Taekwondo Legend Hee-Il Cho Corrects the Most Common Kicking Problems!
Editor’s Note: This interview originally appeared in our August 2012 issue. To read the rest of the magazine, be sure to subscribe to Black Belt+ and gain access to our entire digital archive! Perhaps more than any other martial art on the planet,…
Why Blades of the Guardians Should Be Every Martial Artist’s Next Watch
Every summer brings another wave of action movies promising bigger explosions, faster editing, and more computer-generated spectacle. As someone who has spent a lifetime in the martial arts, those aren’t necessarily the things I’m looking…
Ip Man Returns: Ip Man: Kung Fu Legend Arrives July 14
For martial arts fans around the world, one of the genre’s most iconic heroes is making his long-awaited return.
Professional Fighters League Announces Multi-Year Partnership With ESPN in Brazil
ESPN and Disney+ to Serve as Exclusive Home of All PFL Live Events in Brazil, Beginning with PFL Austin on July 18   Professional Fighters League (PFL) today announced a multi-year partnership with ESPN, expanding the league’s presence in one of the…
ISKA Releases June Sport Karate Rankings as Top Competitors Hold Their Ground
The International Sport Karate Association (ISKA) has released its official June 2026 Sport Karate Rankings, highlighting many of the athletes and teams expected to shape the remainder of the season.
How Two Sport Karate Champions Are Opening Hollywood's Doors for Martial Artists
For anyone who has ever wondered where martial arts can take them beyond the dojo, Justin Ortiz and Jewelianna Ramos-Ortiz are helping answer that question—one production at a time.
How Masatoshi Nakayama Carried Shotokan Karate Across Continents—and How Black Belt Magazine Helped Tell His Story
In the years following World War II, martial arts existed largely in whispers—passed from military servicemen returning from Japan, practiced quietly in small community centers, and demonstrated before audiences who had never seen a reverse punch or…
How Modern Medicine Changed Martial Arts Forever
In April 2012, DREAM bantamweight champ Kenji Osawa posted a remarkable picture on his blog. He’d suffered a bad break below the knee in 2011 and had a bunch of metal put in to help the bone heal. In April, he finally had it all taken out. The picture…
Alive and Kicking: The Surprising Places Bruce Lee Still Lives On
As much as Bruce Lee is a superstar around the globe, his memory is especially prominent in Asia.
Are You Training Martial Arts the Wrong Way? General Strength Versus Sport-Specific Skill
In the past, I’ve written about the power of marginal improvements in martial arts skill development. In a nutshell, there are two ways to go about constructing the physical training regimen you need to get better: by focusing on general physical…