He’s a white belt, so still very much at the beginner phase. He’ll also almost definitely be one of those celebs that only does privates and rarely spars.
He’ll almost definitely have strength and size at his disposal, but in terms of fighting, we’ve already kinda established what would happen at UFC 1. A skilled bodyguard would (I really hope) have solid grappling knowledge, alongside striking.
And a gun (since this probably is the US). Why go to the ground with an unknown person, and risk a stabbing injury when you can threaten someone with a gun?
“Yeah, and I heard the sensei at his dojo was the cousin of one of Bruce Lee’s students. And, like, umm, this one time, this other sensei that came and did a guest leseson with them? He totally said that he knew the pressure chakra chi points that can superkill someone, with only one finger. But he said that we weren’t wise enough for him to teach us that, yet.”
I hasten to add that this is sarcasm, just in case people aren’t paying attention. And everyone, please don’t worship martial arts. It’s just so far beyond cringe.
Any type of “ooo, buT he D03s BJJ, tho” comment counts. Martial arts, in general = cringe throwback 1980s nonsense. If you’re still talking about that shit, in any context outside of the actual sport, inside an octagon, you are just making everyone fucking cringe. Fact.
Having undergone any sort of training is useful, especially, I’d imagine, if you’re a celebrity. Jason Momoa knowing some Jiu Jitsu, whether he’s sparring or not, gives himself another layer of security, if he’s paid attention and attends class diligently.
Knowledge in basic boxing fundamentals, distance management, and wrestling and grappling techniques are very useful in altercations. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is just one branch of grappling.
None of that is “cringe”.
Have you ever had to defend yourself in a hand-to-hand fight? Training is important and can potentially save your life.
That’s not a “cringe” thing to say either, it’s a fact.
I’m sure your dad could beat up my dad, too. And if you think the F40 is a cooler car than the Countach, that’s also fine. And your Sega Genesis has more Blast Processing than my SNES.
Just, whatever. All the cliché nonsense you want, I’ll just agree with it, because I’m tired of the conversation. You’re stuck in 1989 and I’m not. We’ll just agree on that.
But seriously, I shouldn’t have gone off on you. I apologize for being so snarky. The thing is, I would never go and tell anyone “oooh, martial arts = cringe” inside of a martial arts community. I just think it’s wack to talk about celebrities beating people up, with their mad MMA skillz. At the very least, the person I replied to was taking the meme way more seriously than any meme really deserves. In fact, there’s a whole bunch of way-too-super-serious discussion, under this meme.
Yeah, that’s kinda what I was going for. Arguing about which celebrity could beat up everyone with their mad elite martial arts skillz is absolutely on brand for that movie.
Never underestimate your opponent, especially a stranger in the public you’ve never met before.
I have a friend who is a retired military police officer. He is built like a tank, tall muscular and intimidating.
He’s the one who taught me never to underestimate anyone. He man handled, beat and fought countless people. But he also admitted that he’d been beaten bruised and hospitalized by people shorter and weaker than him.
When you fight someone in public, you never know who you’re dealing with … he could be an untrained jerk like you and me … or they could be a 150 lb MMA fighter and highly trained martial artist with expert training.
Or the person you’re fighting could have a knife, a pencil, a screwdriver, a piece of glass or their friend or friends you didn’t see or believed wouldn’t interfere all jump you and beat you to a pulp.
For sure the probability of a dandy actor to be match for a psicho, who is preparing since who knows when, for the kill is really high. /s
You know people tend to specialise in a field of activity for a reason. I will go with the punny but we’ll trained and conditioned bodyguards over the “imposing tank” who is said to be tough right about… any time!
The difference is that the short man in the suit has professional liability insurance.
If someone tries some dumb shit and gets a pavement facial Moama can almost certainly beat an assault charge, but civil injury claims are notoriously bad if you’re rich. An ambulance chaser will offer to take the case for free and be such a pest that its worth $100k to Moama to make him fuck off.
The little guy can sit there in court, dispassionately explaining that he felt his client was in danger and let the ambulance chaser argue with an insurance company (and we all know how much they love cutting cheques).
Also sure, Mamoa is a big guy and fit, but he’s an actor, right? Not a fighter?
It’s kind of like how Nick Offerman said in an interview once. Everyone sees him as this manly man because of the roles he plays and because he wood-works. But he’s from a real “country” family. A rural farming community where everyone was self-sufficient and real “manly” men type. He’s the one who wanted to be an actor who never has to work with his hands again.
What I’m saying is those men have jobs where they protect people from physical violence with physical violence. Jason Mamoa pretends to hit people on camera.
Lol right, every time I see all these macho guys on camera and in the press, I remember the kids in drama club in highschool. These are those kids grown up
Yeah IDK about that, I don’t think you can act a fake fight convincingly without having at least some actual skill. The moves they use are always derived from actual martial arts, the only difference is that your partner knows ahead of time what’s going to happen and how to react, and you don’t hit them to hurt. But I’m pretty sure you could figure that part out pretty easily if push comes to shove.
As long as he’s fighting an untrained opponent who’s shorter than him, my money would be on Mamoa. And even if he’s trained I’d still bet on him unless we’re talking about one of the Gracie’s.
I’ve taken H2H, rapier, short sword and shield, sword and dagger and a few other stage combat classes in both UK and US — and then in production you usually just get “any old sword” (usually a heavy one, as Tybalt in R&J they gave me this really fancy grip with a finger hole for my index, but it made supranative positions difficult)
You’re right in that they are based on real combat — you learn fencing footwork and guards, but also you’re learning a mix of slight of hand (how to “knap” - fake the sound of hitting /being hit while reacting like its real), and safety instructions. As someone who came from ballroom to jazz/modern dance to acting, it’s more like dance, especially freeform contact improv dance, than it is like actual fighting.
I imagine in real fights-to-the-death there’s a lot less concern about safety, distancing and the lines your body draws in movement, and more about hurting the other fellow as efficiently as possible.
I mean, I figure you gotta have good hand/eye coordination, sufficiently swift movement, and relatively good accuracy as well so as not to unintentionally hurt the other guy by actually landing a punch correctly.
It would seem that the only difference between fight acting and actually fighting is where you aim and with what intention. And while that might become somewhat of a habit that can be difficult to break, I imagine getting a good punch to the face would snap you out of it pretty quickly.
not a huge expert so people might offer better context or explanation here. I just know enough to be in Shakespeare, really so -
in a way, yes, but also - how often does pronation-prime into moulinet into brisé occur in real life? but you see it a lot in fight choreo. it’s entirely theatrical. Same for the amount of banderole cuts you see (looking at you - The Witcher!) - when in reality the vast amount of blood drawn would be from the thighs and shoulders as most guards protect the trunk and head.
then comparing “real” fighting to fencing - depending on the weapon things like legs and head aren’t point-scoring contacts so nobody attacks them in the sport. in real life, you wouldn’t hesitate to cut at someone’s head.
H2H experts might chime in here but I imagine a straight up punch to the nose is a lot less successful in real life compared to movies for example…
Of course it makes a difference whether you’re pretending or doing for real, but what I’m saying is that pretending is already half of the battle.
Boxers don’t just spar in the ring all day, they practice shadow boxing to get their moves right. Other martial arts have katas or training forms for the same purpose. Those are all forms of pretend fighting, with the purpose of training correct body mechanics.
I would assume for instance, that when you’re stage fighting, you probably still throw your whole body into a punch so that it looks like it would hurt even though it doesn’t connect. If you’re just flailing your arms like a grade schooler on his first day at the playground, you’re just not going to convince anybody.
And if you can pull of a convincing haymaker and purposefully not hit the other guy’s face, you’re literally six inches away from doing so, which is miles ahead of anyone who hasn’t practiced at all. All you gotta do is adjust your aim a little, and not immediately give up if you do get hit back. But with a guy the size of Mamoa I’m not too worried about the latter.
all fair points but one final thing I would say is that taking a hit from someone going for you is an important part in training. That’s why you always see that scene where the young padawan or trainee etc is beaten by the old Master.
In fight choreo getting really hit means everyone slams on the breaks immediately. It’s no good knowing all the moves if the moment someone is on par with you you’ve never experienced taking a hit before — no matter how much protein and reps you do.
Fair enough, that certainly is a bigger difference between what actors train for vs. what fighters train for.
But like I said, I’m fairly confident a guy the size of Mamoa could take a hit or two without fainting right away, even if it’s not something he regularly trains for.
to clarify, I meant it looks and feels like contact improv (the so-named discipline of dance, not to be confused with improv comedy etc) not that it was improvised.
If a crazy fan rushes him for a hug, you dont know if they have a knife. It sounds outlandish but Monica Seles was stabbed by a deranged fan of her rival in 1992 in the middle of a tennis match. Nutcases happen. So he pushes them away, no harder than you or I would if some rando rushes us for a hug. They trip, fall and “hurt their back”.
Now he has an assault allegation on a woman a foot and a half shorter than him who just wanted to get a photo with him and he looks like an enormous asshole. Now that charge wont go anywhere in court because its essentially baseless, but a civil judgement over wether or not he is responsible for her injury is another story.
Do you think an insurance company would charge you the same as a celebrity? You sit around the house where a Cheeto in the windpipe is the most dangerous thing you encounter.
And if Everytown and MDA get their way, the entire world. Poor people don’t deserve rights anyway, they should be subjugated by the rich because clearly the rich are better and more important than you poors, right?
They’re not his bodyguards. They’re there to hold him back as long as they can while you run away. This is not to give you an chance to escape, but because he gets disappointed and sad if the hunt is over too soon.
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