The right to defend oneself and one's family

[Guns 'n' Roses]

Proud of my sahn, first black belter in our family. http://www.awimb.com/images/smiley_icons/bow.gif

http://www.awimb.com/legacy.php?t=getfile&id=2329&private=0

[The Tony]

Karate or Taekwondo?

How old is he? Any future plans? Competition Nationally?

Will he spread his wings. Judo is a natural progression and then Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

Maybe straight into Mixed Martial Arts. Pretty huge in Sweden as they banned Boxing back in the 60s.

[Guns 'n' Roses]

It's karate. He's 19 and he's not been competing. He's really keen on track and field and has used the karate as part of his training. But I think he will focus more on the kumite (man to man fighting) now, or perhaps even kickboxing. He's the quiet type and the karate has been great for him. It's top physical training, and being able to defend himself won't hurt him.

[The Tony]

That's good to hear.

When I was in Stockholm last year for the UFC I saw Simeon 'The Grim' Thorensen fight.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simeon_Thoresen

He started training karate at an early age, but choose to devote himself to gymnastics instead at the age of 8.

Thoresen started training BJJ and Thai Boxing in 2003 with Jan T. Stange.With no experience in grappling he was dominated and humiliated by a grappler during a training session. This experience led Thoresen to start training extensively on his ground game. He trained with Team Valhall and Team Pammachon in Sandefjord for a while and won his first and only amateur MMA match in 2005.

After that he moved on to Oslo and Hellboy Hansen MMA in order to train full-time. He attributes much of his success to his training under Joachim Hansen.[1] Hansen in turn has describe Thoresen as “a guy with amazing talent, who I truly believe will be a champion in the future.”

_______

A few parallels to your lad. So there's a few Mixed Martial Arts Training Centres in Norway to choose from there....and they all seem to be legit.

[Guns 'n' Roses]

is extremely well trained. He's got a body like a greek statue -very light, but also physically strong.

Are there weight classes in MMA?

[The Tony]

From 125lbs to 265lbs (haven't got the kg equivalents)


125 - Flyweight
135 - Bantamweight
145 - Featherweight
155 - Lightweight
170 - Welterweight
185 - Middleweight
205 - Light Heavyweight
265 - Heavyweight Limit

Competeting in a lower weight class is never a bad idea. The other day I saw a fighter at 170 who walks around at 205lbs ripped before the fight. Needless to say he absolutely crushed the person he was fighting. All because he's blessed with the abilty to cut weight b4 a fight and not have any adverse effects.

MMA will be instesting for him...give him a chance to see other Martial Arts and see how its all blended together.

Has he heard of Stevie 'Wonderboy' Thompson. the 2012 version of Chuck Norris. undefeated in Katate.

[Guns 'n' Roses]

No, he's not been much into watching martial arts, really. He's just been training hard. http://www.awimb.com/images/smiley_icons/smile.gif

[Mack]

Don't know why- they could already kick my arse.