Traditional martial art or mma?

[ShanShui]

Having always trained in a traditional manner and mindset I have become a voice against mma, perhaps for purely selfish reasons. So in the spirit of fairness, and to gain a better understanding of why people choose to participate in this sport, I would like to simply ask why?... Why do you choose to participate in mma rather than train in a more traditional martial art?

Please, only knowledgeable and respectable answers only, the immature and ignorant need not reply.

 

[Gunnut84]

Honestly I'd have to say that it depends on which art you practice. There's a big difference between Karate or TKD and Krav Maga which was developed for the modern street or battlefield.

For me, I'd have to say MMA its self is just cross training. Rather than being a wrestler or boxer or kick boxer you train in all of the above. You're not going to do well in MMA competition if you can only kick box or box, because people will eventually take you to the ground where you have no game. Street fights are the same way; eventually you'll run into some @sshole that will tackle you and all your kicks and punches are for naught so you better know how to grapple.

MMA really is the studying of multiple "traditional" arts, for the reason of bettering your personal skill at every individual art and all of them.

 

[Haro]

Most would say it's because MMA is a mixture of methods passed down from ancient and modern times. So it's not practicing just one traditional martial arts, it's developing different skills that have been known to be better from different aspects of different martial arts. Of course you will not learn everything there is to learn about any single specific martial art, but you will learn about the best techniques from each.

 

[ghost_warrur]

Primarily, because in MMA you actually test and hone your skills. I did TKD from age 7 to 18 and learned more practical skill in 3 months of MMA than that entire time in TKD. Don't misunderstand me. I learned some fundamental concepts from TKD that carried over, but there was even more that I had to unlearn.

 

[Josh]

I personally believe that MMA is a more technical game due to it's high skill, strength, endurance and mentality requirements. Mixed Martial Arts combines many techniques such as Jiu Jitsu, Boxing, Wrestling, Muy Thai, Kickboxing and many forms of submission holds into one sport. You can watch MMA fights on the Versus channel, Pay Per View UFC Fight Nights and you can watch traditional Martial Arts such as Tae Kwondo and personally compare the two for an opinion of your own. MMA is a quickly growing sport especially in Europ and the America's. I think that some people may be in the sport for the prestige and challenge. If you make it professional there is also a decent paycheck involved, but like I said i preffer MMA.

 

[jon]

MMA gives you an outlet for free expression of your martial arts ability in a legal, "safe," environment. I can't think of another fighting system that has as much freedom of expression (you can box, kick, takedown, wrestle, submit, etc.) as MMA. I can't think of a single one. All the others usually limit you to striking or grappling, or limit you if you strike and grapple unlike MMA which is quite free.

MMA just gets to the point too. You don't have to bow, do katas, wait years for good moves, and some of the other things traditional arts make you do. You just get in there, learn as much as you can get, and learn to fight. You dont' have to take all the twists and turns, ups and downs, rabbit chases, time consumers, dead ends, that traditional arts make you go through. MMA, you train and learn, you go fight, you learn quickly whether what you are learning is garbage or good, no questios doubts unlike traditional arts. It's straight to the point.

All of this tends to produce a better equipped fighter for self defense. A MMA fighter has definetly a higher ability than most traditional arts to defend themselves on the street. Now, there are arts that are more no rules and have great street moves, yes. But, you have to effectively employ those in self defense. You can't freeze with fear or go beserk rage (like a lot of inexperienced streetfighters or those who don't participate in full contact sparring) and plan to do very well. A MMA fighter trains and competes in an environment that is very similar to a 1-on-1 fight. He will do well. The traditional martial artists just doesn't train as realistically. His chances of succeeding are understandably lower. There are exceptions as I said, but, this comes from some type of realistic full contact sparring and or competition. MMA just has that training no doubt, tradtional arts are inconsistent with this.

I am not a MMA cagefighter but, I see what it has to offer. That is why I am currently doing Judo for a lot of similar reasons as mentioned above. I don't want to do punches from the hip, wait years to learn anything good, or do katas. I understand that some of that stuff is good (I trained in Japanese Jujutsu as well and they do this traditional method). But, if you want more right now, proven to you, skills, then MMA and combat sports like it have an advantage mostly over traditional arts. I expect to learn some really good street skills in Japanese Jujutsu. But, I have to wait, and not spar or compete to get those skills. It's the combat sport of Judo skills that will help me use those Jujutsu. skills better (your mentality gets tougher with combat sports. You fear less and get more determined. You gain compsure to use moves you probably couldn't use with more fear and less determination). That Judo base allows me (in theory) to apply those JJJ skills better and more effectively. Traditional arts have their place but, combat sports just have that practicality edge.