Shai Hulud
Purple Belt
Hello, MT.
Now there isn't a lot of material out there on the Keysi Fighting Method mainly due to its young age and lack of published articles on the subject. Its basic principles are pretty straightforward, most of which, at least in theory, are borrowed from Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do, western boxing, Wing Chun, and contemporary street-fighting. It's a hybrid style that claims to be specifically designed for use in the street (or anywhere where you have to use it, really) and a real no-nonsense approach to self-defense. I've personally worked with KFM for a solid two years (I've since moved on to pursue graduate school overseas; I'm training in Sambo now) and a few months, and while I'm still a module short of elite-level proficiency I've grown to appreciate its key concepts. At its heart it's a close-range style, up-close and personal with a heavy emphasis on hand/elbow and knee combatives. The line between striking and grappling are blurred as techniques intended for blocking become chambering mechanisms for immediate response, or strikes in themselves similar to hard locks with impact.
The most typical example of this, and as shown in the video link provided above, is the Pensador guard the KFM builds so much on. By adjusting your upper extremities, upper back, shoulders and core when deflecting an incoming upper body strike or high-level kick, the Pensador allows you to chamber the far hand and immediately counter. Nothing special or original, but for the purposes and circumstances that KFM covers, it works quite well. Despite its simplicity though, its sometimes unorthodox or seemingly Hollywood-style (most famously on the recent Batman trilogy) approaches to combat like in this example draw flak. I'll admit that at times it's also left wanting in terms of how to deal with a proficient kicker, or an uppercut with the Pensador guard active.
From my experience with KFM, its training methods parallel what you see in Krav Maga and Russian Systema curricula. Other training methods popular in the world of Mixed Martial Arts are also tapped into as they should be - work with the heavy bags, speed and medicine balls, all that. The difference lies really in its fight philosophy: how founder Juego Dieguez selected specific techniques to borrow and his criteria for doing so in light of his approach to street-fighting. It's still a style in its infancy in spite of its claim to having all angles covered and is still very much making small adjustments and tweaks as it goes along.
Anyone else here had any experience with Keysi? I would love to hear what the MT Community thinks of this unorthodox (albeit lackluster, according to its critics) fighting style.
Now there isn't a lot of material out there on the Keysi Fighting Method mainly due to its young age and lack of published articles on the subject. Its basic principles are pretty straightforward, most of which, at least in theory, are borrowed from Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do, western boxing, Wing Chun, and contemporary street-fighting. It's a hybrid style that claims to be specifically designed for use in the street (or anywhere where you have to use it, really) and a real no-nonsense approach to self-defense. I've personally worked with KFM for a solid two years (I've since moved on to pursue graduate school overseas; I'm training in Sambo now) and a few months, and while I'm still a module short of elite-level proficiency I've grown to appreciate its key concepts. At its heart it's a close-range style, up-close and personal with a heavy emphasis on hand/elbow and knee combatives. The line between striking and grappling are blurred as techniques intended for blocking become chambering mechanisms for immediate response, or strikes in themselves similar to hard locks with impact.
The most typical example of this, and as shown in the video link provided above, is the Pensador guard the KFM builds so much on. By adjusting your upper extremities, upper back, shoulders and core when deflecting an incoming upper body strike or high-level kick, the Pensador allows you to chamber the far hand and immediately counter. Nothing special or original, but for the purposes and circumstances that KFM covers, it works quite well. Despite its simplicity though, its sometimes unorthodox or seemingly Hollywood-style (most famously on the recent Batman trilogy) approaches to combat like in this example draw flak. I'll admit that at times it's also left wanting in terms of how to deal with a proficient kicker, or an uppercut with the Pensador guard active.
From my experience with KFM, its training methods parallel what you see in Krav Maga and Russian Systema curricula. Other training methods popular in the world of Mixed Martial Arts are also tapped into as they should be - work with the heavy bags, speed and medicine balls, all that. The difference lies really in its fight philosophy: how founder Juego Dieguez selected specific techniques to borrow and his criteria for doing so in light of his approach to street-fighting. It's still a style in its infancy in spite of its claim to having all angles covered and is still very much making small adjustments and tweaks as it goes along.
Anyone else here had any experience with Keysi? I would love to hear what the MT Community thinks of this unorthodox (albeit lackluster, according to its critics) fighting style.
