A new series that introduces the charm of MMA through two highly-curious women. No set cutoff date.
Do the Muscle: An empty gong has sounded on the ups and downs they'll experience in a world full of muscle-bound beasts.
My name is Momoko Otsuka. I'm 19 years old, and I work as a model while also going to school.
I'm Kana Inamura. I'm 22 years old.
I'm an editor at VICE.
MMA is the combination you get when you put lots of martial arts together.
Left leg, then jab.
You just have to tap it.
A boxer's body is the opposite of a model's body.
Don't hold back.
Karate probably has many techniques developed by professional killers.
It's very easy to apply in MMA, where anything goes.
Encouragement of MMA
Episode 2: Striking
Focus on the impact.
"Pow, pow, pow!"
Don't just put your arms out there.
Visualize making contact.
There's no one fixed form of striking in MMA.
MMA isn't a very old sport.
So fighters draw from many different disciplines.
Boxing, kickboxing, Thai boxing, karate. They do all of them.
Your fighting style depends on how you make those your own.
You're too low. Go for the face.
Front leg. Front leg.
There's a different pattern for each fighter.
If a fighter is good at striking, there's a style of fighting to take advantage of that.
But others take a more rounded approach.
Both types exist.
Stomach, face.
Stomach, face. That's it.
Turn, turn, turn. Okay, the other way.
Don't just throw your arms out. Watch.
Not like this.
You have to go for it.
Boxing is different from kickboxing and Thai boxing.
Boxing is, well, boxing. You only use your fists.
In kickboxing and Thai boxing, you can kick, elbow, and knee.
You use different parts of your body.
Your sense of distance is different, and so are the techniques you use.
But boxing is good for learning about movement and when to attack.
That's it!
Your right is strong, focus on your left.
The goal of having them learn boxing from Ms. Takano today...
...is for them to learn how you use your body in boxing, like how to punch.
That way they'll understand how these things are different when they try kickboxing, MMA, and karate.
That's another reason I'm having them box today.
Also, their teacher is both a boxer and a model. I want them to understand how a professional like her feels.
I hope that as a model, Momo can see her and realize what she needs to work on herself.
Hello. - Hello.
I'm Tomomi Takano, Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation Super-Bantamweight champion.
You're very beautiful.
Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you.
So, what do you want to do today?
We've been told that we need to be able to strike in MMA.
So we'd like you to teach us boxing techniques.
Okay then, let's do this together.
I began combat sports in middle school.
I was kickboxing, but I did it alone. I wasn't interested in fighting or watching other people's matches.
But a friend got me to watch boxing at Korakuen Hall.
It was a very pure thing, and it made me want to fight in the ring, too.
Okay, let's begin boxing.
Are you both right-handed? - Yes.
If you are, then put your right leg a little to the back.
This is the standard boxing stance.
Make sure to have your right arm up to guard.
Left leg, then jab.
This is the basic jab.
Jab. Jab. Jab.
Give it a little more when you're punching out.
When you first start boxing, this is all they teach you for the first three to six months.
It's really the most basic, important punch.
The reason we jab...
...is to keep your opponent from coming in. A shorter fighter wants to get inside.
Like a fighter does, by doing something like this.
But if you jab then, they can't do that.
Pay attention to your legs as you jab.
Move out with your leg... Then add your hands.
You use more than your arms to jab. You use your hips, too.
Imagine you have a tail.
And use that to whip your opponent.
If you punch from your hip like that, your body's weight will be in your jab.
You'll do more damage to your opponent this way.
From the hip...
Let's go one, two. Left, right.
Left, right. Turn with your right hip as you punch with your right arm.
Imagine there's a skewer going through your body from here.
Imagine you can only move your limbs like this, but that your body is fixed forward.
That's good.
From your hips.
Keep your body straight and just rotate your arms.
Just your arms. Hold your hips in place. Then add your left leg.
Raise your left leg when you face right, then vice versa.
Just turn like that.
Then gradually add your arms.
We're rotating our shoulders.
And as you do this...
...guard with your right arm.
Then left. That's a hook.
Just raising your leg a little like this will double the power of your punch.
Keep that in mind as you try this.
Don't get impatient...
Nice and strong. Let's keep going.
1, 2, 3. Jab, straight, hook.
1, 2, 3. You can stay there.
Wow!
That's great! She's amazing!
Hooray! -She's an inside fighter, she really is.
Ms. Otsuka has a very long reach.
She really extends with her right, and her straight punches looked great.
Ms. Inamura has a solid center of gravity.
She's able to stay grounded, like an inside fighter.
Ms. Otsuka seems more like an outside fighter who uses footwork to win.
That's how I'd classify the two.
Three more seconds, two, one...
Okay, flurry for ten seconds.
All right.
Oh man.
I don't have any stamina...
You're also a model, aren't you, Ms. Tomomi?
Yes, I do get some modeling work.
It's because I am tall.
How tall are you? - I am 167cm tall.
You are tall too.
Maybe it's better to call me a performer?
I go around the world together with women from 77 different countries for a beauty pageant.
By holding beauty pageants and going to impoverished areas, we brought more money to those areas.
That's the kind of work I've done in the past.
I've participated in global competitions five times and was selected as Miss Japan before.
I'm currently focused on boxing, which includes a lot of matches.
At times like that, even if I have an injury I just tape it up.
You constantly get injuries on your face, too. I have one right now.
People think I'm in an abusive relationship because of it.
They really think there's a problem with me.
I don't like that. A boxer's body is the opposite of a model's body.
If you have to lose weight for a fashion show in a week, that's easy.
Anyone can lose weight if they just don't eat.
But they'll look withered. It's not a healthy way of losing weight.
They won't have any stamina left, either.
When a boxer cuts weight, they do it while keeping the strength they've built.
So it's the opposite. You can't lose stamina when you lose weight.
I think your diet is the most important factor. That's true for modeling, too.
Your body is made from the food you eat. You can't allow for any excess waste.
It's about peak efficiency. You have the world's knowledge at your fingertips right now, so it's possible to teach yourself.
It takes two to box, so let's have you two spar in the ring.
Let me bat you aside.
The moment when they get thrown off is when you have your chance.
I get an opportunity just by tapping your glove aside.
You really just have to bat it away.
That's it, good. Your jab is straight, too.
Don't hold back.
Okay, start.
Keep moving, use your legs.
I was worried they wouldn't be able to do it, because it was their first time.
But they were quick learners and figured it all out within an hour.
They improved very quickly.
Okay.
As far as things to be careful of...
Your left guard is way down. It's okay in this situation, but...
...she has a long reach, so you need to be careful here.
I know it's a heavy glove, though. Also, when you punch like this, you stop for a moment after the second punch.
You have to pull out after punch two.
You have good reach. She's not very tall at all, right?
So she can't come inside. Understand?
Imagine you're in the opposite position.
If I'm jabbing like this you can't come in, can you?
If you want to make good use of your reach, try sparring with someone taller than you once.
You'll start thinking about how to deal with that and what techniques you can use yourself.
We're done!
Good work!
It was easy to understand.
Neither of us were very good at hooks...
...but when you taught us to rotate, our bodies learned how to throw them naturally.
Most people would normally throw us straight into sparring, without going over any details.
They'd say you have to experience a fight first.
But you taught us fundamental details, like how to move our feet and stay grounded.
I feel like I'll really be able to use those lessons.
There are a lot of different ways to teach, so you should pick the way that you can best learn from.
Check where your fingers are pointed. Are they facing forward?
Gradually point them upwards.
Point all of your fingers upward.
We begin with the same ideas that are behind styles such as tai chi.
Instead of using your brute strength, you use your awareness and breath in sync with your body.
From there, we move to practicing technical elements of karate.
When you face an opponent, you have to know what state your own body is in.
It's important to understand your situation when you're being attacked.
But it's easy to panic at those kinds of moments.
We do this to keep that from happening.
You can't think about it too much.
Karate was originally an art of self-defense.
It probably has many techniques developed by professional killers.
It's very easy to apply in MMA, where anything goes, which is why they're learning it.
Okay, time to go faster.
Keep your balance so that you're ready to attack as soon as you land.
Here we go.
Keep your stance like this and try to punch and kick.
You never end up fighting at this distance.
One person always comes in like this.
But if we use what we just learned...
If this hand is over here and you draw your left leg back...
Pull it back and you can knee her.
You can also knee her by moving out of the way over here.
You can also throw a low kick or a kick to the face.
There are lots of ways to move your hands. The "te" in "karate" means "hand," after all.
You can apply a lot of this to MMA.
They were very easy to teach and they learned quickly.
I guess these two have been doing jiu-jitsu for a while...
...but I assume this is their first time doing karate. Imitating what you see is very important.
Most people aren't able to do that.
But both of them tried imitating what they saw immediately.
More than anything, that attitude is what's great about them.
You should look and try instead of wanting to understand it first and freezing as a result.
In Japanese martial arts, we sometimes talk about "stealing" techniques rather than "learning" them.
That's exactly what they were doing.
That's it, good!
Boxing, kickboxing, Thai boxing, karate...
Everyone figures out their own mix to come up with their own form of MMA striking.
For example, a wrestler doesn't need to defeat opponents with punches.
They want to go for takedowns.
So they use their punches to set up their takedowns.
But if you want to KO your opponent, you have to go after them.
You have to select the kinds of punches and kicks you'll use.
You choose your techniques from the different disciplines available.
Both of them are motivated to get better.
You can tell when you see them spar.
They look nothing like they did in the beginning.
They're improving very quickly.
I think they can keep getting better.
Watch out with that high kick, your left guard is down.
This time around, we tried boxing and karate for the first time.
What did you think? - It's all striking, but...
...it was easy to learn from Ms. Takano.
Also, I feel close to her because we're in the same line of work.
So I liked the boxing better.
It was closer to the kind of fighting style I want to use.
I had a lot of fun doing karate.
Of course, boxing was fun, too, but karate was very close to the contemporary dance I've done before.
It involves a lot of creativity.
It brought back memories and was easy to do.