Kore Combatives Podcast
Kore Combatives Podcast
Fight Ready: Are You Prepared?
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🎙️ Welcome to the Kore Combatives Podcast!
Your source for real talk on martial arts, self-protection, and warrior mindset.
🎙️ What Does It Mean to Be Fight Ready?
In this episode of the Kore Combatives Podcast, Professor Luigi Mondelli breaks down what it truly means to be fight-ready across three crucial arenas:
✅ As a Martial Artist: Whether you're training BJJ, MMA, or another art, fight readiness is about more than just technique. It’s about physical preparation, mental resilience, and real-time adaptability.
✅ As a Law Enforcement Officer: There's no schedule for danger. Fight readiness here means maintaining constant vigilance, making decisions under stress, and possessing the ability to protect both yourself and others with skill and clarity.
✅ As a Civilian, Violence can come when you least expect it. Being fight-ready is about being aware, preventing harm, and having the mindset to take action if necessary — to defend your life and the lives of your loved ones.
🧠 Mindset. 🎯 Skill. 🛡️ Preparedness.
Whether you live in the gym, wear a badge, or just want to be ready for whatever life throws your way, this episode is for you.
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🏛️ Professor Luigi Mondelli — Danbury, CT
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🥋 Shihan Walt Lysak — Springfield, MA
🔗 https://westspringfieldmma.com/
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Are You Fight Ready?
Speaker 1Think about this If today was the day , the day that you had to put your hands on someone to protect yourself , empty handed , let's say but you had to put your hands on somebody to protect yourself or protect others , or to even just deescalate , restrain somebody , control , deescalate and find your way out to retreat , control , de-escalate and find your way out to retreat . Anyways , are you ready ? So , are you fight ready ? And that's what I want to bring to you guys today in this quick comeback episode . And we took a long break recording for the Core Combatants podcast , but we're finally back . This is a solo episode . It will be just me being boring and talking to you guys as a warmup , but I have talked already to Shihan Wolaisic and we both are freeing our times , so every other week we can record an episode for you guys . But anyway , let's do this and it's great to be back .
Speaker 1So this discussion started , or I got motivated again to record my episodes , because I had a quick speech . I gave a quick speech during our belt graduations , our last belt graduations at Core Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu American Top Team , connecticut , and I was thinking about what it means to be fight ready and the reason why I had the speech to be very quick here was because we changed the way that we test people . We are changing across all the styles that we teach , so we hardened the process . We made it harder now , which includes the mental aspect , the belt exams , how people would need to study for the belt testing . Also , we introduced a physical aspect that it has been really , really cool to see how people put the effort to get ready for the test . So I would say that anybody changing belts , whatever belts at American Top Team and Core Association , I know that at least in that weekend , during that weekend , I know they are peaking when it comes to being jiu-jitsu grappling fight ready . So I , I I talked to everybody about this and , uh , I received a nice text message from one of my dear friends and and grand student . So he's my grandson in jiu-jitsu because he's a black belt under one of my black belts that I care a lot and and he appreciated what I talked about . This is Mike Wolf I'm talking about and uh , and he's a law enforcement , very experienced law enforcement SWAT guy , black belt in jujitsu , black belt in other things , amazing defensive tactics instructor and I guess , like Mike appreciated and I'm like , oh , let's talk about this . And then I thought about splitting this in three realms or three areas let's talk about very quick . We have actually , by the way , we have at least like two or three episodes explaining how to prepare for a competition in a martial arts setting . So I would start with what it means to be fight ready in martial arts as a civilian , and I'm going to leave the law enforcement to the end and I have an invitation to bring to you guys at the very end . So hang here with me .
Speaker 1So number one , very simple , low level violence is just related to you and your martial arts life . It's just related to you and your martial arts life . So I'm going to put everything into my perspective and you can do the same exercise according to your age , your physical abilities , what you train and et cetera . So I'm going to talk about me , luigi . So I'm 53 years old .
Speaker 1I have been doing martial arts for probably well since I'm 13 years old . I've been always doing some combat sports . You can include in that Wing Chun , boxing , kickboxing , karate , a little bit up to , I think , green belt or so in one style , and then Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu , of course . I've been doing for a long , long time , over three decades , and I've done Judo a lot . I got to Green Belt in Judo , which doesn't mean much , but you know I didn't pursue it , but I'm getting back into it and anyway . So I've been doing this for a long time and I have a lot of injuries and I run a really busy school , super busy , super packed , thank God . So what is my goal right now ?
Speaker 1I'm going to tell you my goal is to be fight ready in both jiu-jitsu and striking , in case somebody cross my doors and wants to grapple or spar me . So , for instance , a black belt comes from another school . That guy wants to train with me . Or better , saying , I'm usually the gatekeeper at my school , so I like to be the first one to roll with any visitor that is higher rank , right ? The reason why I like to be the gatekeeper is that I can feel the energy , I can feel the intent , right . What is this guy coming here ? To try to prove a point ? Is he like a cool dude ? So I like to be the first guy . I match the person's energy and if I feel that the guy is a jerk , I want to be able to put a beating and to be very honest , right . So I measure is this guy an asshole . If he is boom again , I want to turn it up and be able to crush somebody .
Speaker 1So I know what I need to do to be fight ready . So I need to be physically prepared and I've been working as another topic while I've been working with one of my students , matt Deanna , for strength and conditioning . He wrote a very good program and I really recommend him . I need to stay technically sharp , I need to be mentally resilient , you know , to keep working hard and trying to stay active . I need to have a good training environment , and I do have with all my students and teammates and black belts , the people that trains with me , and I already set my goal .
Speaker 1Right now , my goal is to stay fight ready in that realm right , mart , martial arts , in case somebody crossed the door and wants to fight me , okay , super easy . If you are a competitor , you get everything that I said and double up or triple or more , and you know exactly , uh , when you're competing , who you , who you're fighting against , right , when , where , who and why is because you like . So you need to do your homework every day by staying physically prepared , technically , uh , sharp , but mentally resilient . Um , training , have a good training schedule , have your discipline so far , so on . So that's what is to be fight ready . If you go to a competition and you're not ready , either in mma or kickboxing , striking or it could be jiu-jitsu or whatever wrestling judo you're not going to do well , so you know you have to be fight ready . So , but that's easy , right
Fight Ready as a Martial Artist
Speaker 1, because you're in that environment and training every day is part of the routine . We don't do anything , just theory , and then we go up a notch , or actually we go from sports and amateur and safe to okay what it means to be fight ready as a civilian right .
Speaker 1When talking about self-defense , self-protection . We talk a lot about this in our RMA podcast here , our core combatants podcast . So I have to take in consideration that well , an altercation , a situation that I have to put my hands on somebody , can happen anytime , anywhere . It could be a parking lot , a gas station , road rage , whatever . Just to backtrack here , we know let's establish this right off the bat that the best fight as a civilian is the fight that I managed to not have to fight right . So we always emphasize so much in de-escalation , averting going to bad spots , avoiding that confrontation . If I see that happening , if I'm aware , you know , and if possible I'll try to de-escalate , I'll try to retreat . Those options are out of the game . I have to be ready to go full , say combat mode , whatever that means it could be . Again , like I said in the beginning of the podcast , it could be just me trying to restrain somebody , control somebody , and it's not still a deadly situation , even though I believe that every fight , every altercation can potentially be deadly , and I will talk more about that in future episodes . I will mention somebody that I know and what happened to him . And he's a good guy . He was just defending himself but something tragic happened . But this is worth talking about in the future .
Speaker 1But well , as a civilian I understand that , that anything can happen anytime , anywhere . I need to practice my self-defense skills , so learning
Being Fight Ready as a Civilian
Speaker 1simple , real smart techniques that work under stress . So we know that in martial arts we spend more time refining , finding too many answers sometimes , but we understand the Hickman Hyman's law . So the more answers you have to unquestion , your response time will grow exponentially . So also , we always use the Occam's razor approach . The shortest answer tends to be the most correct in many cases , just like oversimplifying .
Speaker 1I have to work on my mindset , so there's a mental preparedness work on my mindset . So there's a mental preparedness and I have to have a post-fight readiness , which is I need to know how , to who I need to call , um , whatever that be , first responders , um getting help after the situation . Um , you know , handling injuries , uh , dealing with trauma , you know if something happens to myself , my loved ones or even , like I , can try to be a good Samaritan and try to help somebody . So , fight readiness as a civilian , I would say that is 80% awareness , prevention , de-escalation , and we try and hope that the last 20% is when I have to put my hands on somebody . Now , also as a civilian , I have to say that , according to your age , your limitations , your physical abilities and et cetera , we all know that most people and I believe that should take an approach of adopting some tools , self-defense tools , and I'll leave it up to you to think what tools I'm talking about . It could be a blade or blades , or it could be an improvised weapon , or it could be a pepper spray I'm not saying that I vouch for anything like that , but it's just giving examples or a taser or a firearm .
Speaker 1Most important is to be fight ready is not to just carry those tools . So I have my system and I've been trying to be more disciplined training with all the tools that I carry with myself as much as possible . I know which two I need to prioritize , which is pretty much my blade , my edge weapons training , and I have to , and I already organized myself to get back into a scheduled training with the Tienza guys that I love very much . And second is I need to practice way more with firearms . Even though I go weekly , I feel like I really want to master this skill and so that's what it's to be fight ready , right .
Speaker 1So if , if I , let's say , I'm at a bar and I want you guys to feel like this don't don't bring your confirmation biases into this discussion right now like , oh , I'll never go to a bar , I avoid bars . I just give you an example . Just don't even think about what you would have done or what would you do . Forget about . I'm just going to give you a general big picture .
Speaker 1The big picture is you found yourself in a place whatever that be and you're there and you try to de-escalate . There's a situation , somebody's trying to start something . You want to get out of that place and you need to move some people in order to get to the exit door , you need to protect yourself . Maybe there's somebody connected to you , your family you're doing their own personal security details . So you , now you're embracing completely your protective persona .
Speaker 1Hey , everybody , link up to me . We are leaving , but this guy's in front of me . I'll have to do something and I and I'm trying to do in a way that this doesn't escalate , doesn't escalate to where it can potentially be really bad and violent . But anyway , I need to put my hands . Do I know what I have to do ? Do I have the strength ? Strength Can I move ? Well , so forth , so on . So that's what I think that it means to be a civilian fight ready Now as a law enforcement
Law Enforcement Combat Readiness
Speaker 1.
Speaker 1I think that you don't get to choose , you have to train . I do believe that I really appreciate , I really feel a gratitude towards every first responder . We need them to keep us safe and , like I said , I have a great respect . But I do believe that if you choose that profession , don't rely only on your academy or department or police chief or supervisor , sheriff , whoever , to provide the training . All right , we know that I'm going to talk about the , at least , which is good or bad . I'll explain that in a second . But we know that when you go through the academy you're going to get a lot of combative training , firearms training , you're going to get all the training you need for six months , et cetera , and then you get out .
Speaker 1Some departments have been using third-party trainers to teach the defensive tactics and that's where the at least comes in , because at least people have been , or officers and cadets , and even like seasoned officers , are at least having a chance to train a little bit , or at least they're moving . You see where I'm going with this . It's a great component . At least get guys to step on some training area , put some wrestling shoes , get their uniforms and try to grapple somebody resisting , do force on force and some basics . So at least they learn a little bit . At least they , they get the fundamentals , or at least they go through a little pressure and they at least sorry , sorry for the repetition , but for you guys to get the idea , at least they get to learn the very basic fundamental moves to address the high percentage say statistically speaking , high percentage things that can happen . So for instance , oh , maybe people on the street I'm just tossing here a random number most of the time when they have a blade , they do this , two types of motion , either this or that . So at least people get to train on those basic stuff and that's all great because that at least helps , but that at least is not enough , because I feel like you have to train , not just for the 90% chance thing .
Speaker 1I think you personally not talking about your department and anything like that I don't expect bureaucrats , politicians , mayors , police chiefs to allocate that amount of budget to help their people . That doesn't happen . We know that . It's just a few departments that really like work like that , like really concerned about their people , and and this is based on the feedback that I get , I'm not saying in general , but , um , we know how that works , but anyway , um , I believe that you have to work for the 10% . So let's think about this .
Speaker 1Number one as a law enforcement , once you step out of your house wearing your uniform , I feel that it's on . You have a day that is just basic traffic stops , a ticket here and there , helping somebody in distress , not a violent day . But the problem is there are no scheduled fights . You don't know when they're going to happen . Danger can happen on a traffic stop , on a domestic call , on a welfare check or if you're doing security detail for somebody , I feel like you have to keep yourself tactically aware . So technical awareness and mindset , it's a huge thing . You have to train for the unknown .
Speaker 1I already said that , I'm repeating , just put in order here . So a lot of weapons retention , defensive tactics under stress , force on force and error-based training , decision making . We need to foster a training environment where we can , even artificially , but we can , produce some stress . So you have to make those decisions under stress . If we have the technical skills , the physical skills , if you have been training on a regular basis , you make an investment . You make an investment to stay alive . So , whatever that jiu-jitsu school charges you a hundred something bucks or hopefully they do what I do , which is to offer a flat fee , very cheap , very cheap , less than half , so you can train everything and this is an investment , so you can go home always alive . But if you train that much , guarantee that you're gonna be always super professional . You're gonna always use the most compatible force to control and restrain somebody and you can go from zero to 100 , being 100 lethal . Zero is just rewriting a ticket , using your words . Let the guy have a bad day screaming and yelling at you , but it's not violent . You go home because you know that your emotional is super strong , especially based on your confidence , knowing and being aware that you have done your homework training . So , yeah , all of this training , all this ongoing training that I believe that law enforcement should engage in , to be fight ready way more than I need to be fight ready right as a civilian or a jiu-jitsu coach or a kickboxing coach or whatever , I feel that all this training will help you always take the most logical decisions , have the most logical decisions versus emotional decisions . The more you train , the more you train , the more you train , the more you train , the more you train , the more you train , the more you train . The more you train , the more you train build your confidence , build your skills , your physical abilities , and that leads you to be more logical and less emotional . I hope that helps . So that is a quick explanation about what I feel that it means to be fight ready , but I have one quick invitation for who is local , so bear here with me .
Enhanced Defensive Tactics Training Invitation
Speaker 1Well , in um , september 6th and 7th , I will be running , together with tom kyer and dave taras , a two-day intensive training focus on law enforcement . So we we don't want to call it the quote unquote , at least defensive tactics we decided to call it enhanced defensive tactics . So we want to do and help our guys with the best information we can put out there for the most for the situations that can become more complex . So I'm going to read here so we're doing a hands-off defensive tactics a high percentage scenarios , real world , proven tactics . So real world , very important , proven tactics very important . We're going to do an exclusive today , intensive training . We're going to do empty-handed edge weapons and firearms integration , high probability , real-world scenarios , decision-making under stress , force-on-force drills and after-action reviews with the skills of refinement . What I mean is we're gonna be , we're gonna isolate each , each situation , each technique , each you know combos , right integrations . We're gonna drill them and then we're gonna try to try . Now we're gonna run scenarios that will be decision making , that will be force on force . Most important this is the most important part of the edt is that once we finish , we're going to have a comprehensive aar with the help of , you know , tv screens . We're going to record things , we're going to show you here's what you did , here's , you know , literally like a full coaching process with a best analysis so we can tweak and fix whatever we see that it needs to be fixed in your game , right in your game , like in your skills .
Speaker 1So who's tom's ? Tom kyer or thomas kyer ? I usually call him tom . I'm not so used to call him Thomas , but he's a Tuhon or Grand Master in SIACs . He's the leader of the SIAC Tactical Group with over two decades providing instruction and mission-based training to the DOD , the Naval Special Warfare , the US Army Special Forces and many law enforcement agencies . So , tom , I had an opportunity to I'm very grateful to work for him and I learned so much . I keep learning from him . He's definitely an encyclopedia of everything combat is and even philosophy , mindset , especially LOT . And what I love about is that because he's extremely practical , efficient and violent in a good way . A lot of experience teaching high-level special forces guys or high-level agencies , federal agencies , and what happens is he embraces all this feedback , he gets all this feedback and he breaks that down . So he's always in search , in my opinion , of finding the answers that everybody's looking for . During training , I'll be helping and assisting , especially when it comes to grappling , striking and some integration .
Speaker 1For who doesn't know me , I'm a fifth degree Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt , going sixth degree this year . I'm a second degree in Hawaiian Kempo under Greg Davis . I am an RMA black belt , fourth degree RMA black belt under my coach , my teacher Shihan Wolisek co-host . Go meet him watching the last episodes or listening to the last episodes . I have some experience teaching . I have good experience teaching law enforcement and as an SME integrated combatants for some agencies . And I have over 20 years as an MMA coach . I have coached people in all the big leagues . The small leagues took a little break from MMA but I'm getting back into helping some new upcomers and we have Dave Torres who is bringing a lot of the scenarios and helping us format . Dave is also known as the Mountain and he's an active Connecticut law enforcement officer . He's a user force defensive tactics SME . He's a first degree Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt under me , second degree black belt also under Greg Davis in Hawaiian Campo I said Hawaiian Campo right away and he's also RMA black belt under Wal Lysak and , of course , he's an integrated combatants instructor . He assists a lot in so many local law enforcement training . He really knows a lot about defensive tactics .
Speaker 1So if you want to take a look , this is open for civilians . If I don't know you , I might contact you If I see that you registered , just to make sure that I get to know you before you come in . But you can go to enhanceddefensivetacticscom Enhanceddefensivetacticscom . You can get more information at that page Enhanceddefensivetacticscom
Closing Thoughts and Contact Info
Speaker 1. Anyway , guys , oh , right here in this camera . So I'm really happy to be back . I hope you guys got as happy as I got to be back here . If you have any questions , please send to me . My email is office at corecombatives , core with a K K-O-R-E , combativescom , and I'm going to put a link here to our Spotify and other channels YouTube , because you might be listening to this on Spotify . You want to watch us , for whatever reason , I'll put all the links there . See you guys next time . We're going to develop more off of this and we have great topics ahead . Thank you very much . I really appreciate you guys supporting and give me the motivation to be back here talking by myself to this microphone . Have a great day .