When a Champion Says "That's Enough" — The Spence Retirement Explained

The most important moment of Errol Spence Jr.'s last fight was not a punch. It was the sentence he said into the microphone when it was over.

"I got my faculties intact. My money is good and working for itself. It is time to go home to my family."

Spence had just lost a unanimous decision to Tim Tszyu in Sydney. He was 36 years old, returning after three years away from the ring, fighting two weight classes above where he had made his name. He lost clearly. He knew it. And then he did something that separates him from most fighters who reach the end of a great career: he stopped.

The full fight breakdown — twelve rounds, the numbers, what they mean, and what Spence leaves behind — is on Dojo and Ring.

The Hidden Power Source Most Muay Thai Fighters Neglect

Ask ten Muay Thai fighters what makes a powerful roundhouse kick, and nine will talk about the legs. They're not wrong — but they're only telling half the story.

The other half lives in a part of the body most fighters underestimate: the core. Not the six-pack you can see, but the deep network of muscles that stabilize the spine, transfer rotational force, and keep you standing when someone drives a knee into your midsection at close range.

We've published a complete breakdown on dojoandring.com — covering what the core actually is, why weak core mechanics lead to back injuries and lost power, and the 10 best training methods used by serious fighters worldwide.

Worth your time. 👉 [Dojo and Ring]

The Fighter Who Wakes Up When the Stakes Are Real

Every gym has one. The practitioner who drifts through drills, whose technique looks uncertain in slow work, who never quite seems present during partner exercises.

Then the timer starts. And that person becomes someone you would not want to face.

This is not a mystery. The neuroscience behind it is well documented, and the coaching implications are significant. The full article is on Dojo and Ring.

The Fighter Who Wins Without Knowing Why

There is a kind of success more dangerous than failure: the victory that belongs to the ruleset, not to the fighter.

In martial arts competition, every scoring system defines what "counts." And the competitor who wants to win learns very quickly to optimize exactly those actions — not the ones that would serve them outside the ring.

The full article looks at why this happens, what the systems that have lasted over time do differently, and what separates the fighter who uses the rules from the one who serves them.

Read the full article at dojoandring.com.

 

 

 

 

 

The Martial Art the French Colonial Army Feared Most -- And Never Fully Destroyed

In the borderlands between Vietnam and Cambodia, a fighting tradition took shape that combined animal-style kung fu, spirit possession rituals, and guerrilla warfare into something the French colonial military spent decades trying to suppress. The Bảy Thưa rebellion held a fortified swamp position against rifles and artillery for an entire day. The fighters carried talismans. They entered battle in altered states. They did not appear to fear death.

This is not mythology. It is documented history -- and the combat system behind it, Thất Sơn Thần Quyền, is still practiced today in Vietnam and in diaspora communities across the world. Read the full article on dojoandring.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Russian Middleweight Who Studied Floyd Mayweather on VHS and Never Lost a Fight

The Russian Middleweight Who Studied Floyd Mayweather on VHS and Never Lost a Fight

There is a short list of world champions who retired undefeated. There is an even shorter list of those who did so because injury forced their hand, not age, not politics, not a bad night in the ring.

Dmitry Pirog belongs to that second list.

Twenty wins, zero losses, fifteen knockouts. A WBO middleweight title won by knocking out one of the most talented prospects in the division. And a scheduled fight with Gennady Golovkin that never happened, leaving a question the sport still cannot answer.

What made Pirog remarkable was not just his record. It was the way he built it. He learned to box by watching VHS tapes alone, without a trainer, dissecting the movement of Sugar Ray Leonard and Floyd Mayweather until he understood not just what they did but why. That self-taught foundation produced something rare: a puncher who thought like a chess player, a pressure fighter who never stopped defending, and a middleweight whose uppercut worked equally well at every distance.

The full technical breakdown of how Pirog fought, what made his shoulder roll different from everyone else's, and why analysts still compare him to James Toney when discussing defensive craft, is on Dojo and Ring.

The African Combat System That Only Knows One Thing: How to Put You on the Ground

There is a reason Dambe boxing from northern Nigeria looks more like ancient warfare than a modern sport: because that is exactly what it is. Spear for attack. Shield for defence. No time limit. One decisive blow. The full breakdown — history, technique, and the major commercial turn — is live on Dojo and Ring. 

There is a reason Dambe boxing from northern Nigeria looks more like ancient warfare than a modern sport: because that is exactly what it is. Spear for attack. Shield for defence. No time limit. One decisive blow. The full breakdown — history, technique, and the major commercial turn — is live on Dojo and Ring. [Read more →]

There is a reason Dambe boxing from northern Nigeria looks more like ancient warfare than a modern sport: because that is exactly what it is. Spear for attack. Shield for defence. No time limit. One decisive blow. The full breakdown — history, technique, and the major commercial turn — is live on Dojo and Ring. [Read more →]

There is a reason Dambe boxing from northern Nigeria looks more like ancient warfare than a modern sport: because that is exactly what it is. Spear for attack. Shield for defence. No time limit. One decisive blow. The full breakdown — history, technique, and the major commercial turn — is live on Dojo and Ring. [Read more →]

When the World Champion Leaves on a Stretcher: Notes from the JFKO All Japan 2026

At the 10th JFKO All Japan Full Contact Karate Championship in Tokyo, the reigning WFKO world heavyweight champion entered as top seed and did not make the final four. Yuta Goto was eliminated by ippon in the quarterfinals and carried from the arena. In knockdown karate, a world title is context, not protection.

Shinkyokushinkai claimed nine of the ten available titles across men's and women's divisions. Tatsuya Enda won the heavyweight crown. Tenshin Sawai took the lightweight title for the second time. Three hundred and fifty-four competitors. Two days. No margin for error.

Full report, results, and analysis at dojoandring.com.