Vladimir Putin - Now an 8th Degree Karate Black Belt

[Phrost]

Everybody's favorite international menace / mancrush has now added a new bullet point on his resume of villainy / awesomeness: 8th Degree black belt in Kyokushin Karate.

Kyokushin, which many Bullshido members and readers already know, is one of the most respected forms of the style, requiring full-contact, bare-knuckled striking, unlike many of the more commercialized sub-styles of Karate.



This means that the bare-chested-gun-shooting former KGB agent now holds an 8th Dan in both Karate and Judo. He also holds a 9th Dan in Taekwondo, but nobody cares about Taekwondo.



Story via USAToday.

[Lindz]

who cares. I want to know his dan level in geopolitics

[W. Rabbit]

Video or it's just state propaganda.

[slamdunc]

Everybody's favorite international menace / mancrush has now added a new bullet point on his resume of villainy / awesomeness: 8th Degree black belt in Kyokushin Karate.

Kyokushin, which many Bullshido members and readers already know, is one of the most respected forms of the style, requiring full-contact, bare-knuckled striking, unlike many of the more commercialized sub-styles of Karate.

This means that the bare-chested-gun-shooting former KGB agent now holds an 8th Dan in both Karate and Judo. He also holds a 9th Dan in Taekwondo, but nobody cares about Taekwondo.

I cannot help but to wonder if his higher ranks are 'honorary'. I am sure that he has trained and is physically fit, but when it gets to those levels, come on.

[soft touch]

I cannot help but to wonder if his higher ranks are 'honorary'. I am sure that he has trained and is physically fit, but when it gets to those levels, come on.

this is exactly what I was thinking
i agree no doubt he trains and may even be very skilled, but 8th or 9th Dan in even one art let alone 3 arts is a pretty exclusive group

Sent from my GT-I9100

[Piff]

I hear he's also extremely proficient in Greco Roman raslin' as well

[Ming Loyalist]

this is exactly what I was thinking
i agree no doubt he trains and may even be very skilled, but 8th or 9th Dan in even one art let alone 3 arts is a pretty exclusive group

Sent from my GT-I9100

not sure about the other arts, but once you're past 5th dan in judo it's all about contributions to the sport, success of your students, politics, and time in grade.

i can see putin having 5th dan skills in those arts, he's been training for a long time and i have no doubt he has the "killer instinct" needed to excel.

[SLBC]

I cannot help but to wonder if his higher ranks are 'honorary'. I am sure that he has trained and is physically fit, but when it gets to those levels, come on.

I'm not sure if those degrees can be honorary. Maybe they can. What I already heard is that, from a certain point on, what makes you get a higher degree is your contribution to that martial community and your "theoretical expertise". When those guys get past a certain dan, they're expected to even write monographs about martial arts.

Since he is the political leader of Russia, it's easy for him to help out Judo, Karate and TKD communities there. But, anyway, I wouldn't doubt it if someone confirmed that it's just an honorary rank.

Sent from my LG-E435f using Bullshido - No BS MMA mobile app

[Bizz247]

CNN's Article

CNN's article on this gives a little more light on subject.

"In a letter to Putin, the federation said the Kyokushin-kan International Honbu decided to award him an eighth-dan, or eighth-degree, black belt for his "contribution in promoting Kyokushin-kan karate in Russia.""


http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/21/world/...te-black-belt/

[Rene "Zendokan" Gysenbergs]

I can only find a 6th Dan in Judo and Kyokushin, and a Master rank in SAMBO.
Nothing about ever training in Taekwondo, let alone obtaining a 9th Dan.

I know that 6th Dan and higher in Judo are on invitation only by the NGBs and only obtained for contribution to the spreading of Judo.
Probably Kyokushin has the same structure.
The Koreans give anyone a 9th Dan grade. Didn't President Obama also receive a honorary black belt in Taekwondo years ago, if I recall correct.

[Piff]

The Koreans give anyone a 9th Dan grade. Didn't President Obama also receive a honorary black belt in Taekwondo years ago, if I recall correct.

They actually give people a honorary first Dan. Like my master actually gave Stephen Harper (God I hate that guy, for people who don't know he' s the prime minister of Canada.) an honorary black belt, it had no stripes, no nothing. In fact I think the certificate even says "Honorary Black Belt."

To be fair though, Since returning to TKD after a 10 year absence, it almost definitely seems like they give everyone EVERY belt now a days.

[SLBC]

Didn't President Obama also receive a honorary black belt in Taekwondo years ago, if I recall correct.

Then it must be like when universities award important people with "honoris causa" doctorate titles. The person gets to be called a doctor because of his/her contribution to society, but it doesn't really have academic relevance.

[hungryjoe]

meh

We have as president a Nobel prize winning community organizer.

They have an ex KGP Colonel multiple black belt master hockey player.

.....

Russia wins again.

[Evergrey]

Necro tiiime!

The Russian government funds Russia's Kyokushin. Their fighters are paid to train full time. They depend on Putin. And they are not going to want to upset him, either. They're pretty much trapped depending on him.

It's honorary, he doesn't train in Kyokushin. He gets it because he funds Kyokushin there. That's a big part of why they kick ass internationally so much- it's their full time job, instead of something they do after work. Huge huge difference, of course! They are actually professional athletes, and some of the fights they do end up earning them big money.

In a lot of the rest of the world (but not all, this isn't exclusive to Russia) it is a hobby, not a career, and you actually PAY to fight, you sure don't get paid!

Pissing off Putin can be fatal, or it can land you in jail, and Russian prisons are nothing to scoff at, to put it mildly.

So they gave him an honorary 8th dan because they pretty much HAD to.