The mixed martial arts (MMA) style of fighting is the latest martial arts fad; following on the heels of other fads, such as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Taebo, and Aerobic Kick Boxing. The original concept was based upon the martial arts, but it has become just another contrived moneymaking sport.
At the beginning of MMA development, fighters were trained martial artists who fought no-holds-barred fights (actually there were rules to prevent life-threatening techniques, maiming, broken bones, etc.) to see which martial art was the best for fighting. Mixed martial arts meant that these were fighters who were trained in different martial arts who fought each other to see how their different martial arts faired against each other in actual combat. Many times what was at stake was the reputation of the martial art more than the ability of the fighters; they were fighting for their martial arts more than for themselves.
Some matches were very short (not enough action for spectators) and some were very long and boring for spectators (such as with the Gracie hour-long hold-downs). Some matches were brutal and gory; so many states banned the matches, which led to changes in the rules to make the matches more palatable to the public. However, most of the rules changes came from a desire to make the fights more profitable, to both the promoters and the fighters. As the sport becomes more popular, the rules are becoming even more limiting; MMA is fast becoming a version of professional wrestling with contact allowed.
With limitations on which techniques can be used, limits on periods of inaction, use of gloves, time limits, etc., fighters are less susceptible to career altering injures so they can fight more often. Fighting more often allows fighters to develop a base of fans, allows promoters to hold more fights, and allows fighters and promoters to make more money. Nowadays, most mixed martial artists have no formal martial arts training; they have only trained in MMA, which has now become a sport, such as Olympic style Taekwondo.
In the beginning, most of the MMA fighters had martial arts training and were testing their arts against each other; this is where the term “mixed” originated—different arts fighting against each other using some common rules for safety. Now the term supposedly means each fighter is using a mixture of different martial arts (nothing original here, everyday a new martial art is “founded” that uses the “best” techniques from other arts). However, these “mixed” techniques are pretty much limited to wide swinging punches, some grappling, kicks to the thighs, and very few locks and strangles (these are strangles, not chokes; chokes cutoff the air supply to the lungs, strangles cutoff the blood supply to the brain).
Martial arts by definition have a “martial” component (the fighting), and an “art” component (the way or the artistic). The martial component is composed of numerous, often intricate, difficult to use, techniques that take months, if not years, of training to perfect. The art component is where the fighting component takes on an almost spiritual aura in the quest for perfection of form. A martial art transforms fighting into an art form where artistic expression is paramount and perfection of human character is the goal. The goal is not to just win the fight, but to win it majestically.
While boxing is called the “the art of boxing,” by definition, boxing is not a martial art. It has the martial component where fighting skill is pursued but its only goal is to punch the opponent harder and more often than he or she can punch you; how well the punching is performed is of no concern as long as the result is the defeat of the opponent (how much can you give and how much can you take). When they are fighting, this is also the goal of MMA and of any martial art. However, boxing and the MMA have no art component. Perfection of technique is of no concern and is not trained. You will never see boxers or mixed martial artists compete against each other in artistic expression.
Therefore, the term mixed martial arts is deceiving. While the fighting makes it martial, there is no mixed and there is no arts. Using the term “martial arts” in the name degrades the martial arts.
September 1, 2008
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4 comments:
While MMA may not be a martial art in itself, it is unfair to say that mixed martial arts is a decieving term. There may be many fighters who have not trained in the martial arts, but there are also many who have. Alot of the top fighters have practiced many different arts. Such examples include people like Fedor Emilianenko is a sambo fighter. He represents the art of his country and mma very well. Another such example is Lyoto Machida. He is a Karate stylist that feels the traditional aspects of the martial arts are very important. He still practices his forms in his training regimen.
about the rules being incorperated. though alot of it may be about money the original reason that rules were incoperated in mma in america is because people like john mcain felt that these contest were a form of human cockfighting. So to keep the business alive in america they added what ever rule that would satisfy politicians and the media. Honestly I haven't seen many changes since the rules were incorperated. I didn't see people use knife hands, spear hands, ect. They stuck with simple punches and palm strikes as they do now. The gloves that are now required are not that hindering anyway. There not much different from kenpo gloves or the punches that people in tae kwon do wear in point sparring.
finally in my experience the martial arts were ment to be simple. I feel that mma tries to get to the core of what the martial arts are about. What is effective. Plus the things that we stress in the martial arts we still see alive in well in mma. Integrity, perseverance, honor, curtousy, respect, and so on. There may be those that we see as bad eggs, these types of people are in the regualr martial arts as well. art is self expression and nobody has the right to tell anyone what they do is not art if they feel it is so. there are weirder forms of art out there.
As in any aspect of life, there are always exceptions to the rules. While some MMA fighters have extensive training and experience in what has been termed as the traditional martial art (these are usually the pioneers of the sport and are the older fighters), most MMA fighters have no formal training in anything but MMA; for most, their training has consisted of backyard brawling. Even amongst the MMA fighters with martial arts training, one would find it nearly impossible to find anything they do in the ring that resembles something in their martial art. Most all do the same thing, uncontrolled looping punches, thigh kicks, one to two types of arm locks, one or two types of takedowns, one or two types of strangles, a leg lock, and wild pounding into submission. You seldom ever see anything that even faintly resembles a martial art.
The rules were created to allow fighters to fight more often and thus make more money, an, more importantly, to allow promoters to make more money. If money and fame was not the motivator, then fighters would be content to continue fighting in backyard bouts.
As I said above, there are always exceptions to the rule. While there are most certainly honorable fighters in MMA, what you see in exhibitions of MMA, such as promoted public events and televised events, is what the promoters want portrayed. If a fighter does not behave as scripted, he or she will not be permitted to fight in their events again. The gracious loser portrayed for a few minutes in the ring is much different than the indignant, fuming, raging loser see backstage. A true martial artist considers his or her martial art a “way of life,” not a profession. Such things as honor, integrity, courtesy, and such are practiced on a daily basis. As stated before, there are always exceptions to the rule; therefore, there are plenty of so-called martial artists who are frauds, hoodlums, charlatans, and even felons.
A "martial art" is a military art. Western style boxing, fencing and traditional wrestling (freestyle/greco roman) are martial arts. What needs to be accepted is that a martial art is not required to have a philisophical guiding principle of any kind. Only those of us who study traditional asian arts are exposed to this aspect of martial training, this is due in large part to the religions being practiced at the time of their creation. The teachings of Buddah were not contemplated in the creation of Greek pancrase nor in western boxing, but that does not make them less of a martial art. Meditation and personal developement were religious aspects that were tied to the asian martial arts in many cases to make them more acceptable to society or as a way to focus the warriors activities when he was not actively engaged in a war. Do not judge MMA from the eastern philisophical point of view, judge it for what it is, a martial art which requires the same time and discipline to become proficient in as any other fighting art. Unless of course tolerance and acceptance are no longer being taught in east asian martial arts.
As a definition, the term martial art refers to any of the traditional forms of Oriental self-defense or combat arts that use physical skill and coordination, with or without weapons, not to a mere style of fighting. Boxing is a fighting sport, it was created as a sport; it does not claim to be a martial art. Judo, while based upon the martial art of Jujitsu, was created to be a fighting sport. WTF style Olympic TKD, while based upon traditional TKD, was created as a fighting sport. Many current martial arts, even those based upon traditional combat arts, have watered down their arts to make them sports and more commercially viable.
Just because something is used in combat, it does not make it a martial art. The training in and use of the bo or sai is considered a martial art, while firearms training and use, whether for target shooting or for war, has never been considered a martial art. Fencing is a sword fighting sport, while Iaido is a martial art of swordsmanship. To be considered a martial “art,” the fighting system must contain the art component; otherwise, it is just a fighting system or a sport.
Just because MMA is a fighting sport that requires discipline and intense training does not make it a martial art. According to the different religions, working hard to be a good person, good spouse, good parent, and good citizen, and believing in a God, does not get you into the hereafter; you must also believe in and practice the religion itself. If you are foreign born, just living in the United States, speaking English, practicing the culture, and even serving in the military does not make you a citizen. You only become a citizen when you meet the requirements for citizenship and totally accept the United States as your county. Until you accept the whole, just performing some of the parts of the whole does not make you a part of the whole. Just because MMA uses some techniques used by martial arts, may claim to be a martial art, and uses martial arts in its name, does not make it a martial art.
Whether there is a need for, or any usefulness in, having an art component to a fighting system is a topic for another discussion. The fact remains that, to be a martial arts, a fighting system must have an art component, and MMA does not; therefore, it is not a martial art. As traditional martial artists, we judge and accept MMA for what it was designed to be, an empty-hand fighting sport.
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