UFC The Ultimate Fighting Reality

I’ve still got a bad taste in my mouth after going through martial art queries on the search engines and coming up with these “Learn To Beat The Toughest…” sales pages coming up. It’s so bad that searches turn up eBay auctions on the same schmeegle promising devastating SECRET fighting skills, tips and tricks to defeat anyone without barely lifting a finger, via manuals, videos and audio tapes/cassettes. So it’s e-commerce and “there’s another one born every minute”, and why do I let it bother me? For the simple reason that they always (unless packaged as a martial arts course) zero in on how Black Belts get their butts handed to them in the streets, and how these tapes or manuals will enable you to do the same. In just a few minutes of training a day, you too can learn deadly techniques that have been secrets for 1,000’s of years right for only $XX.95?

I just watched some UFC fights on TV and in these “cage matches” almost anything goes. The rules have changed and lightened up over the years – I’m looking fondly at my first 15 UFC tapes – when ANYTHING went, oh my!! These young men are machines, unstoppable forces that could and would easily defeat just about anyone you put in front of them. These are the best of the best, but what are they using to become such well rounded ministers of mayhem? A blend of traditional martial arts. Stand up is mostly Muay Thai, wrestling and jiu-jitsu for the ground, boxing for hand speed and a good ol’ spinning heel kick, now and then, just so we don’t forget some cool karate moves in their arsenals as well. As I said, these men could beat 1/2 dozen blood thirsty street fighters (one at a time – optimal), they are like human pit bulls once the referee starts them. Outside the ring they’re just as pleasant as anyone else.

Perhaps you musicians, or competitors in other sport venues might understand, that there’s not much difference, in fact very little, in the skill level of a guitarist, a horn player, or a pole-vaulter that is on TV or in World Championship events than the other 10’s of 1,000’s who you will never see on a TV screen. A good studio musician, familiar with the material, could easily cover the super star, in cutting an album, or even in a live performance. So too with “no holds barred fighting”. For every super badass MMA (mixed martial arts) fight we see in a Las Vegas hotel cage match, there are legions of hard working MMA fighters training across the land who can’t quite beat the top 10 – but they can certainly shorten the life span of any attacker in the streets! I see these guys all the time in training halls, “laying it all out” in pursuit of excellence. Most will never see the inside of the octagon, but life puts people in certain places and times, and most were not meant to be. Good solid training by itself is reward enough for most.

So, for anyone who’s been with me so far, save your money and buy a stun baton or a telescopic steel baton (for leverage of course). Anyone who is seriously shopping for “becoming a deadly weapon”, and “beat anyone with no effort” materials, needs to have their heads examined, or take classes at a serious martial arts school. Yes, it will be those darn, wimpy Black Belts that teach you and occasionally leave a little shiner, or “speed knot” on your head and remind you that a “fool and their money are soon parted”. – End Rant