The First Foreign Muay Thai Champion｜Toshio Fujiwara's Fighting Style

Toshio #Fujiwara (藤原 敏男) is one of the greatest kickboxers to come out of Japan. He was the first foreigner, or Muay Farang to win a Thai Stadium Championship, when he in 1978 beat Monsawan Ruk Changmai for the vacant Rajadamnern Championship.
Fujiwara came up under famed Kyokushin #Karate -ka Kenji Kurosaki. Training in Kurosaki's Mejiro Gym, the two developed Fujiwara's style, which became an amalgamation of #Kyokushin, #Muay Thai and #boxing. This combination subsequently served as a blueprint for the #Dutch Style Kickboxing and has had a significant impact on kickboxing in general.
In this video I break down the elements that made Fujiwara's style so exciting and effective.
▬ Contents of this video ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
0:00 - Intro
0:58 - Background
1:43 - Stance and Footwork
3:56 - Evasive Tactics and Guard
5:25 - Clinching, Throws and Sweeps
6:55 - Striking
8:25 - Strategy
9:34 - Outro and Takeaway
I hope you enjoy the video and find it useful - please consider subscribing, if you did.
Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/cybert...
License code: IT1LFMAF541KO9PH

[@chrisprad8325]

Great breakdown, it’s been so hard to find a solid description of his style anywhere and I think this video describes it perfectly.

[@FiveDeadlyVenoms]

Thanks, mate. I really appreciate that.

[@piersregan7586]

This is an excellent study of Toshio Fujiwara's Fighting Style. Thank you and please do keep them coming!

[@fawx3684]

Thats such a sick intro

[@Jjoooji]

Subbed! This was really interesting and sharp. Appreciate the strength AND weaknesses analysis as well. Thanks

[@LoveFix2558]

Excellent 👊🏻

[@joshnoi1804]

I'm glad I stumbled upon your videos.

[@FiveDeadlyVenoms]

Thanks for watching and commenting. I'm glad that you like the videos. Let me know if there's anything in particular that you're keen for me to cover.

[@the36thchamber89]

Great work! Thanks very much.

[@smashonlamez]

love the film studies mixed in with your other content. great stuff

[@FiveDeadlyVenoms]

Thanks for watching and commenting! I’m working on more film studies, they just take a long time to finish.

[@smashonlamez]

@@FiveDeadlyVenoms yeah just found your channel but love all your content, its as solid as any of the top channels. hope you get blessed with that youtube algorithm so more people can see your hard work!

[@FiveDeadlyVenoms]

@@smashonlamez Thanks, mate. I really appreciate it.

[@Tungsten-le1wy]

the old school muay thai fighters were quite bouncy, the modern style of the big stadiums is more static, but in the 50's 60's and 70's muay thai was very dynamic, many if not most of them had footwork similar to seanchai's footwork, if you take that into consideration fujiwara's style doesn't look very unorthodox. I recommend you to watch the old school muay thai fights, the ones in black and white.

[@Tungsten-le1wy]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/hXiQho2EappkjNE here is an example.

[@FiveDeadlyVenoms]

Thanks for watching and commenting. 

As I stated in the video, I was making general observations and pointing out tendencies. While there may have been the occasional Muay Femur fighter that was similar to Fujiwara, this was clearly not a general tendency. I personally don’t know of any, so if you know of any that was comparable, I’d love to see footage. 

Fujiwara clearly broke with the traditional marching and prior to Fujiwara, I don’t believe anyone adopted or was as inspired by boxing’s strategies. The inspiration from boxing extended far beyond just the cadence, which was significantly different than just being bouncy, but included the incessant stance switching and flattening out (á la Willie Pep), the constant rhythm breaking and half beat attacks (á la Jersey Joe Walcott) or the leaping gazelle punch (á la Floyd Patterson). Samart Payakaroon showed some similarities later on, but at the time of Fujiwara’s debut Samart was only 7 years old. Vicharnnoi Porntawee was bouncy and preceded Fujiwara, but was still quite clearly typical Muay Thai, while Fujiwara was clearly a break in that tradition. To elucidate the difference in general cadence, I’ve linked some fight from Fujiwara’s era. It’s clear that the movement is significantly different to Fujiwara’s. This is also evident in his matches with Nak Muays. 
Narongnoi Kiatbandit vs Dentoraneenoi Lueadtaksin - kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z6rXeWiooturp68 Pudpadnoi Worawut vs Nongkhai Sor Prapartsorn - kzbin.info/www/bejne/l5jZh2Sdi8yhb6s Vicharnnoi vs. Narongnoi - kzbin.info/www/bejne/gIPag4iOoLZ5e5o Fahsai Taweechai vs Sirimongkol Looksiripat - kzbin.info/www/bejne/r5XVqp6wadugopo

[@mikea7732]

Amazing breakdown! Did he use a lot of boxing combos with his hands or more just as distractions to setup his kicks? How did his takedowns compare with the clinching at the time as in did his takedowns even the playing field?

[@FiveDeadlyVenoms]

Thanks for watching and commenting. Fujiwara's Combos weren't generally very long. Mostly he leaped into a single punch or 2-3 combos. Just going off my impressions/memory, I'd say that he probably divided his attacks 70/30 in favour of boxing over kicks. In regards to takedowns, I'm actually a little unsure. As far as I know, Muay Thai doesn't generally allow for takedown that hooks or makes use of the backside of the leg, e.g. calf, hip, which eliminates a lot of the throws Fujiwara used. So I'm guessing a bit here, but I assume that the Japanese kickboxing rules allowed these - giving Fujiwara an advantage against the Thais that weren't used to them. But when competing under Muay Thai rules Fujiwara would probably have been at a disadvantage, due to not being able to use the takedowns that he excelled at.

[@aldavedesierdo42]

He's a muay thai guy but he has good boxing and flashy footwork. Huge style contrast between old school muay thai and current era MT.

[@FiveDeadlyVenoms]

Thanks for watching and commenting. Although Fujiwara competed in Muay Thai, he didn't actually have any significant formal training in MT. The majority of his training was under Kurosaki, in his Kyokushin (...and kickboxing), and before that in Taikiken.

[@aldavedesierdo42]

@@FiveDeadlyVenoms that's why he's hands are good. Thanks

[@AroundElvesWatchUrselves96]

Kickboxer*

[@Tungsten-le1wy]

i dont see any kyokushin , he is just a muay fimeu. There's nothing crazy or revolutionary about his sttyle.

[@chrisprad8325]

Have not seen a fighter move like him, his style is revolutionary bc it was a progenitor of the dutch style

[@Tungsten-le1wy]

@@chrisprad8325 i recommend you to watch old school muay thai fights, many nak muays had simaiar footwork and even better, fujiwara is just a muay fiimeu, nothing new

[@Tungsten-le1wy]

@@chrisprad8325 the modern dutch style is just the "muay mahd style" without elbows. the japanese didn't invent anything, they just copied pre-existing styles of muay thai

[@FiveDeadlyVenoms]

Thanks for watching and commenting. While you may not feel like you can see Fujiwara's Kyokushin-base, it really is a matter of historical fact. Fujiwara was trained by Kurosaki who was one of the original Kyokushin Karate-kas. Kurosaki trained Shotokan under Funakoshi, then Goju Ryu under Gogen Yamaguchi and finally Kyokushin with Mas Oyama. Kurosaki went and fought the thais, but didn't have any notable Muay Thai training. As such what Kurosaki taught Fujiwara was clearly based in Kyokushin. I personally feel it's evident in Fujiwara's kicking technique.

[@FiveDeadlyVenoms]

@@Tungsten-le1wy I'd be quite interested in seeing the Nak Muays with similar footwork.

[@danielvalen1507]

underrated video and great editing man got my sub

[@FiveDeadlyVenoms]

Thanks! And thank you for commenting.

[@TheVietnameseDevil]

great video, more film studies please 😎

[@FiveDeadlyVenoms]

Thanks for watching and commenting. They take a little time, but I'm working on a few. Let me know if you have any specific fighters in mind, and I'll see if I can do it.

[@TheVietnameseDevil]

More K-1 fighters would be cool, but any of your favorite standup fighters (boxing/Muay Thai/MMA/etc) would be equally appreciated. Keep up the great work!

[@papagrande7448]

They’re telling me this guy was a fraud cry😢