u/miqv44

Hello again, thank you for giving me so many options in my last post about fighting someone posting hard with a high collar grip.

I'm competing soon and from extensive randori with my dojo mates I noticed a trend- if I pressure forward (even when baiting for counters to counter them) I usually get dragged, sasae'd, rarely tomoe nage'd or drop seoi'd.
I understand that judo generally is a martial art good against forward pressure, most techniques are fit for backfoot and pulling someone into them. If someone charges like a bull forward it's not good judo.

Can you recommend me which techniques have a chance working against someone who backs out a lot, tries their damnest to break my grip and uses reach advantage to either keep me away or hook my leg before I'm in range to counter it with any chance to trip them? Maybe recommend me a pro judoka to watch who deals well with people who keep distance a lot?

I know it boils down to "hey people can you help me beat someone better at judo than me, the fast and easy version", I am aware it's a bit of a stupid question.

edit: are there any good ways to force them to engage? In boxing I was either pretending to be tired (and droping the lead hand) to bait them to engage. Not sure if judo has similar tricks

edit2: I find the most success on ouchi gari from a circle setup. No idea how it's called professionally but as a big and strong (citation needed) guy I can force someone in a circular jank/pull to load the weight on one leg then ouchi gari it right after. I just struggle to get to a position that has a good grip and leverage to do that when they disengage a lot

Hi there hello.

On 19th I passed my green belt (6th kup) exam in ITF taekwondo here.

I'm not a fan of boasting about my achievements (above) or whining (8.2 bilion people on the planet yet no one asked) but I just wanted to say that my journey was pretty rocky:

1. During my second or third class back in February 2023 I slipped on my own sweat during apcha olligi, landed on my hip and it's been hurting ever since. Doctors didn't really find a reason why it still hurts and therapy only helps a bit so I basically live in daily pain since I started tkd.

2. An injury in judo 2 years ago messed up a ligament in the same leg so my left leg kicks look horrible in general and before exams I need to really push that limb in extra training to look somewhat decent.

3. Last year 3 days after my previous exam in taekwondo a joint capsule in the left foot (still the same leg) was damaged and it still likes to remind about itself from time to time with some pain. Recently someone stomped on that foot and it's been in a lot of pain.

4. I had very little support from my instructors especially early on. I trusted them when it came to preparations for my yellow belt exam and I failed because they said "nah 3 step sparring is not gonna be required in L-stance" and it was.

5. I trusted them with organising the exams too and it was just not happening. My first exam was 11 months after I started training. In kyokushin karate in that same timeframe I went from no belt to blue belt (0 -> 8th kyu) for comparison. And while it was an issue for me- kids in the dojang were also getting shafted, being extra motivated early on to go through the ranks but then getting burned out and leaving after months of no info about the exam. Reminder to all instructors and adults- kids experience the passage of time differently than we do. For me 3 months is like 3 weeks. For them it's an abstract future that might never come. I've been pushing instructors hard to organise exams ever since, despite it definitely creating some bad blood between us.

6. Annoyed with the lack of exam I went to a summer camp to grade there. 2 days before my grading exam I damaged my kneecap (different leg this time so one good news) and couldn't walk for solid 5 days. I lost a bunch of money, vacation days at work and I felt hollow after preparing so hard for it.

What's the point of all this whining above?
I want to say that you can keep going and slowly progressing even when life is throwing feces at your face. I did consider quitting many times, in fact without the support of one 9th dan grandmaster I would quit after that summer camp. But I like taekwondo. I like being a fat inflexible brick that can sidekick someone in the face with my good leg.

Next exam is gonna be my last one as for blue belt I gotta break a board with a jumping, up-facing front kick and realistically it's not gonna happen in this lifetime, even if I lost a bunch of weight and had some amazing progress in flexibility. But hey, we will see when we get there.

So to any beginners or others getting shafted by injury or life- if I made it almost halfway to the black belt then you bet your ass you can as well. Find some good ointment, release frustration on a heavybag, clench your teeth, blame and curse everyone who might have been partially a reason for the situation and you'll get there.

That's the Perseverance and Indomitable Spirit parts of the art we train. Even if some of my advice conflicts with other tenets :)

Cheers, have a lovely Sunday everyone.

Hi guys, I'd like to get one thing straight about the post/video from few days ago where a retired pro sumoka Chiyotairyū Hidemasa defeated a pro boxer Jorge Junior Menasalvas.

Great win for Chiyotairyū, man is still in good shape after retirement, I do not question the decision of the judges there. Sumo in this case won fair and square.

My issue is with a lot of people using this as an opportunity to shit on boxing. I know, why should I care- it's reddit, full of kids who don't train or "train ufc". Also in boxing you talk shit all the time, you learn how to dish out and take shit from others so I should just take it as a good boy and shut my mouth.

But hey, it's a discussion site so I'll leave it as food for thought.

Chiyotairyū managed to reach a rank of Komusubi, 4th highest rank in pro sumo wrestling. Obviously not the same caliber as Yokozuna, gods amongst men, but still there were like 93 komusubi ranked sumoka in the last 120 years or so. Meaning dude was a menace in pro sumo and would likely ragdoll amateur sumo world champions. Yes I'm aware he retired some time ago from sumo so his skills in mma definitely took a dive down.

Hopefully someone more knowledgable about sumo can correct me here if I'm wrong.

Lets look at his opponent, Jorge Junior Menasalvas.

5 won pro bouts.

2 against a tomato can 5-69 (nice) -3 guy who actually got DQ'ed during their second bout.

1 against a 1-0 guy

1 against a 1-3 guy

and last fight against a journeyman/gatekeeper 25-21

Not a terrible record for a promising contender. But he competed in boxing so far between November 2024 and November 2025. Still very much a green dude and you can see it on the video, throwing wild, innacurate punches, struggling with distance control and generally subpar technique. I'm not a betting man but I think most boxing gyms on the planet had more accomplished pros under their wing.

So we have a dude who was an university sumo amateur champ and competed in pros for 11 years becoming a decently ranked competitor against a dude who competed in his sport for a year. Sure, boxer has age advantage since there's like 13 years difference between them so it's not fully white-black situation.

My point is- context matters. If someone treats this video as an ultimate proof that sumo is great and boxing sucks- they might wanna go for a second take.

In my opinion it's a much more severe mismatch than the old Williams vs Ignashov fight, where a past his prime ex world champ in boxing got destroyed by a much younger kickboxing legend.

But hey, what do I know, apparently I'm a kid pretending to train ufc. Thank you for your time.