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FC, lately I've been watching judo highlight vids, and I've got questions for someone who knows his shit, and you're it:
1) What exactly does it take for a throw to be ruled an ippon? Even after some quick google-fu, I haven't found what I expected in the way of objective standards.
2) Has there been "grade inflation" in what counts as an ippon? Someone somewhere told me to think of an ippon as a throw that would be a fight-stopper on Teh StReET, so I've been surprised to see some ippons that look really un-traumatic. (Like ones where tori and uke seem like they hit the ground equally hard.) Did I just get the wrong information?
3) Speaking of The STREEEEEt, when dudes get thrown dead-to-rights on pavement, how often is that really a fight stopper? I voyeuristically looked for vids like "huge fokin slams in street fights!!" and figured they'd be full of blood-curdling, Gerald Harris-like slam KOs but ... maybe not so much?
1. Hey brah. To score
ippon the throw must land your opponent flat on his back with sufficient force and/or speed. I believe for a clean throw where the opponent lands less cleanly or on his side you get a half point, or
waza-ari. Finally, for a good throw that isn't quite a
waza-ari, you can score an advantage or
yuko.
2. The "idea" of judo is to throw your opponent, and the level of athleticism is so high in judo, that to truly score a holy-shit-that's-an-ippon throw is hard. Very hard. To that extent you may see things scored
ippon which are not necessarily throws that would disable an opponent on teh streetz. If they didn't, you would almost never see
ippon scored in high-level competition, or at least a lot more rarely. It should still be a decisive throw. As for throws where
tori and
uke land at more or less the same time, it depends. In some cases these are
sutemi-waza or "sacrifice techniques" where the opponent is thrown by lowering your own body. In other cases, you will see
tori roll through; that's a purely sport aspect of judo and doesn't have utility in a fight.
3. Disabling an enraged attacker is
waaay harder than most people think. I have personally dumped people on their head on pavement and got nothing but a grunt. OTOH, twice I have thrown people with
harai-goshi, landed on them, broke their ribs and instantly ended the fights. Generally speaking, throws and submission holds will not stop a motivated attacker. When in doubt, sleep 'em.