This week, footage was uploaded to Youtube by the user Neil Allen whose video was captioned “My attempt at competing in MMA as a skinny white belt.” For reference, he also claimed he was the one wearing the black ankle supports which can be seen when watching the video. You should also be warned, this footage is from 2006 and looks to have been filmed on an old camcorder, so the quality is grainy.
The fight lasted 8 minutes and ended in a draw. Remember, whilst you may have some good TKD guys, this martial art allows kids to get black belts – so there may be something in this. Here are some interesting takeaways. Firstly, Allen was quick to take the fight to the ground and secured some fairly easy looking wrestling takedowns. Obviously, his opponent was a black belt in TKD and looked very aggressive on the feet.
Even though Allen was originally reversed on his first takedown attempt, he managed to attack armbars from the bottom and stay relatively aggressive with a strong underhook from guard. Not only this, but he eventually swept his opponent into mount during the first round with an overhook and butterfly hook.
However, he was also swept at points and also spent a decent amount of the fight in bottom positions. Perhaps the main piece of information to come away from this was the superiority of grappling. If you asked a stranger who would win between a black belt and white belt, they’d tell you the black belt every time. However, Allen gave a good account of himself and you could have argued he even deserved to win the match on a decision. Not only this but if he’d have fought as a blue belt with a bit more experience, he would have probably won simply by having sharper technique. For instance, there’s times where his feet could have been more efficient when attacking the arms.
