What is MuDoKai? And Where Did It Come From?

Recently, a parent of one of our current karate students asked us about Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He shared that a friend of his was a Blue Belt in the style and also teaching classes at a local Karate dojo. This parent asked if I thought we would consider running similar classes here at the University Karate Center.

It was such a relevant question, we felt it essential to share the response with you.

Other schools in our area (and probably yours, if you’re not in the Plantation region) take a “mixed” method to running their martial arts programs.

Their core style is often Taekwondo, the Korean system that stresses high kicks and breaking boards. Then, they’ll offer a couple classes per week in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, with another two days for boxing training. Then, such a school will have a day for Krav Maga, the system touted as Israeli Army self defense, although, like all military systems, it must be adjusted to teach the public.

A Complete Martial Arts System

Within our MuDoKai curriculum, we teach a full and thorough range of martial arts skills, including:

  • Kicks identified with Taekwondo
  • Punches straight from boxing (and MMA)
  • Sweeps and throws from Judo
  • Projections and joint locks from Aikido
  • Locks and submission techniques from Jiu Jitsu (including the ground fighting techniques of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu)
  • Knee and elbow strikes familiar to any practitioner of Muay Thai
  • Hand trapping and evasive moves draw on Kung Fu principles

And still, like those TV infomercials, there’s more!

Many of our self-defense techniques look similar to those of Krav Maga, since they draw their skills from one of the same systems of fighting that our lead instructor, Shihan Robert Mason, studied. Our fighting stance is based in kickboxing, with a high guard to protect the face and body, yet capable of quickly delivering strikes anywhere on the target.

Going well beyond what any local dojo will offer, our system includes principles of Ninjitsu from Hatsumi Sensei and the Fung Lung Loo of Mr. G. The latter truly represents a “secret” style, even on modern web searches! Yet you can gain those insights within our MuDoKai training. You’ve signed up for a free class, right?

Elegantly Effective Weapons, Too

Our Kobudo (Weapons) curriculum is slightly separated from our standard training, as students may start at different stages of their Black Belt Journey. Training in Kobudo is permitted from the rank of Green Belt, and mandatory at the Black Belt level.

Cohesive In Body & Mind

Our system of MuDoKai Mixed Martial Arts (yes, that’s what MMA is supposed to mean) is taught as an integrated and structured curriculum. This way, we don’t have confused students wondering how to transition from a boxing technique to a Judo sweep.

MuDoKai may draw from a massive range of martial arts, but it has the integrity and harmony intrinsic to a thoroughly integrated system. It’s about smooth transitions from kicking to punching, elbow strikes to takedowns, and then into chokes and joint locks if on the ground.

We also incorporate the skills essential to maintaining harmony between the physical, emotional, and psychological elements of self-defense. The result is a complete training regimen, rather than a piecemeal patchwork of unrelated fighting disciplines.

This is MuDoKai.

© 2024 Shihan Robert H. Mason