What Your Elbow Knew Before It Ever Threw a Punch

Every fighter who has ever thrown an elbow in a Muay Thai gym is repeating a decision made centuries ago by a soldier who had already lost his sword.

That is not a metaphor. It is closer to a literal inheritance. The techniques that define modern Muay Thai — the elbow, the knee, the clinch — were not designed in a gym. They were designed on the battlefields of medieval Siam, by fighters who needed an answer for the moment weapons failed and the fight became a matter of bare limbs and close range.

The full story involves a captured fighter who won his freedom from an enemy king, a general who kept fighting after his sword shattered, and a religious tradition that turned a killing system into something bound by ritual and respect. None of it survives by accident. Every piece of it was preserved on purpose, by people who understood that the art was worth more than the sport it eventually became.

The full history — where it started, who carried it, and what it cost the art to become a ring sport — is on dojoandring.com.

 

 

 

Why Your Jab Has No Power (And It Has Nothing to Do With Your Arm)

Most fighters who throw a weak jab think the problem is speed. It rarely is.

The real issue is structural: where the movement begins, how the body's rotation is managed, and what happens to the guard while the arm is out. These are mechanical questions — and the answers change how the jab is trained, not just how it is thrown.

A full structural breakdown, covering axis, torque, and guard integrity across boxing, Muay Thai, and Taekwondo, is up at dojoandring.com.

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The One-Strike Fight-Ender: What Muay Thai Science Tells Us About Real KO Power

Most fighters assume knockout power is something you either have or you don't. The science says otherwise.

A 2017 biomechanics study recorded elite Muay Thai practitioners generating up to 6,400 Newtons of impact force with the roundhouse kick — at peak foot velocities of 18.3 metres per second, the fastest kick measured across all combat sports. That kind of force doesn't come from raw size. It comes from the efficiency of the kinetic chain, and the kinetic chain is trainable.

On dojoandring.com we break down exactly what builds finishing power in Muay Thai: from hip extension velocity (the single strongest predictor of kick impact force across Muay Thai, karate, and taekwondo) to the strength base that makes explosive output possible, to the accuracy that turns a solid strike into a fight-ending one.

Five training variables. One coherent system. No filler.

 → Full article on dojoandring.com

When the Score Changes the Mission: The Hidden Structure of Team Kendo

Most people watching a team Kendo match see five consecutive duels. One athlete follows another, the scores accumulate, the team with the most wins takes the encounter.

That reading is not wrong. It is just incomplete.

Underneath the sequence there is a system. Each position carries a specific tactical mission, and that mission is not fixed. It shifts with every result. The Chuken entering with the team two matches down is fighting a completely different battle than the Chuken entering with the team two matches ahead, even if the technique looks identical from the outside.

The full breakdown of all five positions and the logic that connects them is on Dojo and Ring.

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