In general I agree with you, but I just wanted to point out that MMA covers most everything allowed in empty hand sparring. When it comes to weapons there are obviously better options! And there are rulesets (albeit not ones used in competition) like the rules the Black Eagle Society uses (in which participants start with helmets and sticks but can go anywhere from there), which simply defines the length of a round, the ways someone can tap out, and specifies that there must be no egos involved in the fighting. As long as both people can shake hands afterwards, everything goes. What is significant about MMA rules, I would argue, is not simply the wide range of options for a fighter; but also the popularity of the rules which means competing under that rule-set will challenge everyone up to world-class athletes.
For the most part, I agree, but not entirely. Judo and Enshin karate allow you to tactically use your opponent's clothing for everything from throws to chokes to preventing their escape from strikes. MMA involves guys in basically nothing but swim trunks, taking that element out of it. If you live in SoCal, this might not be a big issue, but if you live in Minnesota, where you and anyone you're fighting will both likely be wearing coats, it's a significant difference. Kyokushin allows and requires participants to be hitting each other with bare knuckles instead of gloves, which changes the dynamic both on the giving end and on the receiving end. Kuma and Gary_Enshin would know better than I do how significant this change is. I'm assuming that it's a somewhat significant difference, but I could be wrong. And just for the record, fencing and kendo are both combat sports that are full of things not allowed in MMA, namely swords For the most part, I agree, with one absolutely critical exception if you're looking to prepare for real-world encounters instead of combat sports competitions: weapons. If you get in a serious fight with someone (not a bar brawl or a basketball-court scuffle), there's a very real chance that they've got a knife or worse. Some of the things that work best in an unarmed-versus-unarmed encounter, such as taking your opponent to the ground to control him with grappling, are the worst possible things to do if he's got a knife in his back pocket. This came up in the MCMAP episode of Human Weapon. One of the hosts of the show executed a beautiful single-leg (or maybe it was double-leg) takedown on a Marine who let himself be taken down and immediately proceeded to pull a practice knife out of his back pocket and stab the host a half-dozen times in the now-completely-unprotected kidney area. Another thing missing from MMA is emphasis on putting an opponent on the ground while you remain standing. Other arts, such as Sanda, emphasize this, but MMA doesn't reward this at all. Yet if you're training specifically for real-world encounters, it's the best possible situation to be in. First and foremost, it makes escaping the situation easy. Second, if you have to finish it, it opens up all sorts of possibilities for soccer kicks and stomps. Couldn't agree more. EDIT: I mean that I agree that they have different styles, not that I think they're all the same style. Agreed. This reeks of hyperbole, yet I can't think of any other example that's been more influential worldwide in terms of martial arts. If you consider number of practitioners to be a test of influence, though, wouldn't boxing or Olympic TKD be more "influential" than MMA rules, at least at the moment?
I hear what you're saying, but not everyone is like that who might say they're a martial artist. Though, I'd prefer the term, Warrior, but I'm guessing you've got a piece to say on that, too. Fair enough. There are a lot of dreamers in martial arts. Men are born with testosterone and a natural desire to dominate. That cannot be weeded out of a male personality, even when the person is physically and mentally lacking the required backups for his ambitions.,
Fair enough, but are they all skilled in some form of wrestling? I'm not a UFC fan, so I don't really claim to know, but I'm guessing you can't make it big on striking alone. That's what I'm saying. No striker has ever made it to the top, right?
Bas Rutten basically self taught his grappling from what I recall. He was having success in Pancrase but realized he needed some form of wrestling to compliment his formidable striking. He and a training partner just started rolling as often as they could for hours at a time. Needless to say he improved quickly. Almost half his wins were by submission.
Basically there's a difference between wrestling (freestyle, collegiate, greco-roman) and submission-wrestling (BJJ, Catch wrestling) and styles that mix the 2 (sambo, Judo). MMA fighters may not have trained in BJJ but they trained in some style of submission wrestling, or simply trained the range of submission wrestling. P.S. Chuck has purple in BJJ.
MMA is not a style, it is a set of rules. While I agree with that and it is accurate what I also see is an ad-hoc "style" developing anyway. Just because MMA is such a crucible of testing things the same sorts of high percentage techniques float to the top time and time again. From those a kind of proto-style has developed that a LOT of fighters use. Jab-cross-hook-uppercut. Simple arm-cover and evasive footwork. Double-leg takedown. Sprawl Establish Side control. Leg kicks. There is just stuff you need to be able to do and counter in a fight that these things lend themselves to. Tomorrow I'm going to train at new gym that teaches MMA classes. I know MMA isn't a style per se but I know before I go what I'm letting myself in for. Because I know there's a proto-style of MMA.
What about Bruce Lee? The Tao of Jeet Kune Do is basically an mma manual. The idea of training to be an all around fighter is nothing new. The UFC just made it mainstream.
In a one sentence summary of theory (keep what works and discard what doesn't), it's the same. But when you look at what Bruce Lee thought "works" and what, say, Mauricio Rua or Brock Lesnar or GSP thinks "works," it's night and day. When you look at the end package, it's night and day. There's nothing that looks remotely like Bruce Lee's JKD in modern MMA.
They were all at least decent on the ground yes, but a large proportion of those guys would want to avoid the ground at all costs so they could strike. Heres one of the best of that breed: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=na0Gucw1qK0"]YouTube- Cro Cop - Best Highlights[/ame] And to Dizzy and Mitlov. I totally agree about the weapons side of things, I'd kinda forgotten them when I wrote that. I'm a big fan of what the dog brothers style of fighting and would like to give it a try at some point after I've given MMA a good go. I'm not saying that MMA is the be all and end all of martial arts training. Just that its caused a huge number of martial arts schools and classes to consider it in relation to their training. This is by no means a new thing, similar reappraisals occurred in Japan when Judo came to prominence and during the 1960s/70s kickboxing boom in the States and the UK. Its just that MMA is on a wider and more international scale than anything previously seen. What I meant by influential wasn't just the number of fans, the number of people going to MMA gyms but also how the sport has influenced how martial artists train. I know kung fu clubs, combatives clubs, wing chun clubs. judo clubs etc etc who have altered their training (some of the time at least) due to the influence of MMA. Hell, at a boxing club I used to go to we used to spar with takedowns/g&p every now and then. Obviously training equipment goes hand in hand with this. The modern design of MMA sparring gloves means its now possible to grapple effectively while punching each other with the same impact as a 10oz boxing glove. Look at (almost) any martial arts website. Chances are they'll have MMA gear on the front page in the most prominent place. Five or so years ago this likely wouldn't have been the case. Olympic TKD and boxing, though hugely popular, perhaps more so as sports, just haven't influenced the martial arts world in the same way at all. Fifteen years ago people were saying MMA was brutal and should be banned, ten years ago they said it would never get big, five years ago they said it was a fad that would soon fizzle out. But its still here, still getting bigger. I believe its a sizemic change in the martial arts landscape that is here for good. Its as much a fad as Judo, boxing or kickboxing are/were. And due to its greater completeness as a form of fighting will be more influential and wide spread in its appeal than any of them. And the very idea of newness itself is stange in some ways: Show someone with no knowlege of martial arts the picutre above. Then show them footage of MMA, Akido, JJJ, BJJ, Boxing, Karate, TKD, Judo, wrestling, thai boxing, silat and any number of other martial arts. They match the picture to MMA, and that picture is not a modern one! Its not so much a discovery as a rediscovery!
I was going to say "but you can't see any genitalia in the second picture," but then I remembered Brock Lesnar's chest tattoo.
I think it comes down to that old chestnut of why your training in MMA and who is teaching it and he approach they take or you take. The thing that MMA does is ,good MMA, is that it takes the fundamentals of standup,ground and clinch and tacticaly combines them. It does not just take a technique from here or there. It takes fundamentals and ways to train from grappling and striking arts. To view it as though it takes a jab from boxing, a ick from Muay Thai or a sub from BJJ is looking at it wrong in my view. What can happen is a great wrestler who has grappling fundamentals can just train standup techniques and not stand up fundamentals. Just borrowing technique.He will do ok but his striking wont match his grappling untill he looks at thefundamental movement. Also the UFC does not represent all MMA. People competing does not represent all MMA. Competing is great and a way to safely experience a fight. Yet it doesnt mean in the gym or in drills that those competing rules have to be followed. I know of someone who tried out for the UFC andhe said they were more interested on the look and personality rather than skill. Skilll was a factor but not as important. Also Dana White is buying up alot of MMA gyms forcing smaller ones to close or go back just doing single styles.
I actually find it hard to believe that MMA should not be considered an integral part to TMA's. I am putting alot of time right now into training with a view to compete in some MMA fights next year, purely becuase I believe the philosophies of MMA are much more in line with the spirit of MA than alot of TMA schools out there. MMA is not an art, it is a tool, an excersise/test of ability. And some people chose to train solely for that "excersise". Nothing wrong with that at all.
