I got the idea for this about the Pro-Hapkido thread. Well in today's MMA (PRIDE, UFC, ect) we have martial artists from any different arts. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Judo, Wrestling, Boxing, Muay Thai, ect. Well if a person trained in Hapkido and worked with an MMA coach, could a person do well in MMA with Hapkido? Well all know Gary Goodridge, and how he has Kuk Sool Won experience. So basically, could a person who trained in Hapkido do good in the world of MMA?
No, you wouldn't have to. It's simply called MMA because usually you have to mix styles so that you've got all ranges covered. Since hapkido does anyway you shouldn't need to mix it with anything else in order to succeed in MMA unless you don't do proper sparring.
Very true Timmy Boy, cause Hapkido has throws, joint locks, striking, ect. Good point there. I don't know if Hapkido was ever used successfully in an MMA bout.
In one of the early UFCs there was a Hapkido fighter. I don't think he did very well. I believe small-joint locks are banned in UFC and Pride, thereby eliminating many of Hapkido's more effective techniques. Besides, Hapkido isn't meant to be a sport, and personally I'd rather not see it go in that direction.
I think Hapkido could be a good base art, but the person would have to cross train and do lots of MMA style sparring (and get some MMA pointers and tips on the competition). I think if a person wanted primarily to participate in MMA matches, they would be better served by attending MMA schools for the most part. If a person just wanted "to try some MMA competition once or twice", I think it'd be okay.
I've never seen groundwork in my style of Hapkido - that is probably a must if you want to enter MMA. Also you need to train MMA style - practising moves against someone compliant won't transfer that well to an MMA arena.
I've found Hapkido and MMA to work nicely together. MMA brought my Hapkido to a whole new level. Keep in mind that there's so much technical work and timing involved in MMA matches that it's pretty much its own animal. The Hapkidoist would have to learn to work without certain techniques.
Anything can be used in MMA, but to succeed in MMA you need to train in MMA. It's not a style vs. style thing anymore, and while the old school grapplers like Royce Gracie and Pancrase Ken Shamrock could dominate a fight by taking it to the ground, and pure strikers of world calibre quality like early Bas Rutten could end a fight in seconds with a powerful blow, times have changed. Royce Gracie stopped facing top-tier competition in MMA, Ken Shamrock became more reliant on his boxing, and Bas Rutten became a world class submission fighter. The legendary Judo player Yoshida developed strong boxing defense and a powerful kick. Will Hapkido come in handy? Sure, anything can, especially if you can successfully use some unorthodox techniques to surpise your opponents. Look at Georges St. Pierre who has incorporated powerful axe kicks and back kicks from his Kyokushin background to gain dominance over such game opponents as Frank Trigg, Sean Sherk, and Jason Miller. But, at his core, St. Pierre's style is MMA, flavoring it with his own preferences. So, what is MMA? A lot of people will tell you it's wrestling combined with no-gi jiujitsu/sub wrestling and kickboxing/muay thai. It's not. It's MMA style. You can have someone who is proficient in all of those things fail utterly in a vale-tudo competition. Why? Because he hasn't learned to fuse those disparate techniques together and he hasn't discarded those that won't work in favor of those that will. If you want an example, look at the early Gary Goodridge fight when the wrestler puts him into a wrestler hold that works pretty darn good in freestyle... Gary pounds the guy into vicious submission with a series of well placed, incredibly lethal elbows. So, what makes up standard MMA style? *Boxing and kickboxing inspired striking. The punching and kicking of kickboxing and boxing does not work wholecloth when you add in wrestling clinches and shoots. *Freestyle shots and sprawls. Freestyle wrestling contributes most of the takedown work in MMA, from single legs to slams. As a result, it also provides the basis of takedown defense...see Chuck Liddell. *Greco clinching. Far more common in MMA than Thai clinch is the Greco clinch, mastered by someone like Randy Couture. It provides a good position for takedowns and has potential for knee strikes. The exception to this is a strong Muay Thai fighter like Vanderlei Silva. *No-gi Judo throws. Sometimes, especially in Japanese competition, you see well executed Judo throws, like hip tosses and tripping. Frequently, fighters seem to find it offers better them positioning than wrestling takedowns, however, Judo throws were designed with clothing in mind and so they are not so often used. *Some Muay Thai kicks. The staple of the MMA kicker's arsenal is the low outside thigh kick. Some people have utilized the inside kick well. It is a fairly safe kick as opposed to midsection kicks which are dangerous from the possibility of being caught and high kicks for being more open. However, all ranges of kicking are present in MMA, they're just used more sparingly than in kickboxing competition. *No-gi jiujitsu/sub wrestling positioning and submissions. If wrestling skills are what are used to get the fight to the floor, jiujitsu is what's used when it gets there. And finally, an element of fighting born of MMA: ground and pound. Utilizing jiujitsu positioning, fighters have developed devestating striking while on top. In some notable cases (see Bas Rutten) they have amazingly powerful strikes from the bottom, too. From here there's room to improvise, spinning back kicks, teeps, spinning backfists, etc. In an emerging sport like MMA the rules on techique are changing, and something overlooked today could be tomorrow's gold mine. The key is integration, if you can't integrate your Hapkido technique into a more general MMA flavor, then forget it. If you can, like St. Pierre has done, then godspeed soldier.
To me, If one wanted a good all around self defense for street then Hapkido would be Great and is as complete as one would need,provided what was learned was trained in the manner desired. If one wanted to compete in MMA competition the Hapkido could be an asset as everything required wqould not be foreign,you just need to retweek it,but one would still have to learn the arts they would be facing,you would need to employ those skills and train against those skills,so a MMA Facility would be the best bet. If we look at the Pro-Hapkido video,I would imagine that many of those men could easily transfer into MMA,many probably already compete in it as they have some great skills,they would just have to become more familiar with what they might encounter,like a stronger ground attack and defense game plan,or keeping the kicks low so as not to be grabbed and grounded (but the low kicks were banned in the Pro hapkido),so they would have to train those kicks in as you are heading into a field of specialists that work these ranges of combat and they make it work within the rules of MMA.
Hapkido is synonomous with versatility, especially since the two largest style divisions are between GM Choi's groundwork emphasis from its Aiki-Daito Ryu roots and GM Ji Han Jae's emphasis on punching and kicking. Training for the event is key as well: "Know thy enemy" (Sun Tzu?). Question: do you think there is ample opportunity to employ joint locks in MMA?
Hahaha yeah the supposed 4th Dan. When I heard about that I thought, **** Kuk Sool in MMA! Only to realize he actually only went into a Kuk Sool class to challenge a guy who was going into UFC, beat him then ended up representing Kuk Sool when in reality he's not done it at all. Still think he's a good fighter though. Kuk Sool isn't meant for combat in a ring and it's not meant to teach you to go out and beat someone up, its about preserving an old Korean martial art. I'd think Hapkido is similar.
I think most people will agree that MMA still has a lot of room to grow and that there might be techniques and training methods that aren't currently used simply because they haven't been tried in an MMA setting. Who knows, Hapkido might have something to offer MMA. Some of the kicks employed in Kyokushinkai are similar to Hapkido kicks. Maybe some of those could be used. Maybe there are some joint locks that could be used from the clinch or from a mid range between punching distance and the clinch. I think Hapkido is something that's hard to train well because most of the techniques involve putting a lot of pressure on a small joint, which is hard to do with full resistance without hurting someone. But when I hear stories of people like Takeda Sokaku (founder of Daito Ryu) and Choi Yong Sul, I can't help but think there might be good applications of Hapkido in MMA.
the only kuk sool "experience" goodridge has is that he wore a gi to his UFC debut. like Kucan said he just went to a kuk sool placem, whooped the guy who was supposed to be going to the UFC, and took his spot. severe level of badassness there.
honestly, i really don't see why not. it has striking, it has takedowns, it has grappling, it has submissions. for as long as those moves conform to the mma competition's rules like no biting, no eye-gouging, no groinshots, no fishooking, no blow to the back of the head, (for ufc) no knees on the ground, (for pride fc) no elbows...
I believe that at one point in time his credintials did say HKD. But I would have to go back to some of the older fights when they had the vital stats listed for each fighter before the fight. Now I'm curious. I think I'll do an internet search. Here it says KSW. http://www.sherdog.com/fightfinder/fightfinder.asp?fighterID=129 Same here. http://fighters.itgo.com/G.html I just coud have swore that at one point in time he said he studied HKD. I'll just have to go back to those old fights to see.
It's possible he dabbled in Hapkido, but my understanding is that GG is first, and foremost, a boxer.
I think that HDK would make an excellent base for MMA training, but by itself, would be insufficient. Personally, I think BJJ would be a good complement, along with a hard, striking style, like kickboxing. I've heard it said, however, that HKD is "The original MMA".
