Capoeira brawl.

[The Question]

I liked the video. Good athleticism displayed. It was interesting to watch. Thanks for that, Wingchunlawyer.

[cafezinho]

On the plus side they all looked like they were in good shape. I assume that's the case with most high level capoeiristas (sp?) given the extremely athletic nature of the sport. I've never been to the strip mall dojos but I read about ten thousand posts on here talking about obese instructors and students in MA, if nothing else I imagine that Capoeira has a much lower percentage of that kind of thing happening.

Steroids is pretty much an over-the-counter medicine in Brazil

The problem with videos like this is that it promotes this idea of capoeira as a martial art (which it really isn't, though in some respects with a grain of salt "is") over the idea that capoeira isn't really a martial art. The regional groups in Rio that incorporate ground fighting in order to justify themselves as a martial art (and notice that there is very little capoeira actually going on) are about as far from even the essence of capoeira as the Dom Joao VI was an NGanga.

Capoeira can be divided into two aspects: The game and quasi spiritual aspect that helped to tie many west african nationalities togeter in Brasil under the slavery vs the violent thugs reportedly slicing people up with razors and clubbing them to death in the streets of Rio. They overlapped, especially towards the end of the 19th century, but mostly were kept fairly seperate: Capoeiragem (the game) and Capoeira (the noun describing in police reports violent gang affiliated cut-throats).

These guys are among those who have been handed a confused and bastardized view of capoeira and produce shitty capoeira mixed with shitty ground fighting and these dumb rodas that result in the capoeiristas falling over eachother like idiots. Just because they are Brazilian doesn't mean they know their culture. There are plenty of shitty samba groups in Sao Paulo that prove the point.

[WingChun Lawyer]

Say what you like about brazilian culture, cafezinho, Muzenza is a VERY cool capoeira group, and I bet those guys can put up a nice fight.

[partyboy]

GnP > hand-stand kick

[elipson]

From what I've read, takedowns were more important than fancy kicks in old rough capoeira. Kicks were more of a 20th century thing. Just from what ive heard.

[harth1026]

From what I've read, takedowns were more important than fancy kicks in old rough capoeira. Kicks were more of a 20th century thing. Just from what ive heard.

The "fancy" kicks are more or less used to set up your opponent for a takedown. Yeah, you can hurt someone with the kicks, but I find it more fun just to drop them on the ground.

[hpr]

That small guy going full speed around 4 minutes was probably the first time I found someone doing capoeira scary aggressive and made it look more than just cool dancing.

[TroyForum]

OK, this was a seriously cool video. And you could see how easy the capoeira guys could switch from the dance to the fight. There were a could cool "catch kick throw" moves in there. There was another video where sanda guys sparred w/ capoeira guys and used similar tactics.

The little guy threw some fast kicks that really made me sit up and pay attention. I was waiting for him to connect with one of the them.

:bully: :glasses6:

[Domite]

Why bother with all that silly spinning around if you know the other guy is just biding his time before he goes for the face punch?

Just rush in there with a roundhouse.

[WingChun Lawyer]

Here´s another hardcore capoeira video. In this roda, however, a guy actually died from a frontkick.

http://br.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1CRuWusKoE

Capoeira may never be UFC material, but some capoeiristas are mean, mean bastards.