76 – Why You Should Listen to the Interviews AND the Fight Studies (Patreon)

We have essentially two shows on the Southpaw podcast feed. There's one where I interview people, then the other is where we analyze MMA fights. Half listen for the interviews, the other half just to the fight studies. But in my mind, they work taoistically. It's two parts of the same whole. They go hand in hand and you need both to really get what the Southpaw project is about. 

So this is my Leftist/antiracist case for listening to both, especially if you have never trained.

One of the best ways to really learn something is to look at an event, then analyze the event (some might call this the Marxist approach). With analysis, you have the luxury of hindsight, which is an advantage in learning. This I find doesn't just work in politics but all things, including combat. And combat is just interpersonal power politics. This is another concept from taoism, find the one approach that works for all things.

If you're at a place in your life and your skin color is such that you will never have to worry about your safety, no need to watch MMA if you feel morally opposed to it. But a lot of people ask us about instructionals or good resources for learning how to fight/defend yourself. And in my opinion, outside of learning in person, there's no better way than watching actual fights. You see "instructional" and you think "Well, the point is to instruct so this must be the best resource." I disagree.

Again, outside of in person, I think watching a real prizefight followed by either watching an analysis of the fight or listening to an analysis or participating in our live discussions that we hold in our Facebook group are some of the best ways to learn.

People think instructionals are good for beginners and watching fights are for the advanced but it's actually the opposite in my experience. Fights create the fluency to make the language of instructionals make sense. If you've gone to a seminar as a white belt or have taken a private lesson as a white belt, only when you're 4 or 5 years in the art do you realize what a waste of money that was. Because you didn't have the ability to understand any of it. So what do your trainers tell you? Just to roll or spar, then watch the instructionals later. Well if you can't do that in person, then watching fights is the next equivalent.

If I want to learn the specific set up of a specific fighter, I will get their instructional. If I just want to see fighting in all its variations and just get a sense of the language, I watch fighting. This is why since the UFC, the overall level of street fights have changed even though participants are not trained. Because they've seen enough fights and some of the techniques have sunk in. They developed some rudimentary fluency. And let me tell you, the fascists and racists are developing this fluency. But developing this fluency by watching real fights is just not something instructional DVD companies will advertise. 

So why is that important for the non-privileged? Because if you are marginalized, your life is literally at risk. Especially based on where you live and if you are an activist or not (or maybe you just recently joined the protests and felt in danger when white supremacists showed up).

Furthermore, based on where you live and your life circumstance, there might be no safe place to train and/or you can't even afford to train. And since many of us are involved in activism and training in person in a pandemic is also not safe, this leaves us only with video.

Then this is why watching prizefights along with analysis is an essential need right now. So if you are interested in defending yourself, if you are new to martial arts but involved in activism and need something, please join our live discussions. And also if you have the need or the time, watch some of the fights then listen to some of our analyses. Develop at least a little fluency in combat. 

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We can't continue to produce important episodes like this one without your solidarity. There is no Southpaw without you and your financial support. In return, not only do you help produce the show but you also get access to more great content. It's mutual aid. Join Team Southpaw on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/southpawpod 

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