed. But everything he teaches works for me. This is because Lewis has so perfectly broken down the fight game that he has universal principals, tactics, strategy, and training drills that will increase anyone's fighting proficiency. And when I came across Joe Lewis' material, my fighting ability, as well as my teaching ability, sky rocketed. When I spar, I know no one can touch me. And if they do, I have the knowledge I need to neutralize their advantage and make their defense collapse. Since I have began to study under the man twice voted by Black Belt Magazine as "the greatest living Karate fighter", my confidence is unshakable.

The sixth influence is Benny "the Jet" Urquidez. Once again, "confidence" is the key word. It takes a special kind of man to walk in the ring against any opponent, in their home town, and fight under their own rules with the world tittle belt on the line. And when someone can do that and be victorious 58 times, you call him Benny "the Jet" because that's his name. It's also important to mention that Urquidez is almost exactly my size, so anything he does will work for me. That's where I picked up my spinning back kick, one of my favorite techniques.

Last on the list is perhaps my favorite fighter, the one man who just continually puts me in complete awe. He is of course, none other than Bill "Superfoot" Wallace. I don't remember how I learned about Bill Wallace but I'm sure glad I did. I followed his example when in doubt of recovering from an injury that could have stopped my training permanently. Without his example, I couldn't have done it. He also influenced my style. Although I was first a boxer, my trade mark has become my flexibility and kicking. I love to show people how I can drop into complete side splits. I love kicking people in the head too! Wallace's example has increased everything from my speed, deceptiveness, flexibility, and set up skills. But more importantly, his example serves as perhaps the best on how to treat others. I contend that you will not meet a nicer, more down to earth guy than Bill Wallace. Or a funnier one too. He always has a smile on his face. I remember when I met Wallace last year. It was the best moment in my study of martial arts. The man literally puts the entire room in a good mood. And all the while, you know that this funny, light hearted man in front of you is a deadly weapon that the best fighters in the world failed to conquer for six straight years until his retirement. How could anyone not be influenced by a guy like that?

You Fight How You Practice: Why I Advocate Training Full Contact

It's probably a good thing that I first studied boxing, rather than a traditional martial arts style.
I was also very fortunate to later have a martial arts instructor who appreciated my skill and mentality as a boxer. From day one, I knew I had to hit or get hit, not only in a fight but in my training sessions as well. Unfortunately, many other practitioners aren't as fortunate.

Most traditional martial arts schools focus on point fighting and consequently, they have some interesting drills and sparring sessions. For example, one of my favorite partner drills is a simple distancing drill using the side kick. Two practitioners square off and take turns firing a side kick at each other. One fires, the other defends using distancing and then counters. The drill then repeats.
When I do this drill, my partner and I always wear good protective gear and this allows us to make controlled, medium power contact. This is very important and will give you not only the proper distancing but a very real level of confidence you have never felt before.
However, in most traditional schools this drill is done quite differently. I have seen one Korean style school that had it's student's fire the kick with no conviction, no contact, no counter, and no repositioning. They were standing outside their opponents critical distance line and letting the kick fall short every time, on purpose. And they tell the students this is going to save their lives in a street fight! It will save someone's life in a street fight....the other guy's.
This practice of disallowing actual contact has many severe effects. First, there's your distancing.
You could liken it to practicing on the rifle range and intentionally firing short of your target, thinking this will allow you to hit the target in a real situation. You don't need to be a marksman to see how foolish this is. Similarly, if you constantly let your punches and kicks fall short in practice, they will fall short in a real altercation. You've heard that you play how you practice?
Well, you fight how you practice too.

Then there's the psychological downside to this line of thinking.
When you aren't making real contact in your training sessions, you are being conditioned to react to a kick for the sake of reacting. This stems form a training mentality that I call "cooperative combat". It works like this. A school focuses only on light contact when they train. The students are taught to block or avoid the punches and kicks and they do, even though there is no real contact being made. What happens is that eventually the student will become accustomed to his opponent defending against flaky punches and kicks even when it's not necessary. The two partners are in essence "cooperating" as they fight. If this practitioner then fights someone in full contact or enters a real altercation, this practitioner will subconsciously expect his opponent to react defensively. The opponent, who has no preconceived conditioning to react to a flaky punch or kick, takes it with no effect, and flattens the practitioner in question. I have seen it happen and I have done it myself.

This leads to the third and perhaps most dangerous consequence of training without full contact:
taking a shot. Or lots of them. If you don't condition yourself in the gym or dojo to take punishment, you won't take it in a fight either. Not only will you be beaten down physically, you will lack the psychological training needed to take a shot. Most people who are not used to real contact will freeze up when they get hit and this is all a full contact fighter needs to put you away.
You will also close your eyes. And it's not the punch you see that knocks you out, it's the one you don't see.

Challenges

Over the years, people have often come to me or mentioned in a conversation that someone they know has challenged me to a fight. I am of course, the last to know about it. Usually this occurs when a friend is talking to someone who practices martial arts, or thinks they practice martial arts, and my name is brought up. But why does this end up in a challenge? After all, I meet martial artists all the time and have many more friends who know martial artists and I never challenge anyone. The answer to this question is directly related to my answer to the challenge, which is always "No".

The problem lies within the individual issuing the challenge. Most of the time, this is a case of insecurity. A martial arts practitioner may have doubts about their own ability, lacks confidence, or feels he is unappreciated by his peers. So they feel they must beat someone up to prove themselves. Many times this individual just wants to show off in front of people. I have never been challenged to a fight in a remote location. It always seems to be at parties or crowded areas.
In many cases the individual isn't even a martial artist, just someone who thinks they know what they are doing because they watch MMA every Saturday night.

Regardless of who challenges you, it's always going to be a lose/lose situation. If you lose, you may be hurt and you will look foolish. If you win, the other guy will be hurt and you will still look foolish. Besides, beating someone up when they have such a problem with insecurity will only make it worse. And if your defeated challenger was just a hot head looking for attention, now he will really be after you with much worse intentions. This kind of grudge can last forever.
Normally I just try and talk my way around it. I tell people that if they want to spar and they are interested in a controlled, learning experience for the both of us, then I would love to spar with them. And I always do. However, if they want to fight and beat me up, forget it. I have nothing to gain by any possible outcome of such an endeavor and neither do they.