Shane Fazen Seminar Review

A little over a month ago we were lucky enough to have Shane Fazen stop in to teach an excellent seminar at our gym during his country wide tour. Shane is most well known for his massive youtube channel, FightTIPs, where he breaks down and teaches all different kinds of martial arts techniques, as well as interviewing and sometimes sparring youtube celebrities as well as accomplished fighters. As a fellow lifelong martial arts nerd, I’ve always liked Shane’s videos because of his open mindedness towards technique, good vibes and the fact that he shares and makes martial arts accessible to a huge amount of people. So when I met Shane in California at the CSA Coaches Clinic a few months earlier, and saw that his martial arts ability was just as good as his video production skills, I invited him to come to our gym in Pittsburgh for the first seminar I personally set up since taking over as head striking coach.

At the seminar, Shane taught a bunch of great drills for coordination, not flinching while being hit, defensive skill development, hip dexterity, kick setups, and much more, but what really stands out to me about Shane’s teaching is his ability to draw from different styles and seamlessly blend techniques together. He utilizes a lot of the powerful strikes and clinching from Muay Thai, while sprinkling in tricky kicks from Taekwondo, and a lot of the slick defense from western boxing. The famous Bruce Lee was a proponent of this philosophy and was to some degree a progenitor of modern Mixed Martial Arts. Yet, in the world of striking martial arts in particular, some coaches still refuse to accept techniques outside of their claimed style. They don’t use side kicks because they are a “Muay Thai guy” or refuse to learn boxing style head movement because it “won’t work with kicks and knees.” It’s great to see that the next generation of coaches and fighters, made up of people like Shane, are taking everything in, finding what works for them, and developing their own effective style of striking based on their personal strengths and weaknesses.

Compared to grappling, striking sports have evolved very slowly, and having open minded coaches and athletes is the only way that that evolution can occur. Before Anderson Silva knocked out Tony Fryklund with a reverse up elbow, his coach told him to stop practicing it because it wouldn’t work. Before Anthony Pettis’s infamous “showtime kick,” using the fence to strike in MMA was practically unheard of, but now we are seeing more and more of it. These innovations, and the superior fighters that come with them, are impossible without an open mind towards all the tools available in martial arts.

Check out Shane’s video with the link below to see some highlights of the seminar and his trip to Pittsburgh.