silapathai

Rick Tew's background is is dux ryu and Tjakai...most of you(if not all)have an idea what dux ryu is but tjakai is basically a hybrid of muay thai, kyokushinkai, judo, pencak silat. The two tjakai black belts that I know are awesome fighters and I can say with 100% confidence that it is much harder to get a tjakai shodan/nidan than it is a bujinkan shodan/nidan.
You ask how I feel this? I used to spar a bujinkan nidan and yondan on a regular basis in Muay Thai. I've grappled with both of them in bjj too...The tjakai system is more practical for grappling and "kickboxing" in my opinion. To give bujinkan guys some respect I didn't spar/fight them with weapons and we weren't going for lethal assasination "ninja" techniques on eachother.
Now, I know that rick tew posts a bunch of flashy stuff on his site but I bet you he's a fairly decent kickboxer...