Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/05/11/mma-fighters-quick-defeat-of.html
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Well the origin of the martial art that “won” (and is why there is MMA) are really interesting too.
Muay Thai is also has a history of beating traditional martial artists pretty badly too.
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It sometimes seems any unromantic grappling art will win an unarmed streetfight where no-one lands a knockout punch in the first few seconds: catch, jiu-jitsu, etc.
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I am no expert, but I have heard it was Alexander the Great that first encouraged grappling as a lethal art. Mind you I’m reasonably sure I heard this on Ultimate Warrior…
Anyways, my point before distracting myself is that grappling was important until guns basically. Even platemail clad knights would knock the other off a horse so the unarmored ranks would leap on top of them an slide a knife into their joints or helmets (frequently asking for surrender to ransom their safe return home).
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This is probably especially true when there are no bars against eye-gouging and other orifice attacks.
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My God that video:
A room full of black belts – a very high chance of someone getting seriously hurt. …maybe a heart attack, or a torn hamstring, or a stubbed toe from those awful movements. Or gout, that’s a killer right there.
If any of these “black belts” have been training for more than a year, they should get their money back.
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Wasn’t this a large part of Bruce Lee’s philosophy towards traditional martial arts?
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BJJ is a part of modern MMA, but definitely not the whole, or even dominant.
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Video of the beatdown in question:
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I was going to say, don’t ever let the MMA guys get hold of you. That’s their schtick.
I do a lot of various kinds of sport combat, and there’s always somebody who is loudly bragging that their master is the bestest master and their art is the bestest art and they can beat anyone in a “real” fight because their master/art is the bestest. The Gracie acolytes are particularly notable in this regard.
If you’re doing a martial art or sport for some reason other than enjoyment and/or physical and mental fitness, you’re doing it wrong. I know guys who train with guns, there’s a doj in Murdertown where the cops beat each other senseless in the back room, while the front room has a respectable & legit MMA studio. If that’s what you’re into, well, great, but don’t start thinking it makes you a magic unstoppable warrior.
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I dunno, isn’t learning a bunch of synchronized dance moves the most legit way to get a black belt?
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I think I have to challenge that statement. Watch any traditional “striker” go up against anyone with BJJ training and they’re screwed as soon as they end up on the floor. I think without at least learning grappling defense and how to resist submissions (i.e., at least defensive BJJ training), things aren’t going to end well for you in any of the truly competitive MMA leagues.
In fact, if you look at the middleweight and higher weight classes, that have, traditionally, been the purvey of Boxers, more and more the champs are just as comfortable grappling as they are striking.
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I’m quite fond of the Cracked article on the subject.
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I’d really be ambivalent about the chances of any technique tame and well codified enough that you can have a bunch of people routinely practicing it without leaving too many crippled or maimed too quickly(as the NFL has proven, ‘too quickly’ is a clarification, not an exclusion).
Being safe enough to practice does mean that the practitioner skill level and overall fitness are likely to be favorable; but also means that it’s safe enough to practice; and the returns to additional discipline and practice are ultimately limited(unless you go in for one of the flavors of martial-arts-magic and end up with a more or less overt claim that practice is ultimately stronger than physics).
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It’s absolutely the origin of modern MMA though.
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Compare Christian Charismatics with that Chi master. The same force-knockdowns with twitching on the ground:
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Best laugh I’ve had today.
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But that’s not modern MMA. There haven’t been “stiker vs. jiu jitsu” matches for a heck of a long time.
You definitely have to be conversant in BJJ to compete in modern MMA, but as you point out that’s mostly defensive to learn how to counter/escape the arm-bars and triangles. There’s a reason that high level fights rarely (but not never, of course) end in submissions now other than rear chokes that result from someone giving up their back to avoid punches. The “grappling” that good fighters have employed for some time now is rooted mostly in wrestling and is used more to gain position for striking than to end fights in submission.
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It’s a big component, sure. The Gracies were really good at marketing.
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