Natmac

[El Neko]

I went to one of the links from the website - Karateworld. Even the name sounds like quality. If you have the patience, scroll down and read the "story" in the grey box. Karate is about hugging homeless drunks. Apparently.

The kids who go to this school are going to get beaten up in real life very badly.

http://www.karate-world.co.uk/

funny stuff, I remember reading the exact same story 5-8 years ago on a readers digest magazine, but back then it was about Aikido... go figure

[FredGarvinMP]

Jeezus...I didn't even realize that until Neko said something. That story is from Terry Dobson when he was training under O'Sensei. What a fucktard...he didn't even cite a reference to the story.

[El Neko]

what a moron, should anybody tell him that there's people that's been reading, for more than 5 years, on the internet?

[prob]

Here is another link from the site
www.buxtonbba.co.uk
and another
www.edwardsbba.com (the picture on this one is priceless! (found this one from google

[StuartsM]

Tony Higo started training in martial arts in 1965 when his Father taught him to box ready to start school. His Father John had boxed since he was a child being like his son, introduced at a very early age himself. His own Father wrestled and boxed as did his grandfather, brothers, cousins and uncles such as: Johnny McCabe unofficial Middleweight champion of England, from the bare-knuckle days, Tony’s great grandfather a gypsy knick-named ‘Iron Chin’ who fought bare knuckle at the county fairs in the early part of the last century or heavyweight Lukey Dillon His great uncle who died in his prime; crushed by runaway horses as he grabbed their reigns to direct them away from the path of a group of children. Tony’s father himself had over 60 fights in the ring as well as fighting in the boxing booths of the old fairs during the late 1940’s. His mentor was the great Professor Louie Marx who cured himself of a broken back and went on to become a famed strongman. Famous for being the only man to ever lift the so called ‘Resista’ a petite lady who toured the musical halls in the late 1900’s using mind over matter to prevent any man from lifting her. The first time Louie tried he broke his thumbs her resistance was so great but he returned later and successfully lifted her and simultaneously destroyed her musical hall act. Louie himself never boxed but had learned Jujitsu and could deliver a punch that once took the bottom off a sand filled punch bag. This has been the legacy handed down to Tony Higo, so the boxing Tony learned was not just the specialist art of the pro ranks but also the toe stamping, eye gouging, glove scraping, nipple pinching and head butting of the bare knuckle days. Lost techniques such as the short hooks, crosses, knockout punches thrown from less than 6 inches, and the ‘heart punch’ that could make a man scream. As a child Tony soaked up these stories and the lessons that went with them. As he says himself “there was no way I was going to escape the martial arts with my background”

Tony practised the boxing taught by his Father a hybrid of bare knuckle, gloved and street fighting tactics that served him so well. In 1973 Tony enrolled in Karate classes and with his brother John they travelled from club to club training and fighting. But the styles around were mainly Karate and though Tony excelled at kicking his grounding in boxing and street fighting techniques meant he could not settle with what was available and he started putting his own ideas together into a system that eventually became AEGIS his own style based on street defence techniques combined with boxing, karate, jujitsu and wrestling. Tony competed himself and trained many fighters but his real interest was for ‘realism’ AEGIS itself means anything that protects and he admits he was never that motivated to compete. In 1988 Tony broke the Guinness Book of Records fastest high record at 10, 25 and 60 seconds he broke them again twice more setting two still unbroken records the fastest of which still stands at 94 kicks in 10 seconds. Tony always excelled at kicking and the kicking records earned him some notoriety including entries in the Guinness Book Of Records, appearances on TV and meeting Norris McWhirter himself one the famous twins who edited the book for many years. Tony continues to teach and train at his martial arts schools, these days mainly training the instructors and developing the AEGIS system into a world player on the martial arts scene. He has used his system on a number of occasions and continues to base the system on what works in the street, but combined with a mindset of self improvement and conflict avoidance.


www.tonyhigo.com

[sochin101]

Hi StuartsM,
Do you currently train with Tony Higo? If not, have you trained with him in the past?

[OnceLost]

StuartsM, welcome to the boards. Do you have any actual knowledge about the subject, because that was a quote from Higo's biography at http://www.martialartsswindon.net/40....php?p=3&pno=0.

There are a couple of things in that bio worth pointing out:

94 high kicks in 10 seconds. That sounds like a very loose definition of the word kick.

so the boxing Tony learned was not just the specialist art of the pro ranks but also the toe stamping, eye gouging, glove scraping, nipple pinching and head butting of the bare knuckle days.

I had no idea that was part of good ole bare knuckle boxing.

His website reads like any of the "Secrets Martial Artists Don't Want You To Know" advertisments, promising unblockable kicks and a "punch that will put any attacker on his butt."

He does, however, make some good points about realism here:
http://www.martialartsswindon.net/40....php?p=9&pno=0

I wonder if he practices what he preaches.

[StuartsM]

I Trained at the National Martial arts college for about a year, a while ago.
My reason for leaving was that it was expensive, about £100 a month and £30 a belt grading. (of which there are several, no camo belts though)

The training was excellent, but could do with more thai kicks instead of the karate /tkd kicks practiced.

The ground work was good, but there were several very young blackbelts, although Mr Higo himself is at least only a sixth dan, not 10th.
He is in his 50s and I must say I really liked him.

But what is he a champion of?

He doesn't really make any 'crazy' claims but I would like to see if he is really what he says he is.

Like i say, I would recommend the place, i Learned to fight and a good basis of BJJ/Kickboxing.

Does kickboxing have belts?

Not Sure.

My son still goes and it has given him great confidence and he really can fight.
I would like to see if there is any history of success in mma of the 'Aegis' system.
Also I think Tony Trained the england Karate team at some point.

Again, not sure.
Would like more info,
Thinking of going back......

Any Ideas?

[sochin101]

Like i say, I would recommend the place, i Learned to fight and a good basis of BJJ/Kickboxing.

Sorry, I might have misunderstood that... is this guy teaching Brazilian jiu jitsu, or generic "groundfighting"?

Does kickboxing have belts?

Often, but they sometimes/often aren't recognised by other clubs if you decide to train elsewhere.

[StuartsM]

Well,

There are no BJJ belted trainers there, as far as i know. a few of the students cross train BJJ at the local Gracie School.

The sparring is normaly American Kickboxing rules (no leg kicks) but is full contact.
and the 'back to back' jitsu sparring is as expected.

Like I say, I have nothing bad to say about the school.
It is probably a McDojo, to a certain degree. if you train there 3 years and can pass the final test, you will get a blackbelt.

the final test does last a week though and involves running, bagwork, sparring and technique.
There is no kata/ chi etc.

and the trainers are all mainly pride/ufc nuts.
which is what got me into it.

....and man, I love mma now.

Looking forward to UFC70, got my tickets!