Martial Arts History & Research

The History of Fighting
A martial arts history website featuring articles on fighting systems, combat sports, military history, weapons, famous masters, and fighting cultures from around the world. A good resource for readers interested in the historical side of martial arts and combat traditions..

Martial Arts Studies An academic journal published by Cardiff University Press featuring research articles on martial arts, combat sports, history, culture, sociology, education, and training practices. A strong resource for anyone interested in the scholarly and research side of martial arts.

Black Belt Magazine Archive
A valuable Google Books archive of Black Belt Magazine issues, featuring decades of martial arts articles, interviews, techniques, advertisements, tournament coverage, instructor profiles, and martial arts history. A great resource for researching how martial arts were taught, promoted, and discussed over the years.

Martial Arts Video Reviews
An old-school martial arts resource featuring reviews of instructional videos, training tapes, interviews, and martial arts media. A useful archive for researching classic martial arts video instruction, instructors, and training material from the VHS/DVD era

FightingArts
A martial arts research and history website featuring articles on karate, traditional martial arts, self-defense, training methods, and historical topics. The site includes contributions from martial arts historians, instructors, and researchers, with a large archive of articles and reference material.

Karate & Kenpo Resources Websites

24 Fighting Chickens
A martial arts blog featuring articles on karate, judo, taekkyeon, capoeira, martial arts events, and fighting traditions from around the world. A useful site for casual reading and exploring different martial arts topics.

KenpoTech.net A very useful American Kenpo resource with Ed Parker’s American Kenpo and Tracy’s Kenpo material. It includes self-defense techniques, forms, sets, belt-level material, and step-by-step explanations. Great for Kenpo students looking for actual curriculum-style content.

Black Belt Wiki A large martial arts reference site with pages for American Kenpo techniques, American Kenpo forms, Shotokan kata, bunkai, kicks, stances, weapons, and more. It is not perfect, but it is one of the easiest sites to use when looking up techniques quickly.

Iain Abernethy The Practical Application of Karate One of the best sites for practical karate, kata application, bunkai, self-defense concepts, and realistic interpretation of traditional kata. The site does have books, seminars, and products, but it also has a lot of free articles, podcasts, and videos with real training value.

Karate by Jesse A very readable karate education site with articles on kata, bunkai, karate history, training methods, and practical understanding of techniques. Good for students and instructors because the writing is easy to understand but still has depth.

Korean Martial Arts Resources

Traditional Taekwondo Ramblings
A Taekwondo blog by Ørjan Nilsen featuring articles on traditional Taekwondo, poomsae, sparring, history, training ideas, and practical applications. This specific post shares a live Taekwondo training session covering meditation, footwork, stretching, kicking, hand techniques, Taebaek poomsae, Taegeuk forms, and 2-step sparring.

Taekwondo Preschool A very detailed Taekwondo learning site with tutorials on blocks, strikes, kicks, stances, terminology, poomsae, training tips, and Korean technique names. Good for beginners and students reviewing basics.

Taekwondo-Do Learning Resources A good source for ITF Chang Hon patterns. Useful for students who want to compare ITF patterns with WT/Kukkiwon poomsae.

Taekwondo4Fitness
An independent blog-style article about the meanings of the WT/Kukkiwon Taegeuk and black belt poomsae. Good for readers who want philosophy and symbolism behind the forms.

Judo, Jiu-Jitsu & Grappling Resources

Judo Info Online Dojo
An online Judo resource with information on Judo history, Jigoro Kano, Kodokan Judo, techniques, competition, training, rank structure, principles, and self-defense. A useful reference for anyone interested in Judo as both a martial art and Olympic sport

Ultimate Ju-Jitsu
A Ju-Jitsu resource site for students, instructors, and martial arts fans, featuring beginner information, self-defense topics, traditional Ju-Jitsu techniques, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu techniques, photos, grading information, and training articles.

Aikido Techniques — Stefan Stenudd
A detailed Aikido resource by Stefan Stenudd, a 7th dan Aikikai Shihan, featuring explanations of Aikido techniques, attacks, defenses, photos, videos, principles, and basic training concepts. A useful reference for anyone interested in traditional Aikido and martial arts movement.

AikiWeb A long-running Aikido information site and online community with articles, columns, forums, dojo listings, training discussions, history, philosophy, techniques, and resources for Aikido practitioners around the world.

Budoshin Ju-Jitsu
The official Budoshin Ju-Jitsu Yudanshakai website, led by George Kirby, 10th dan. The site includes information on traditional Japanese Ju-Jitsu, lineage, rank requirements, training resources, books, videos, technical help, and home-study materials.

Weapons & Filipino Martial Arts

American Style Nunchaku Federation
The official American Style Nunchaku Federation website, featuring information on Grandmaster Michael L. Burke, the history of American Style Nunchaku, belt rank structure, certified instructors, online training, competition rules, training camps, and membership. A great resource for anyone interested in nunchaku as a complete martial art..

Dynamic Fighting Arts
The official Dynamic Fighting Arts website for Guro/Sifu David Seiwert’s DFA Kali program, featuring online training, books, instructor information, training locations, and Filipino martial arts material. The site highlights Kali, Escrima, Arnis, Kuntaw, Muay Thai, Muay Boran, and distance-learning martial arts courses.

Reality-Based Combat & Self-Protection

Sport Karate, Acrobatic Martial Arts, Fight Choreography & Competition

Club540 / Club 540 Archive
Club540 was one of the classic early online resources for martial arts tricking, acrobatic martial arts, and sport karate-style movement. The original site was known for its Tricktionary, which listed trick names, descriptions, and video examples. The current Club540 domain is still online, but the older archive material has been preserved separately in a public spreadsheet.

Loopkicks Tricking
A long-running tricking organization founded in 1999, offering classes, camps, events, performances, and a Tricktionary for martial arts tricking. Loopkicks describes tricking as a non-combative sport combining martial arts kicks, gymnastics flips, and breakdancing into a performance-focused art form.

MMA, Kickboxing & Combat Sports

Sherdog
One of the longest-running MMA websites online, Sherdog has covered UFC, Pride, Bellator, and mixed martial arts news since 1997. The site is known for MMA news, fighter records, event results, interviews, rankings, forums, and detailed live fight coverage. I personally use Sherdog for its well-written live MMA play-by-play articles during fight nights.

MMA Fighting
A major mixed martial arts news site covering UFC, MMA, fight results, interviews, rankings, videos, live blogs, and combat sports updates. MMA Fighting is especially useful for current fight news, event coverage, and round-by-round live blog reporting during major MMA events.

Martial Arts Gear, Equipment & Training Aids