MMA or Traditional Martial Arts?

With the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) maturing into a mainstream fighting venue, boxing is no longer the hottest ticket in Vegas. Sure there are certain title fights in some of the weight classes that are interesting and the Heavyweight Boxing Title matches are usually very good as well. That said, the hottest fight tickets are for UFC title matches. Yes – the fighters are that good! In fact, they’re even better than “that good”.

I have only seen two boxers compete in the steel cage and both were soundly beaten and tapped out to quit. The UFC fighters are now referred to as MMA fighters or “Mixed Martial Arts” fighters. That’s because they train in a variety of fighting disciplines to cover all of the areas where a real fight could end up. There is Wresting, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Boxing and Muay Thai Kickboxing. That certainly about covers it all. No longer is just being sharp in one discipline enough to carry the day. UFC fighters are dangerous with punches, kicks, elbows, knees, throws, grappling and submission holds. (lots of commas eh?) That’s a pretty well rounded fighting style isn’t it?

Training consists of the basics like; healthy eating and proper rest, running for endurance, weight training for strength, followed by groundwork, and stand-up striking with all appendages. One dimensional fighters can’t hang anymore with the new crop of multi-disciplined fighters. Gone are the days of Royce Gracie, Ken Shamrock, Tank Abbott and Dan Severn. The fighters today – only about 15 yrs later, can submit you or knock you out with a variety of Martial Arts applications that they train in nowadays.

I watched a replay of UFC 60 and witnessed the demolition of the legendary Royce Gracie by Matt Hughes. Gracie espouses the belief that “Gracie” jiu-jitsu is enough to do it all – but he was so wrong! Matt Hughes was a high school and collegiate wrestling “All American” and his submissions are very natural and smooth. His striking game is solid and his strength is legendary. At 170 lbs. he’s often referred to as THE toughest fighter pound for pound.

UFC 61 will be very interesting, since another new-breed of MMA fighter – Tito Ortiz takes on his bitter rival, old-schooler Ken Shamrock, also known as “The World’s Most Dangerous Man”. Now don’t get me wrong – Ken is a very dangerous man and has tried to improve his striking and submissions a little more “up-to-date” than the other old-schoolers. If Tito makes a mistake Ken can and will beat him. In their last fight, Ortiz stopped Shamrock convincingly – just by being younger and more well-rounded of a fighter, but don’t forget that Shamrock rocked him and had him in trouble in that fight. Barring Tito making a huge blunder, I’m expecting to see a replay of the first fight with a lot more ferocity from both fighters who can’t seem to control themselves around each other anymore. Each fighter claims to “hate” the other, so stand by – anything can happen – and I don’t expect it to get past the second round (maybe not the first)!

Representing a traditional fighting art, I still practice my martial art after 30 years but have added Escrima for weaponry and Muay Thai to enhance my standup striking skills. Although I have many students who train in wrestling and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, I’m just too darned “long in the tooth” to do much serious grappling and submission training. Having said that – I have always championed the belief that my students take other martial arts to compliment or add to their arsenal of fighting tools. A still pool of water becomes stagnant and what better way to refresh and add life to your pool of knowledge, than some new martial art that enhances a fighter’s all around fighting skill.

I’m outta here for tonight, see ya around the training centers guys and gals!