Comments on TKDTutor HOT TOPIC!: HOT TOPIC #2: Mixed Martial Arts is neither mixed ...

As a definition, the term martial art refers to an...

2008-12-29T11:34:00.000-05:00

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.

A "martial art" is a military art. Western style ...

2008-12-29T09:40:00.000-05:00

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 in any aspect of life, there are always excepti...

2008-09-14T11:41:00.000-04:00

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.

While MMA may not be a martial art in itself, it i...

2008-09-14T01:08:00.000-04:00

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.