By Gunner Masters
Martial arts is a term synonymous with combat and spirituality that every person has heard about through one media source or another. Often the arts are portrayed in movies, anime and art as a path to enlightenment and supernatural abilities. However, while the former is true to a degree unfortunately there is no way for a person to fly or shoot Kamehameha waves from their hands.
Knowledge and discipline are the spiritual goals of martial arts, especially in Kung Fu, Karate and other Eastern styles. The same can be said of those from the West that focus on chivalry and honor. And the martial artists from these areas trained for the battlefield or duels.
In modern times, martial arts have become more combat sport than battlefield focused. This can be seen in Boxing and the UFC and where recently Floyd Mayweather won his 50th straight victory against Conor McGregor in a boxing match. The referee called the match in the 10th round when McGregor showed signs of fatigue and took several good shots to the head and body to ensure his own health and safety.
The fight was portrayed as a clash of titans from different worlds and they payout ran into the hundreds of millions.
In film and television, martial arts take on another form as heroes and villains fight using flight, Ki-blasts and god-like speed. In the case of Bruce Lee, he was phenomenal at Kung Fu and used his fighting abilities to take on multiple opponents at one and some wielding everything from swords, pipes and nunchaku. However, these battles include graceful and flashy moves because of choreography and movie magic.
Reality is far quicker and often brutal.
Jeff Glant, 36, is a 4th Dan Blackbelt and Head Instructor at Muncie Mudokwan with over twenty years of training experience and some of that time spent fighting in the cage in smaller MMA circuits.
“Fictionally, there’s nothing wrong with it. It’s just storytelling,” he said as he began to unbind his knee brace from his leg in the changing room at Mudokwan. “Obviously, what works on movies doesn’t work in real life.”
“You see a lot of things that are pretty and high-flying, but it’s not real,” Glant said.
Glant’s experience in the dojang and elsewhere taught him what works for real life and what doesn’t. Those skills that he built over years came in handy when he had to defend himself for real.
Glant was on break from working the kitchen at J.D.’s Bar in Decatur, Ind. He sat at the bar while his friend, Michelle, worked the bar. The bar was empty besides them and two couples that went out for a few drinks. Then three men walked in and were visibly buzzed and ordered drinks from Michelle. She gave them their orders and they drank the alcohol away and became more inebriated.
“Fictionally, there’s nothing wrong with it. It’s just storytelling,” he said as he began to unbind his knee brace from his leg in the changing room at Mudokwan. “Obviously, what works on movies doesn’t work in real life.”They started harassing the couples at the pool table and tried to flirt with the women and became belligerent. Their boyfriends asked Glant, who was exhausted from working in a hot kitchen for most of the night to step in, but he told them, “You guys tell ‘em to stop, it’s not my problem.” The boyfriends confronted the drunks and they apologized, but they got loud and belligerent again. “All right guys. We warned you and you’re doing it again. So, please leave,” Michelle said. One of the men yelled, “I ain’t going anywhere!”, then slapped Michelle and knocked her down. Glant jumped out of his seat, ran up to Michelle’s attacker and pushed him into tables and chairs. “Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something moving and something told me to kick,” Glant said. He shifted slightly and picked up his leg, then launched his heel into another man’s chest. He toppled backward and fell over the pool table.

