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#19 | The Big Debate: Do MMA Skills Belong in Traditional Martial Arts?

• Jimmy Hong • Season 1 • Episode 19

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The Big Debate: Do MMA Skills Belong in Traditional Martial Arts?

In this episode of Black Belt Banter, we tackle one of the most controversial questions in today’s martial arts world: Should MMA techniques be part of traditional martial arts training?

We break down the benefits, risks, and misconceptions behind integrating modern combat skills into classical systems. And we discuss a major reason many traditional school owners hesitate: they fear MMA training might dilute the life-skill development that traditional martial arts are built on—skills like respect, discipline, focus, attention span, and character-building that parents value deeply. Many owners worry that adding MMA could shift the culture, increase roughness, or distract from the structured environment they’ve spent years cultivating.

If you’re a school owner, instructor, or passionate practitioner, this episode will push you to rethink how tradition and modern training can coexist.

Tune in for a bold, insightful debate that may reshape how you view martial arts education.

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SPEAKER_01:

In this week's episode, we'll discuss the topic: Should MMA techniques be part of traditional martial arts training? Welcome to Black Belt Banter, the best podcast to help your martial arts school increase profits and generate substantial revenue. I'm Jimmy Hong, and my co-host is Master Chan Lee. Today, we're joined by one of the most respected striking coaches in mixed martial arts, Coach Eddie Cha from Fight Ready Gym in Scottsdale, Arizona. Coach Eddie has worked with some of the UFC's biggest names, including Henry Sehudo, the Korean Zombie, Chan Song Jung, Zhang Wei Li, and Davison Figueredo, and countless more, helping them refine their stand-up game, elevate their fight IQ, and perform at championship level. Known for his chess-like approach to striking, Coach Eddie teaches fighter how to disguise their intention through feints, timing, and precision, what he calls the art of smoke and mirrors. Let's jump right into it. Coach Eddie, welcome to the show. Your martial arts background is rooted in Taekwondo, a very traditional discipline. How did that foundation lead you into the world of MMA and eventually coaching at the highest level in UFC?

SPEAKER_03:

What's up, guys? First of all, thank you for having me. The legendary Master Chan Lee and Master Jimmy Hong. I've one, I'm Korean, so I I think Taekwondo is a part of our culture, which I love. The the footwork, the feints, I think a lot of that we integrate into uh into MMA. And I think every style has something to offer. That's why it's Mitch martial arts as MMA, right? So yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

I I love Taekwondo Well, speaking of Taekwondo, I mean we have okay, so as traditional martial arts school owners, many of us seem hesitant to incorporate MMA techniques into our systems. Why do you think that hesitation exists? And what's like the real fear behind blending modern MMA techniques with traditional martial arts curriculum?

SPEAKER_03:

I think people I think that's the key word is tradition. They don't want to break tradition. And but I mean realistically, some of the rules I feel like they're not practical for s for self-defense. And so you do have to integrate across the technology, you guys don't punch in the face, obviously. That's a big difference in self-defense. You're gonna have to hit the chin, temple, or back of the hand to take the knockdown to defend yourself. And so they in order to evolve and actually use actual practical self-defense moves, you you have to add a little bit more traditional right.

SPEAKER_00:

Hey and obviously being a traditional martial artist myself, you're learning like horse riding stance, you know, opcooby, decubi, all the different stances, and it's not like you're gonna do any of those stances in a real fight, right? It's good body mechanics to learn. And being a traditional teacher, I think it's a good way for kids to to start martial arts. But later on, there's a there's a in my opinion, there's an application piece. And I remember when UFC first came out, everybody was like, oh my gosh, what is this? And it was a big curiosity because it was like, is Tekwondo better than karate? Is karate gonna be judo? Is uh jujitsu? At that time, no one knew anything about jiu-jitsu or even Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and they started changing and and you had to be intermixed with it. And you know, the way I view it is traditional taekwondo teaches you the basics, but then when you have to apply it, right, you have to look at MMA and some of the places that they're field testing. It's like a field testing of these real techniques like punches. Do you feel that some Tekwondo techniques have some practicality in MMA? Or is there some things that you can take from Tekwondo into MMA? Kind of reverse engineering the question a little bit?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, of course. I think of Tekwondo, the range is beautiful. To me, distance and timing is more important than speed and power. And Tekwondo practitioner has really amazing distance. Like your your cousin, Master Tay, you know, the the the distance control that he did when we played around in Wisconsin a little bit. You saw John Jones use a back kick against Stepe and finish him with one back kicking move. Uh you know it's a great back kick, but you know if you see technology heavyweights throw back kicks, it's phenomenal, right? Um those are definitely finishing moves. Uh I think they they're they're they can go orthodox boards, Southpaw, Tekwondo practitioners switch dance quite a bit too. Tekwondo has great feats. Um so there's a lot of moves I think they can use.

SPEAKER_00:

Technology So knowing that, then Tekwondo school owners should think that they have some basics of what can be used in a real-world fight or a real world outfit a thing. I I think the the moves that you use are field tested, right? So being able to kind of take those moves and apply it in in a classroom setting is is very practical. Um, what are some suggestions that you have? Like if if you had a guy that just done traditional taekwondo for 20 years and all of a sudden you're like, okay, here's some stuff that you can apply in your dojong. What what would your suggestion be?

SPEAKER_03:

I would say definitely working on your hands. Boxing is a nice complement of your kicks and things like that. Um, it's fun. Uh it builds coordination, agility, hand speed. Um, it can close the gap. With once you throw one kick, you're gonna be right here. And so this is where the hands and kicks, the hands come into play. And so I'm a little biased, but then again, like you say, being field tested, we've tried everything. We've had people, black belt techno guys come in. Um, you know, Korean Zombie was a black belt techno, Anthony Pettis, he won a UFC belt, he's a technobillo artist. Uh, Benson Henderson's also uh black belt technology as well. And so, but uh just compilation of a little bit of everything. But I think boxing really complements kickboxing or technobill.

SPEAKER_01:

But can I can I just say it's very cool that we're you're doing our podcast right at your gym and there's like activity going on in the background because child? This is like I think one of our podcasts that we have actual live gym studio in the background going on. That's your gym in Scottsdale, Arizona. Is that is am I correct? Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_03:

I wish I'd done it a little earlier. We had sparring for the fight team, but they probably don't want to be filmed.

SPEAKER_01:

Who is your next fighter that we could see on TV with Shaw that's coming up?

SPEAKER_03:

Tracy Cortez, she's fighting Aaron Blackfield. It's a top 10 fight. Uh Blackfield is ranked number four. She fights the Saturday, and Henry Sehudo fights December 6th. So his might be the last fight, so we're calling it the last dance. Or he's calling it the last dance.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow. I mean, both of them, Tracy Cortez and Henry. I mean, they're I mean, Tracy is very well known now. She has a lot of followers, a big fan base, and Henry is Henry. Everybody knows Henry. Those are two big fights coming up, coach.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. The whole gym is excited about it, and hopefully they they both get some W's.

SPEAKER_00:

What's amazing is the transformation of Henry, right? I mean, he was known as a wrestler, right? Olympic medalist, and now he has like knockout power and has some abilities striking. So tell us a little bit about that transformation. How, how, how, how did he transfer from like becoming just like this great wrestler to a really good striker?

SPEAKER_03:

Henry's a student of the game. I mean, the Olympic gold medal is such an accomplishment. Anything he puts his mind to, he he learned so, so fast. The first fight I worked with in was during COVID, Dominic Cruz fight when he won a world title. And our goal is to throw seven, land seven leg kicks in the first round. Not even punched, because Dominic Cruz is very elusive. He uses kind of the rope-a-dote movement. And we had a Napoleon change. We were supposed to fight Jose Aldo. Then a month in, we got injured. We only had three, four weeks to prepare for Dominic Cruz. Me, Dominic Cruz is one of the best bantuweists of all time. It was a hard puzzle to figure out. But Henry, I mean, he already knew how to kick. But if you go and watch that fight, like literally put on a clinic, tiny one to go. I think that's the most kicks that's ever done. It was okay. So the guy could just adapt to the pick.

SPEAKER_00:

So what what's your philos what's your philosophy on striking? Obviously, you're the head striking coach and head MMA coach over at Fight Ready, and you have a stable of you know UFC fighters. What are some like, you know, from an amateur that is learning basic striking and so forth, are there some like hard and fast rules you're like throw X amount of combinations, know the basics? What are some things that you would you would say to a beginner of learning MMA strikes?

SPEAKER_03:

For me, I would depending on what age they are. So there's some guys that are already have a couple fights as an amateur or they're a mid-level pro, and then how old are they? So you have to kind of fast track things. If they're 13 years old, then they should just train as much as possible, enjoy the ride, kind of pick two, three styles that you need to do real crappy, uh, whether it be wrestling, judo, background, or whatever it may be, and then you pick your striking concepts, whether it be boxing, kickboxing, boy thai, you know, techno, karate, anything. But for me, we we always kind of go because it it's a short-lived career. So say they're 25 years old, that you have to fast track it. So what's my fastest way to get to point A to point B? You gotta kind of map out the career, so to speak, a little bit. And how fast can I get there? What's the fastest way? So for us, we always recommend wrestling has to be a base. Because if you can't defend a takedown, then you're gonna lose every round. Um, you have to have minimum of a blue, purple belt, jujitsu, otherwise you get takes you get you can get a takedown and get submitted. And then well, what are you gonna pick for your feet? You know, so a lot of guys kind of integrate boxing at boy thai, goes to like the comment two.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm sorry, I I I got a question then. Going going back into going back into the traditional curriculum, traditional technique versus those techniques that you're talking about with other arts. My I have a tick one, obviously I have a tick one-no background. What are your thoughts about like horse riding? Like we all grew we all grew up doing force riding stance on every class, long stance, down block with with punches from the waist, these traditional, outdated that I've never used, by the way, in in self-defense or in a in a fight that I've ever been to. I've never used those techniques. What are your thoughts on that, Coach Eddie? On on school owners teaching that that that that rigid horse running stands middle punch outdated. I don't know if if outdated is a word, but that traditional curriculum that every class is taught for five minutes.

SPEAKER_02:

You want me to be the bad guy? I want this to be the most controversial episode of podcasts ever. That's my goal on this podcast.

SPEAKER_03:

I think a horse riding stance is a good training tool, right? You're you're almost in a squatting stance. Um, so you're developing your legs, good posture for pusses and stuff like that. But I think for practicality, of course, you're not going to get in a horse riding stance when you try to spar. Even a techwal, you guys don't go in a horse riding stance when you're ready to spar, right? Um it's so I think that says it all. Realistically. Why do we why do we teach it then? Well, you guys are the techwind the masters.

SPEAKER_02:

But let's ask Master Lee. Well Master Lee, why do we teach it then?

SPEAKER_00:

I I think it's a great way to teach basic body mechanics and learning kids how to stay still. I mean, I still teach the basics of it, but I don't spend a lot of time on it. I mean, maybe three minutes when I have new students that have never thrown a punch, we go to horse riding stands and we get them started that way so they can just focus on how to throw the punch. And then full disclosure here, I I've been training in coach Eddie Cha's methods for the last decade. You know, I I first learned it from one of his students, and then I also picked it up on some other things as well. And we went immediately going into a self-defense stance and then teaching your your numbering system, the one, two, threes, four, five, six, the jab cross hooks, and then the uppercuts. And then we immediately put those into a combination. And so when we so we pretty much mostly eliminated the horse riding stance and got into like a guarding stance, and then we've been teaching of the the basics. So a lot of my white yellow belts know the one, twos, the three, fours, and the five sixes, and we we put them into a sequence there. The other thing I I really enjoy about you know a coach's system is the 10 ways to move your head, right? That that's something we don't really teach in tech quality. We we teach how to block, but I never thought, okay, how do you move your head from a strike? So incorporate incorporating that with the with the striking is just brilliant. And then obviously all the different blocks, the covers, right? Or I think you call them catches, right? And then doing doing that is just a full complement of realistic blocking. Um, but to me, I I think there's some value in in doing it. I won't be the bad guy, I'll be the uh the middle of the road guy. I think you still have to teach the basic mechanics of it. Um, you're you're working with Ferraris, right? We're working with like basic amateur people that civilians that'll probably never end up getting into a fight in their in their life, but they've never actually thrown a real punch ever. And being able to make sure that their fist is correct and making sure that they know they have to punch with the first two knuckles, they have to turn the hand over when they throw the punch, all those basics. I think there is some value in it, but then to overdo it, if you're still doing it in your intermediate belts, like blue and and greens and and uh and reds, I we pretty much have eliminated that in our classes for those those students, and we've adopted your stuff into into what we do. And so, yeah, it's great in the beginning, but I think it's also I think more people will find it's it's more engaging because once you start hitting mitts and you have people knowing how to hold and and uh and hit, it's just such an enjoyable process. For me, it's it's been the basis of what you know helped our retention. If you look at our black belt classes, um, it's packed and everybody has to wear gloves and mitts, and that's our warm-up. Your your curriculum is our warm-up in terms of doing it. But even then, we're only incorporating 15, 20 minutes of it per class because the most of the class we still we still have to do the Pumsays, and I didn't eliminate Pumsa all the way through, but I I I think there's some value in high-level Pumse. But is it realistic? I guarantee if I ever get into a real fight, I'm not getting into a who be punch with uh reverse inner forearm block. That that's the last thing I'm going to do. I'm gonna do a lot more of my head movement type stuff and not get hit.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Go Shah, your thoughts on that? I agree 100%. Again, I keep going back to that word tradition. You see it a lot in most traditional style martial arts. They don't want to break traditions because this is how they were taught. They feel like they're gonna lose some of that culture kind of a day. But if we're going down to real fighting or self-defense in the streets or whatever it may be, uh you have to know how to defend yourself. I think we're not doing your your students justice if you're not teaching the proper moves. Like if they're a black belt and they're doing one-step sparring starting here, doing this kind of stuff, like we should be t we should be showing how to put somebody down. Uh, if there's two on one, well what are the tactics here? Can I'm just a realist, you know. I I like what works. And so but I I do agree that there is some value to it. Like I said, the the the force-riding stance and everything else is strong legs. There is one thing that we can't agree upon is how to make a proper fist and what to punch with with the first two knuckles, keeping our wrists straight. Peppa Doe does that beautifully too, right?

SPEAKER_01:

And so there is a coach and and and and Master Chon Lee. From my perspective, from my perspective, right? Every class I was doing a horse running stance for five minutes, double punch, middle block, and then we had one set of scoring in our curriculum for each belt where we have to do a long stance down block and attack with a long stance punch while the defense is like outside middle block and double punch or something like that. That that just doesn't fly in today's like curriculum. It it doesn't. And I know traditional school owners they incorporate that every day with every part of their of their belt, right? And that's just what we do. But Coach Cha, your your fighters are using these striking system techniques at the highest level, at the highest level in the octagon where they're using it to win or lose these fights. That means that it's working at the highest level. Why why shouldn't we take what we know works at the highest level in the UFC and mixed martial arts and incorporate it in our curriculum for our students? Why shouldn't we do that? What is our hesitation of replacing that?

SPEAKER_03:

That should be a question of has to leave because I agree with I'm with you 100%. I think curriculum, you know, like doing the classes even here, curriculum is the hardest thing to find quality stuff to do, right? To keep people engaged for retention, for for it to make it fun and then being practical and then making it a realistic thing. But uh I agree. I can I could put it any better. So that's not really a question for me.

SPEAKER_01:

Coach Eddie, it's not like once the sparring is more fun than the than the one, two, three, four mitts and combo. Mits and combo is faster, more fun for the kids per kilometri. Everything is more fun using gloves and mitts versus once the sparring or horse grants or long stance or down blocks. I mean, it's a faster pace, it's practical, it's more fun. There, I I can't think of a reason. Master Chan, maybe you could uh educate me, Master Chun Lee?

SPEAKER_00:

So I got rid of all our once-up sparring. I I so I I ended up incorporating Coach Chas' stuff, which is what to do with if someone punches you with a one-two or just a right or a left hook, and we've incorporated the head movement, the blocks, the catches, the parries, all the different types of things, and and we do colors with that. And uh what's so funny when I first worked with Coach Chas, he would teach me like 20 different things, and I'm like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. We're only gonna use this for 10 minutes of our class, and we just had to like really strip away some of the basics and and and put it. But I I will tell you, I know I have a great curriculum when I teach it, and then I look in the peanut gallery and I see the parents, and they're doing it, they're moving it. It. They're like covering and hitting back. And I'm like, oh, okay. The parents are getting into it. And now we have a fair amount of our parents that are now taking classes with us because they've seen it. But what's what's funny to me is that, and I think Coach Chao will agree, Tekwundo masters are secretly huge fans of the UFC. Right? How many Tekwundo, how many Tekwondo masters have you met? And they're like, hey, what about this guy? What about this fight? And you're and I bet you're like kind of shocked. You're like, holy cow, this person's like a huge fan of what we do, yet they don't teach any of it in their in their classrooms.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I think.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, go ahead, Coach Eddie.

SPEAKER_03:

No, I I I agree. And I think to be perfectly honest, people are afraid if they teach something that they're gonna leave and go to a joint and have a made school or a boy thai school. But I mean, if they're gonna do that, they're gonna do it out of what I think. Um but why not just have what they want? You know, try something different, make it fun. Like you guys say, everything is kind of proven.

SPEAKER_01:

But I for me, it's just one at the end of the day, you guys just have good curriculum that's actually fun, that's how you're gonna re well one of the one of the uh criticisms from traditional school owners is that if you incorporate a mixed martial art techniques where they don't they don't bow, they don't show respect at UFC octagon. I mean, a lot of fighters do show respect to each other, but there is no bowing procedure, there is no traditional respect as as we as we're accustomed to, and they associate the UFC techniques with that. Yes, they associate the UFC techniques with that, so they don't want to lose the life skills that they're in in teaching the kids, they don't want to lose the discipline, the the respect, uh, the attention skills by incorporating, hey, UFC is doing this, but they're just fighting each other. I think that's the disconnect, and that's what they don't want to bring into their school system. Your thoughts on that, Master Chun Lee?

SPEAKER_00:

I I think there's a little bit of fear with that, right? That, hey, we're not a UFC school. I mean, I have people call my school all the time, and you know, and sometimes they're like, well, can I use your stuff and get into the UFC or whatever? I I send them to our local MMA gyms in town. And I say, that's not stuff that we do. But our market is moms and dads that want their four to 12-year-olds to do traditional martial arts. That's our market. And they want to learn beyond the kicking and punching, they want their kids to learn how to be focused. They want their kids to be more confident. I don't think many MMA gyms focus on that. They focus on getting into the ring and and winning. And the value of Coach Cha's curriculum is from the self-defense aspect, right? So if you look at any curriculum, there's the basic striking, right? You teach all the basic kicks. Then after that, you learn the forms, right? And then you have a self-defense component, right, in your curriculum. And then you break boards, right? I I think on a self-defense level, you can use Coach Cha and UFC MMA striking as as a way to have them learn self-defense. And it's a great, it's a realistic type of curriculum that that students enjoy. And and my recommendation is you don't switch all the way over to doing MMA and UFC, but incorporating stuff that's that's realistic to your self-defense components of your of your classroom. I think that's a very important key point and that you're learning from stuff that's been battle-tested.

SPEAKER_01:

Coach, Coach Cha, you run the Fight Ready Gym over there. There are classes that you teach kids as well as adults as over there. What's the difference? Do you instill the life skills that traditional school owners teach in their Taekwondo and karate and kung fu schools? Or is is is your curriculum and and that character development different in that sense, Coach Eddie?

SPEAKER_03:

Well, for our kids' program, for kids kickboxing, it's literally you run like a techno dill program, but it we just teach kickboxing. Everybody says yes, sir. Um we we have pelts, we line up, bow, you know, credit to Nasserine. But he he helps me with all the stuff how to incorporate everything. But be honest with you, we run it like a techno dill class. But the philosophy of respect, uh love your parents, the discipline, uh you know, we have acts of discipline and and everything else too. It's so the adults is a little bit different. We we get into more of practicality stuff we talked about. We have different we but we do test the same way. Uh we test every three months. We have armbands for the adults instead of adults, but uh for the kids we have belts.

SPEAKER_00:

But how many MMA schools do you feel like are doing what you're doing with kids?

unknown:

Right.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, uh it's hard to say. I haven't seen a lot of MMA kids' programs yet, so it's hard to say. But I I I think we're definitely unique. We have a great coaching staff, we have coach Bobby Mafia. He does a phenomenal job with the kids. We also have an MMA class, then we have uh jujitsu class. So most of the kids we encourage them to try all three. The MMA classes, they'll teach a little bit of traveling, which is the wrestling aspect. The jiu-jitsu teaches the ground, and kicklatsu teaches the food.

SPEAKER_01:

In Orange County, where I live, kids Brazilian jujitsu schools are just it's on the rise. It's exploding, Kochetti. I mean, it's catching fire like like Taekwondo was 20, 30 years ago. And that a lot of that attributes to to UFC and and the popularism popularity of of UFC and mixed martial arts. I don't know if they're teaching I'm assuming they're teaching the life skills with it. I mean, as martial artists, I I think all school owners teach life skills with that. I mean, do you is that the same case over there in Phoenix and and Milwaukee as well? Kochetti? Is pints Brazilian jiu-jitsu gaining popularity and and Phoenix as well?

SPEAKER_03:

I think so. I think martial arts in general, everybody's intrigued by it. Um it definitely helps that I think the UFC invested 20 or something million dollars into their UFC jujitsu program. And so, you know, a lot of people are inquiring about that as well. We have a seven-time world champion jujitsu professor that in charge of our program, Professor Venusius, he's phenomenal. It helps, gives us recognition, and he still competes, which is kind of nice. Yeah, I think I think all martial arts is on the kind of on the right.

SPEAKER_01:

And here at least, in Arizona. You Master Chong, over in uh Wisconsin and Milwaukee.

SPEAKER_00:

I I don't think a lot of MMA gyms have caught up. I I think MMA gyms in general are about 30 years where Tekuundo was 30 years ago in the 70s and 80s. It was a lot of tournament-based type stuff. It was kind of like the only game in town, right? Tekwondo and Karate schools, there wasn't a lot of MMA yet. The you the rules weren't as unified as they are now. And and I don't think Brazilian, I think the only schools that people got into that was grappling was judo schools, right, back in the day. And I think over time, now you're seeing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu on the rise here in Milwaukee as well. Um, and some kickboxing schools that have popped up as well. But I don't, I I think the the the bread and butter of a traditional martial arts school like Taekwondo should be character development and basic body mechanics for self-defense. And then once again, why not add a little bit of additional MMA type striking curriculum into your classes that's fully enjoyable? And I I I know I do this all the time. I I'll be like, hey, anybody watching the fights this weekend at my black belt class? And I would have to say 90% of my students were like, have no idea. And the 10% that are fans would be like, yeah, yeah, I'm gonna go see the fights this weekend. So even MMA hasn't fully hit the masses yet in terms of their stars and who they are. But I don't think it's a fear. I really think I think you've got to kind of start embracing it. It's not going UFC and MMA is not going away, right? And if you want to stay on the cutting edge, I think it's one of the things that a traditional school owner should look into. I know we have, and we're very proud of the fact that we lean into it and make it a part of our curriculum. It's not a hundred percent of what we do, you know. I also do a streama and stick fighting. It's a small sliver of what we do. And I know some Filipino schools were like, that's not a real escrema school. I'm like, yeah, we're not. We we we teach the basics, but if if my students happen to be in a fight and there happened to be a stick there, they would kind of know how to use it as opposed to not doing it. And uh, and uh, but anyway, going back to the MMA, I think uh MMA strikes, I think it's it's it's just a necessary evolution of what we should do as traditional school owners um and incorporating the the next wave of that.

SPEAKER_01:

Coach Eddie, for traditional school owners who have no what what is your first recommendation? How should they transfer or how should they start incorporating that striking system uh into their into their curriculum, traditional curriculum? What is your first piece of advice for them?

SPEAKER_03:

Well, the first step would be go to eddycha.com and contact us and we will get you started. Everything is laid out, the curriculum, there's tons of technical schools that are already implementing it. Chad Lee is one of them. We have five studios that are doing it. Everybody's doing I think their biggest fear is I don't know how to get started, or I don't know enough to teach it. We have videos, but on top of that, the biggest thing is if I if I go do a seminar out there, everybody's con everybody wants to do it differently. But Friday, we can do staff training. Get them comfortable to how to jab or across or the basic asterisk, the head movement, right? And then having we can even do like okay, show me how you can teach a class first 15 minutes go. What to say, key points, how to structure a class. But it's honestly it's not that hard. You gotta start somewhere. And it starts with just by doing the videos, you know?

SPEAKER_01:

So that would be well to to educate our audience, Coach Eddie, am I correct, assuming correct, that you're available for a seminar for the weekend. So any of the school owners who are interested, they can fly you out to their school and you're available on a seminar for like Friday, Saturday, seminar session to teach them, the school owner and the staff and their students. Is that is that correct?

SPEAKER_03:

Yes, sir. When I'm in town, but you know, sometimes I get a little hooked up. But if I'm in town, I love going to travel. I go, I love going to look at other schools and see their setups, uh, their curriculum. It's fun. I enjoy going to seminars.

SPEAKER_00:

So so the way we did it when we had you out, coach, is Friday, Friday during the day, we had all our staff learn all the basics, how to throw a jab, jab cross, all the different punching combinations, how to move the head, how to hold mitts, and then how to put these combinations in sequence together. And it it it it made our staff a lot more confident in what they were learning. And then that in turn made them very confident. And then our staff the following day, we told our students that we were going to do a new curriculum and that we're going to learn from the source. Our black belts came and they held mitts for the lower ranks. So we did two seminars. We did a seminar for our lower ranks to introduce all the curriculum and taught them how to do all the basic punches. And so we had a lot of mid-holders out there, had all the kids learn all the basics and show off curriculum. What was comical to me is that I was sort of like, hey, coach, these are kids. Um, you gotta talk to kids a little different, and you can't talk to them like they're grown adults. You were brilliant. He he really knows how to work a he's a master teacher, he just knows how to work with kids and and all that. And then in the afternoon, we did a advanced level coaching for all our our red and black belts, and that knew a little bit more before coach came out. And uh, you know, I it it was highly enjoyable. It was two hours each. We made obviously all the money back and then some from gear sales and also from seminar fees. So it was a win-win for us. It was the school made a little bit of money, coach made some money, and it was it was perfect. And it was a good time for me to kind of get immersed in your philosophies and and doing it. What's crazy to me is you and I are the same age, yet I don't move like you. Uh I've been trying to copy you.

SPEAKER_03:

You feel better.

SPEAKER_00:

My kids are like, my own kids are like, Dad, why do you look so old? I'm I'm like, what do you mean? I move just like Coach Eddie. I move like a cat. Look. But uh anyway, that's not the response I got from my own children. And my kids, they they love um here's another kind of thing, right? I think most taekwondo masters' kids, they're not like they're kind of burnt out from doing taekwondo. My kids, like, oh Coach Eddie's coming. Okay, dad, I'm gonna be at the school. I'm gonna go learn. So I think I I knew we had a hit when even my own children were like coming in to like learn your stuff and and learn from you.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So I guess I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_01:

Coach Eddie, how Coach Eddie, how long what what's the average time it takes for school owners and their staff to get that striking system, learn that striking system and implement into their classroom?

SPEAKER_03:

I think everybody's different, but it it all depends how much you put into it, like anything else, right? Like some people pick it up quickly, some people don't. But the biggest thing that we all have in common is we're all instructors. We know how to teach. And so I could teach, uh I'm a bluebell jiu-jitsu, and I haven't rolled 10, 15 years, but I could go teach a basic jiu-jitsu class, I could go teach a techno double class, I could go teach anything if I needed to. And I think techno instructors are the same way. Uh I think they lack confidence because it's something new, but teaching to me is the same thing. All you need is a format and a structure. Warm-ups, what you're gonna teach, for how long. Just little things. It's a to be honest, you for me, I don't think it takes that long. Especially when you're doing two-hour seminars, two seminars, if you go back to back, you're gonna be proficient at holding and you're gonna know the basic fundamentals. Um, and then from there, it's just a matter of how you teach, you know, what your goal is, how you get to choose the curriculum, but it's honestly not that hard. And it's not the first time techno guys are throwing punches, right? So instead of throwing it from your your hips, they would just be here. That's the biggest thing I see that when I go to techno summers, that'd say one, two, we would throw like this, they will go this every time they throw the two, the hand goes down. Uh, but it's just little things, just changing habits. But I don't think it's that hard.

SPEAKER_01:

Last quote, last question, Master Chan, and and let's wrap up. But I'm sorry, go ahead, Master Chan.

SPEAKER_00:

No, no, I was gonna say when we first learned, it took us, I want to say there was like uh three to six month lag time because I wanted to make sure my instructors knew how to do it. And and, you know, our warmups are in instead of horse riding stance, is all the combos one, two, three, right, two, three, two, five, two, threes, and learning it in different sequences and then moving and teaching head movement. Your footwork drills are great, so it's all practical stuff on how to move and how to like evade an attack and do counters and and then the technology footwork, we still we still use that. So there are some things that you're just kind of enhancing. And then the second piece would be applying that from a self-defense realm. So if someone throws a uh a jab, how do you deal with that? If someone throws a one-two, how do you deal with that? Someone throws a two, uh, uh, uh, a right hand overhand punch, how do you deal with that? If someone throws a hook, how do you roll against that or or evade that as well? So just like common things that use that you may see. Back in the day, I used to look at the world star videos. You know, do you guys remember World Star? You see all those fights that would happen, and I'd be like, what would I do? Would I would I go into a Gooby and Dkooby and do a knife hand block, or what would be the practical way of dealing with that from a thing? Now I feel a lot more confident in knowing your stuff, and and and then you get to see it, you get to see your stuff in action on a UFC weekend is very satisfying to see and and saying, okay, that this is this stuff is is out there. People are doing it.

SPEAKER_01:

This is great stuff. Coach Eddie, good luck to your next couple of fights. It's gonna be right around the corner of this weekend with Tracy and then next month with Henry Sujuto. Huge big fights. I encourage everybody, our audience, to check it out as well. Let's wrap up there.

SPEAKER_00:

You know, and Matt, real real quick, I don't know if you know, but Coach Eddie is the master of languages. So this next couple fights, he's gonna translate all in Spanish for E. Espendi Portez. So I don't know if you heard the story, but they were missing a translator for his uh fighter AQ, who is Chinese, and uh they they brought him in to do the Chinese translation.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, I didn't know you spoke. I didn't know you spoke Chinese, Coach Eddie.

SPEAKER_00:

Spanish, Hungarian, Russian. The man is a man of many languages.

SPEAKER_02:

So So did you just say anything? Did you just make up words on the interview?

SPEAKER_03:

You know, like if we were to speak Korean, we add a couple English words. So all I did was listen, and then I heard uh fight ready, then I heard coach, then I heard Sheshe, which is thank you. Everybody knows that, right? So then I just kind of I kind of went with it. Me at DC had a good time. We were we were cracking up a little bit.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh my god, that's too funny. All right, all right. Bastard Chun Lee, Coach Eddie Chad, thank you for joining us today and sharing your insights on how traditional martial arts can evolve by understanding the mindset and methods of modern mixed martial arts for our listeners. Whether you're a school owner, instructor, or lifelong martial artist, today's conversation is a reminder that growth doesn't mean losing tradition, it means adapting, innovating, and continuing to learn. If you want to learn more about Coach Eddie Cha's striking system and the incredible work being done at Fight Ready Gym in Scottsdale, Arizona, check out the links in our show notes or YouTube description. Thanks again, Coach Eddie. And to everybody turn it tuning in. Don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, and join our community of martial art professionals striving to elevate the industry together. Pastor Chon Lee, thank you as well. Until next time, see you guys on the next episode.