BT'S 411

The man you see in the video below, is named Novell Bell, aka The Black Taoist, or "BT" for short. He is one of my favorite Martial Art instructors to watch on You Tube. He has more than 200 videos posted on his You Tube channel URBAN BLACK TAOIST, showing many aspects of Bagua, Tai Chi, and Hsing I, as well as other forms of chinese martial arts.

What I like about him the most is his thoughts on the state of the martial arts today, Kung Fu specifically, which he always shares in a no-nonsense manner (in fact, he also says his nickname BT stands for "Brutal Truth"), as illustrated in the video below.



Here's some links to a few other videos Novell posted on You Tube. Although he's talking about the Chinese Martial Arts in the videos below, as he was in the above video, the things he says can apply to EVERY Martial Art or Fighting sport.

MUSU 411 : "BT response online Kung Fu magazine haters"

BT 411: kung fu & Evolution /Shaolin Monk Yi Long fights in "Vegas"

BT AT THE MOVIES "OLD SCHOOL KUNG FU MASTERS FIGHT"

BT MUSU 411 "STATE OF KUNG FU TODAY "


Now in the video BT MUSU 411 "STATE OF KUNG FU TODAY ", Sifu Novell made a tiny reference about some comments that UFC commentator JOE ROGAN said about Kung Fu in a You Tube video, which pissed a few people off as you can imagine, and which Sifu Novell responded to.

And, here's video response video response to Joe Rogan's statements that I found quite informative about MMA fighting, and Kung Fu's use in it.

And, here's yet another response to Joe Rogan's comments that many people found to be quite amusing. And Joe found it amusing too, at least that's the way I see it, judging from his response to that video.

Now in my humble opinion, what Sifu Novell, and Joe Rogan were both talking about was how in ANY martial art, there are aspects like forms, meditation, etc. that can give you all sorts of benefits, but if you don't learn to APPLY YOUR MARTIAL ART UNDER PRESSURE, you're gonna lose every time, in the ring or on the street. That applies to Kung Fu, that applies to MMA, that applies to Pencak Silat (which I'm learning), and it applies to EVERY SINGLE MARTIAL ART THAT HAS EVER EXISTED. I think it was Rorion Gracie who made a statement that went something like,

One of the primary reasons one trains in the martial arts is for self defense.If you learn something and can't defend yourself, then how much of the rest of your training is a lie?

But I could be wrong about that.

But Anyway, if any of you out there watch You Tube and are in to martial arts, Check out URBAN BLACK TAOIST. I guarantee, if you're into Martial Arts, you will learn a great deal from his videos.

And check out Joe Rogan too. The man is freaking AWESOME!