Julian Forbes (USA) Favorite Techniques

It is important to control your opponent's lead arm throughout this to avoid walking into a Jab

I found this quite effective in my later years of competition. The Feint Ura should be close enough to "sell" to your opponent as a "miscalculation of distance". He will usually react by moving in to try and capitalize on it, walking straight into your Mawashi. This should all happen in a very quick 1-2 combo. Your leg stays high, only bends at the knee as part of the missed Ura Mawashi follow-through, then quickly snaps back executing the Mawashi in mid air. You must be alert and concentrated enough to make distance and timing adjustments to match those of your opponent's.

(See above Photo) Such a simple technique and yet if you catch your opponent within the right distance, or "flat footed", it works like a charm... A variation of this is actually grabbing your opponent's wrist and pulling it down and towards you as you strike. This is a safer and more effective, but harder to do and if you're not successful the first time will alert your opponent to the probability of an attack from this sector.

Personally I execute this combination to the outside of my opponent's guard, although it can be effective on the inside also. It's just safer if you manage to turn your opponent away from you (back to you) where he has less options. Spring off the sweep to the outside, executing the 3 remaining attacks the second your front foot lands and plants itself. In fact, the Jab should land at almost the same instant as your front foot plants after the sidestep.

Again, you need to "sell" the Gyaku. This will bring his guard down and if he expects a Jodan kick at all, it will probably be on the opposite side from your Ura Mawashi. You are expecting him to move back a bit when your Gyaku is a bit short, which is why you're using your back leg for the Ura Mawashi. However, you should always be prepared to compensate. The trick also is to not fully withdraw your Yaku but to keep the hip moving forward which develops into the kick.

An "oldie" but still works if you manage to control the distance. Feint or real sweeps are always good ways of setting this Blitz, as it's called, up.

I love to sidestep either during or immediately after techniques. It is a far better place to be than directly facing an opponent's full arsenal. I strongly suggest a little Aikido training to enhance this ability. While Aikido practitioners rarely have training partners who know how to punch or kick as well as you (after all, that is our specialty) they do however have incredibly good footwork and avoidance moves which we can certainly borrow and adapt for our own purposes. I usually distract my opponent with either a feint sweep (tap the foot and propel yourself off that) or a full on sweep.

Many trainers will tell you to try and stick to nailing one technique. Another words, set up and land a gyaku-zuki, and then do the "check me out, wasn't that awesome" pose.... The logic being that it's easier for a referee to see. The other school of thought involves "Blitzing" your opponent, i.e. landing several powerful and well executed techniques in rapid succession before the referee has time to yell "yamea!" Again, opponents of this strategy claim it's harder for a referee to see the individual techniques and know if anything landed solidly. However, you'll notice that I said "....several powerful and well executed techniques..." Not sloppy unfocused garbage... So can you guess where I stand? Firstly, the Blitz will earn you more points... Secondly, it will intimidate and possibly discourage your opponent... Thirdly, it will show the referees a certain dominance on your part of your opponent that can psychologically sway them when deciding to award a "questionable" point later on in the fight.

While I don't support the use of only blitzes, I think they certainly have their uses and place if the opportunity arises.

On the subject of milking an opponent's accidental excessive contact in order to draw a penalty... While I acknowledge the importance of strategy to win a fight, I feel very strongly that although we are athletes competing in a "sport", we are also "Martial Artists" and should thus adhere to a code of ethics and honor that others may ignore. It's one of the things that makes us special. Let's not throw it away just to get a point. Apart from that it makes you look like a wimp. And when fighters have taken dives over face punches or kicks from me, it has just made me come back at them twice as hard to the body, usually dropping them with a gyaku or rib kick.

While most fighters stare each other in the eyes during a fight, I was taught early on to focus on the upper chest area instead. The thinking behind this is that you have a better peripheral vision of your opponent's entire arsenal (legs and arms) as well as throwing him off by not offering him the usual eye to eye contact. This is a totally personal decision, and one I made based on logic and the calibre of the person teaching it to me at the time. You must see what works for you.