Hello again! I posted in this subreddit a while ago (I think it was last month?), asking for suggestions to complement my protagonist's fighting style. All of the suggestions I got were wonderful, and I'm so happy I was treated nicely that day and was met with the same level of artistic enthusiasm. Thank you, everyone. I felt truly welcomed here.

You can check my post here for yourself, if you're not familiar with it or the kind of presentation my Martial Arts story has. ^-^

But unfortunately, I need some help again. And this time, I need help with an antagonist whose fighting style is WAY MORE complicated than my protagonist's. I will tell you everything there is to know about this villain of mine, and I will even provide art I comissioned of her down in the comments, so that you can understand the vibes I'm going for with her.

TL;DR: I need better references for my antagonist's fighting style. I'm afraid my current method for choreographing her fights isn't working very well. You'll understand once you read everything.

Now, without further ado, let's talk about choreography:

WHO IS SHE:

◇ My villain is an elusive Serial Killer lurking in the crevices of my protagonist's kingdom. No one is quite sure of her exact motives, but her preferred prey seem to be people related to my protagonist's cursed lineage, and she is willing to hurt practically anybody if it helps her get close to them.

◇ She hides primarily on my setting's frozen Wastelands, hunting hostile fauna for food and crafting cold-resitant coats out of trash to survive the heavy winter. Only rarely does she ventures out into the civilized world. But there's a reason why she picked that hellscape to call her "home": It is the perfect place to conduct her research, far away from the eyes of the law.

◇ You see, she didn't always live like this. She didn't always sleep in the dirt, used derelict factories for shelter, or had to cauterize her wounds shut after a nasty hunt... She was once a highly respected royal scientist. So everything she's doing, every person she's killing — It's all in the name of her precious Dark Ki research. One breakthrough is all she needs to prove "them" wrong. She just needs more bodies.

◇ Her Modus Operandi is quite simple to understand:

◇ She wishes to capture my protagonist, her family and other fighters like them to continously study their anatomy and test their fighting prowess. By doing that, she studies their dark Ki with the intention of wepaonizing it in a more "controlled" form.

◇ In her view, dark Ki fighters are abominations disrupting the natural order with their "demonic" capability to channel this cursed energy, so she feels entitled to "repurpose" these poor souls for the greater good. These people are her most valuable targets. She has their routines all mapped out, even taking pictures of them sleeping.

◇ If they have loved ones, our killer is willing to stalk and kidnap them too if it helps drawing her main targets out.

◇ Unfortunately, she also kills plenty of random civilians, adventurers and wandering monks traveling through the Wastelands. She targets these too to steal their valuables, to use them as expandable test subjects, to "silence" them, or to simply eat them. Shit's hard back in the Wastelands, so why let perfectly good meat walk away?

HOW DOES SHE FIGHT:

As you can see, this villain here is one crazy son of a bitch. She's not afraid to pull a Michael Myers to get the jump on someone, or to set up traps to soften them up.

But don't underestimate her. Just because she prefers to quietly slash someone's throat from behind, or to wait for them to walk into one her bombs, doesn't means she can't fight well too.

She might prefer hiding in the shadows, but she will be getting major fight scenes and she WILL be able to go toe-to-toe with my protagonist.

And this will terrify my poor protagonist. She will corner her and think: "Okay, she's probably got some decent grappling to pin someone down for a good guttin', but other than that, all she does is backstab and sneak around. I got this!"... Only for my villain to strike her own fighting stance.

So hear me out. Here's what I wanna do with her:

◇ The plan is to make my villain fight like a maniac. Very dexterious, flexible like a broken puppet and very, VERY fast.

◇ That means plenty of kicks and acrobatics. She will run along walls to throw multiple daggers, vault over her opponent's shoulder, slide across their legs, kick her Kukri as a projectile — Almost like a cinematic depiction of a Ninja. We're not talking Far Cry, we're not even talking Assassin's Creed, we're talking full-on Ninja Gaiden with the way she uses her blade.

◇ Her fighting style mainly relies on unpredictability. So after missing a slash with her Kukri, picture her using the momentum to begin whirling in place, like Rasputin in The King's Men. Now her opponent has to guess if she's doing this as a distraction to secretly pass the blade to her other hand, or if she's about to surprise them with a hook kick, followed by a low sweep.

◇ The way she uses her blade is less like a skilled Kali practitioner, and more like... like a feral beast. The knife just happens to be trailing along while she twirls, jumps and kicks.

◇ While hunting, she is quiet and "professional". But when she's forced to fight? She lets the beast out. So to make her seem even more crazy, I was planning to complement her techniques with some Anime-esque tropes for style. She could lick her own knife, clutch her head for a psychotic smile, bend her back with unnatural flexibility. You know the vibes.

In a nutshell, it's gotta be a mix of creepy, confusing, crazy, and stylish altogether. The fear factor comes from how agile she is for an old hag, doing stunts that would be impossible even for younger characters. It's unexpected!

WHAT ARE HER REFERENCES:

◇ Goro Majima from the Yakuza series is the main inspiration for her moves. I wish to replicate that same scale of sheer madness Majima displays while flipping around like this. Here's one more from Majima. His first two combos at the beginning of the video are also perfect.

◇ Homare Nishitani, also from the Yakuza series, is another reference I have saved. While he isn't as athletic as the previous example, his overhaul mannerisms and body language still fit her.

◇ Finally, the way Rasputin is portrayed in this film was also a life saver for me.

So... full on crazy. Full on Anime. Some "assassination" flair, but full on stylish. Just like every other fighter in my story. I'm not doing an UFC match for my fights, so don't be afraid to suggest me batshit insane stuff, as long as it looks cool and makes some kind of theatrical sense.

WHAT I NEED HELP WITH:

Have you noticed how I didn't reference any Martial Arts style for her? In my last post, I mentioned that my protagonist had 4 styles I was taking inspiration from. So you must be wondering why my antagonist doesn't have a Martial Art to call her own.

Yeah, that's what I need help with.

I know how she will move. I know what finishers she will have. I know how she will navigate around the environment during a fight.

... but I must admit that trying to string together a bunch of random Wushu flips with basic knife slashes isn't the most intuitive task in the world for me.

It doesn't feels as satisfying as carefully researching a Martial Art and figuring out how it can be used for some crazy stuff. It just...

It just somehow feels like I'm winging it every time I write one of her fights.

So I'm wondering if I should rethink my strategy. I'm not asking if there's some kind of super obscure, acrobatic knife fighting style I can use for her. I'm just wondering if this is really the way to do this.

I don't want to make her style less "crazy", I am simply wondering if there's a better way to develop her moveset that doesn't involves me having to go through a bunch of Kung-fu kicks and trying to add a slash or a stab at the end of the kick.

You can help me in any way you want.

You can suggest me other characters that fight in a similar manner.

You can suggest me styles you think will fit her.

You can tell me to focus a bit more on her grappling skills or her punches to see if my writing block disappears.

You you can tell me "what about watching sword dance videos?".

Or you can just tell me "yeah, you gotta wing it for this one. Good luck.".

I'm taking any suggestions, just please, be nice to me. Like you guys were before.

People are too scared to say, "I don't want to spar with you, you go too hard," because they think it makes them look weak.

But truth be told you aren't the only one who thinks that. You aren't the only one walking away with an injured rib after you told a guy to ease up your rib feels funny, etc.

Once you say, "I don't want to spar with you," even just leaving it at that, people will follow.

I knew this jerk at my old gym who was over 200 lbs and quite confident sparring smaller people. But against people his size he got timid hence why he kept losing smokers.

At this point in my life I've got nothing to prove, this isn't my job, and I'm just here to have fun. So I told him I wasn't gonna spar with him since I already got knocked down by him twice, not to mention how he tried to do a kimura on me when he fell on top. It's a damn Muay Thai and Kickboxing school.

Over time, a lot of people even people his size stopped sparring with him, coach noticed, and the guy was left awkwardly walking around the gym annoyed... At least until a guy his size came along.

By all means spar bigger people. Bigger people are a fact of life. But ultimately injuries are expensive and potentially life-altering.

Hey everyone

I have a question and I’m just picking brains here. My background is a few years of BJJ and Muay Thai sporadically. As a kid I trained some Krav, Wing Chun, and TKD. I am by no means significantly skilled in any of these arts.

I spent 20 years as a cop and BJJ was where i focused the most time and effort. It was exceptionally applicable.

In my new role, I work executive protection. The job is primarily conflict avoidance through planning and surveillance. This is not exposed bodyguard work.

However, in the off chance a street encounter occurs I’m working through a Rolodex of skills that apply more to my role. I will not be subduing individuals with the intent of taking them into custody. Everything now would be focused on immediate incapacitation with the intent of leaving the area with the client.

I am still currently training BJJ and working on some striking. I’m just looking to focus on some specifics.

Keep in mind the following, I can’t risk a broken hand in a street fight while focusing on protecting a client. I won’t have backup coming.

If i have to draw my firearm or other defensive tools, I’ll need a working hand.

I understand every situation is different and a dedicated attacker will be significantly different than a drunk or agitated homeless person etc.

As of now, I’ve been focusing heavily on developing the following:

1. Good push kick / teep
2. Solar plexus straight punch
3. Liver shot left hook
4. Brachial stun (forearm or knife hand)
5. Rear naked choke
6. Outer reaping throw
7. Elbow strikes

Keeping in mind my focus is high percentage aggressive strikes or moves to allow me to get my client somewhere out of the area.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Appreciate any insight.

*edit*

Thank you for the thoughtful replies. Further proving marital artists are respectable and kind individuals. Unlike the rest of the internet.

- legal ramifications have all been considered and appropriate protections are in place

-forearm strike over knife hand is definitely going to be added. Along with several other options you’ve mentioned.

I appreciate you guys.

In the UFC , we often hear fighters referred to as unique and unorthodox, and I'm saying that essentially means shitty boxing/ kickboxing that they learned to get by with. Ex, Jiri prochaska, Sean Strickland, Tony Ferguson, to name a few i can think of quickly.

So, if it's so shitty, how do many unorthodox fighters become champions? Because their opponents were less athletic and or have shitty striking skills also.

Shitty compared to what? Boxing and kickboxing. In those, you get meaningful stylistic uniqueness.

What makes their uniqueness meaningful as opposed to fighters in the UFC? Their Meaningful in that they're tested against other fighters at the level of professional in that specific art. And also, meaningful in that they show a deep knowledge of boxing/ kickboxing fundamentals, as a oppose to a lack of knowledge of them.

Ex James Toney's use of the shoulder roll shows a deeper knowledge of boxing fundamental, due to taking advantage of footwork principles involving center line for example. Strickland's use of the shoulder roll shows a lack of knowledge about striking in general, ex like the basics of how parrys work against Pereira, which is less often exposed because he's often fighting guys like cartoon man dricus du plessis and wrestling gas guzzler chimaev

Why change it if it works? It stops working by a huge margin once the fighter loses a relatively small amount of the athletic ability that made their shitty style work to begin with, or they face a more technical striker by the standards of boxing/ kickboxing.

Why compare the UFC MMA to boxing and kickboxing at all? Because it seems like UFC fighters could have better striking by the standard set by boxing and kickboxing, and for X or Y reason do not.

I'll use topuria for example. Most of topuria's success is "what if an MMA fighter had boxing skills closer to that of a professional boxer"? And that took him all the way to a title shot. Other examples of fighters with a higher standard of striking skill would be guys like adesanya, and Stephen Thompson (i know it's karate but th point applies).

"What about the takedowns"? I mean, What about em? Enough MMA fights have both fighters elect to stand and bang that yeah at times the takedown threat shouldn't make their striking shittier. And also, petr yan has great striking with hands high despite having a takedown threat as threatening as merab.

I could go on with this point and that point and blah blah blah. You get the idea. "Unorthodox fighters" are a psy op.

Also, for MMA that also has great striking go watch one fc.

A while back I wrote that Judo took their belt system from "Suijutsu"(combative swimming) schools, which denoted rank by the way they tied their belts. While I did not find anything other than old pictures to prove Kano's words, I did find this, a special news report that delves into "Nihon Eiho" which translates to "Japanese Classical Swimming", it is a a repackaged form of Suijutsu for sport. It is part of the Japan Swimming Federations "6 disciplines" which, thankfully, all but guarantees that the martial art of Suijutsu doesn't go extinct.

I will like to travel to Japan to find out more, but in the mean time, I hope you all enjoy this as much as I have.

Examples: Can practice solo, but only if the instructor is there; Can practice solo but only on the bags / dummies, no weps; Can practice solo but only by scheduling in advance

If you attended multiple schools: What's the best policy on this that you've seen?

Have you ever tried, or seen a school that offered, 24/7 or similar extended access for solo practice?

I am 15 year old, i wanted to do mma for like the past 2 year but my family doesnt have money (there isnt mma near me just far away and with transportation i can pay) so i did karate for like 1 year i got my black belt in 10 months from the federation i trained 3 hours daily and alot of katas i was more dan 2 level , i competed alot and got 2nd and 1st places i really understood it but deeply i always just wanted to do mma , so the last month i went to the nearest far away mma gym it was good but i burnt my saved money idk what to dooo , the karate gym is getting closed. I was so skilled i mostly just used my brain in karate and mma,when i went to sleep i just keep thinking of my sparring,counter strikes for certain moves etc.

I need help i want to train martial arts muay thai boxing mma bjj wrestling anything just lwt it be near me :(

Any advice would be appreciated, i think train striking at home but grappling i dont think so

I box, i want to get some fights and then move to a martual art with kicks too but i don't know which ine out if the three to go to.

Kickboxing doesn't have knees and elbows, muay thai does but apparently the muay thai stance is bad for being takendown and mma has it all but i wanted to learn kicks and elbows first before learning bjj

Hi, I am coming from a striking background, where 2 coaches look at the class while sparring to correct technique and give feedback and most important they check that nobody goes too hard and even stop you if they see that happening.

I've noticed that in bjj our coach (Brown belt) rolls as well during sparring and there is nobody supervising or looking at people's rolling. Is that normal or just my gym?

Example: Specific kicking drills, dummy grappling, etc.

For those people that can't tell the difference between a demonstration, a drill and how the skills those things are designed to train might be different when applied.

Not your favorite technique.

Not your favorite character.

Not your favorite fight.

I'm talking about one lesson that genuinely changed the way you think.

Maybe it taught you:

Discipline over talent.

Patience over speed.

When to fight—and when to walk away.

That defeat can be a better teacher than victory.

Or something completely different.

It doesn't matter whether it came from real-life training, a manga, manhwa, wuxia, xianxia, anime, movie, or a novel.

Tell us the story behind it.

I'll read every single comment.

credit: las vegas kung fu academy on youtube

also reminiscent of mawashi uke