Kyokushin karate (also known as knockdown karate) is a full-contact form of the Japanese martial art, and in my opinion the most effective form of karate as sparring is a big part of the curriculum. Whereas Kenpo is more of a self-defense oriented form of karate, focusing on counters and combination strikes.

Seidokaikan is a traditional full contact karate derived from Kyokushin by Kazuyoshi Ishii. Seidokaikan organized the first professional full contact karate tournament named the Karate World Cup. The Karate World Cup had special extension rounds, if the judge’s decision was deadlocked after an extension round, the rules then allowed face strikes with fighters donning boxing gloves (kickboxing).

In this YouTube video, we see a Seidokaikan karate fighter (Nobuaki Kakuda) taking on a much larger Kenpo fighter (Bart Vale).

Early on we see the Seidokaikan practitioner making good use of distance. He is staying out of his opponents punching range and moving away when his opponent attacks. The Kenpo practitioner is firing front kicks to his opponent’s body and the Seidokaikan practitioner is responding with some pretty solid low kicks.

As previously stated, the Kenpo guy is throwing more combinations whereas the Seidokaikan guy is landing one strike at a time, at least early on in the match. At first, it looks like the Kenpo guy is getting the better of his smaller foe, throwing and landing more strikes. But at about a minute and a half into the video the Seidokaikan guy lands a big right hand and drops his much larger opponent to the canvas.

He gets up pretty quickly though and doesn’t appear too hurt but he most certainly has some cobwebs after that right hand. The Seidokaikan practitioner senses that his opponent is still hurt so he closes the distance and starts to unload on him, battering him with hard punches. The referee then stops the action to give him a standing eight-count.

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It appears something is wrong with his right arm or shoulder. He is complaining to the referee about it, perhaps he fell on it awkwardly when he was dropped. The doctor is then called in and stops the match, awarding the kyokushin fighter the victory over his much larger foe.