The Martial Art the Warsaw Pact Trained With — And Almost Nobody Knows

In 1988, North Korean military instructors traveled to East Germany to teach a combat system most of the world has never heard of. East German airborne troops trained in it. Polish soldiers trained in it. It was called Kyeok Sul Do — or Gjogsul, depending on which side of the Iron Curtain you were on.

This is not a historical curiosity. It is a martial art still practiced today, still tied to the ideology that created it, and still almost entirely opaque to outside observers.

The full analysis, including the only authentic footage released by North Korean state media, is on Dojo and Ring.

Read: Juche Kyuksul: When a Martial Art Becomes an Ideology.

The Hidden Reason Fighters Gas Out Before the Final Round

Conditioning matters. But there is a reason some fighters look fresh in the fifth round while others are visibly struggling after the second, even when both have trained equally hard. The answer is not aerobic capacity. It is structural organization, specifically how efficiently a fighter transmits force through the body and returns to a ready position between efforts. Before your next training session, read this. It will change how you watch a fight, and how you prepare for one.

Read the full article on Dojo and Ring.

The Fight That Never Happened: Inside the Mayweather-Zambidis Cancellation

The Mayweather-Zambidis exhibition was cancelled days before it was due to take place, brought down by a legal dispute that shut down tickets, promotion, and distribution in one move. Greek veteran Mike Zambidis had done everything asked of him. The system around him had not. Full breakdown at dojoandring.com.

Cambodia Shows Its Hand: A Martial Art the Khmer Rouge Banned Is Now Going Global

On June 27, 2026, four Kun Khmer bouts were broadcast worldwide for the first time from the Kombat Stadium in Phnom Penh. An art with roots in the 9th century, banned and hunted under the Khmer Rouge, suddenly found itself on an international stage alongside Kombat Taekwondo. What exactly were we watching in that ring?

Full analysis at Dojang Club.

The Hidden Reason Fighters Gas Out Before the Final Round

Conditioning matters. But there is a reason some fighters look fresh in the fifth round while others are visibly struggling after the second, even when both have trained equally hard. The answer is not aerobic capacity. It is structural organization, specifically how efficiently a fighter transmits force through the body and returns to a ready position between efforts. Before your next training session, read this. It will change how you watch a fight, and how you prepare for one.

Read the full article on Dojo and Ring.

The Fight That Never Happened: Inside the Mayweather-Zambidis Cancellation

The Mayweather-Zambidis exhibition was cancelled days before it was due to take place, brought down by a legal dispute that shut down tickets, promotion, and distribution in one move. 

Greek veteran Mike Zambidis had done everything asked of him. The system around him had not. 

Full breakdown at dojoandring.com.

The Fighter Who Invented the Low Kick Game

There are fighters who win titles. And then there are fighters who change the way a sport is played. Rob Kaman was the second kind.

For two decades, the Dutch-Moroccan kickboxer competed at the very top of kickboxing and Muay Thai, collecting nine world championships and delivering knockouts with every weapon available to him. His stance-switching style was revolutionary. His low kick was a weapon unto itself. His nickname, Mr. Low Kick, was not branding. It was a technical statement about how he approached a fight.

A new documentary traces his career from first bout to final fight, covering his championship runs, his greatest moments inside the ring, and his appearances in action films alongside Jean-Claude Van Damme.

For anyone serious about combat sport history, or simply about understanding how the low kick became the weapon it is today, this is essential viewing.

The full article, with a deeper look at what made Kaman's technical approach so ahead of its time, is on dojoandring.com.

Read the full article on dojoandring.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Belt You Can Only Win by Knockout: Lethwei's Golden Belt Explained

The Lethwei Golden Belt operates by rules that most combat sports abandoned long ago: the only way to win it is by knockout.

No judges decide who takes it home. No points accumulate over five rounds to tip the balance. If both fighters are still standing when the final bell rings, the title stays where it was. A draw. No winner declared.

In an era when championship belts multiply faster than they are defended, this one works differently. A 21-year-old became the youngest openweight champion in history and defended it 18 times. A Canadian fighter broke a thousand-year tradition to claim it. And the rule governing everything remains unchanged: to be the king, you have to stop the king.

Read the full article on dojoandring.com