At the KWON Championships, this off-duty martial arts referee decides to take it upon himself to dish out punishment on a competitors for striking after the active ref had called time.

The rest of the Internet says that this was the other competitor’s coach, but it wasn’t. It was an off-duty referee who simply didn’t like what he was seeing and took action.

Self-discipline is the ability to control one’s emotions, impulses, desires and behavior. It is being able to resist the desire for instant gratification in favour of gaining the long-term satisfaction and fulfillment from achieving higher and more meaningful goals.

Studying Martial arts is an incredibly effective way for developing self-discipline. Many traditional styles including Karate, Judo, Taekwondo and Kung Fu will have teaching styles and philosophies that promote self-discipline. The guy in the video probably skipped every single one of those classes.

It’s all about control.

Martial arts are all about control although it does not teach the practitioner to focus on overpowering or gaining control of the weaker opponent. What it does impart is the ability to use one’s own skills, strengths and perseverance in a fully controlled manner so that the battle of self-defense scenario can be won as much with strategy as with strength. The controlled movements of martial arts, the need to think before acting and the conscious act of honing one’s response to the surroundings with situational awareness- these all help improve the self discipline that the practitioner has. A professional martial arts instructor will instill these basic fundamentals.

In the western world martial arts can be broken down into five distinct categories:

1 – Self-defense/professional use of force
2 – Tradition/physical art/self-discipline (where you at, ref?)
3 – Spiritual/health
4 – Sport/tournament
5 – Demonstration