Lugh

A bit late to the party! I could tell by the weigh ins something was psychologically off with Rousey. I think a bad strategic game plan, and possibly media pressure could have hindered her, but am not taking anything away from Holly's brilliant performance. A side note though, I've never liked Ronda's attitude as a champion. She was never a gracious winner, and has been even worse as a looser. As an MMA fighter it's frustrating to see these trends in a sport that is becoming more about marketing, wealth, and fame on the high end professional levels, so I have a soft spot for fighters coming from traditional backgrounds, and it's a shame to see those that sacrifice their art's values for personal hype. I was hoping this would humble her, but apparently ut hasn't.

That's exactly what's drawing me back to Karate. Think I was too young to comprehend in my youth, but as you mature as a martial artist that philosophy becomes a lot more clearer.

I watch the UFC as well, identify as a martial artist, and also happen to be an amateur MMA fighter. I was still in elementary/primary school and enrolled in Taekwondo at the time UFC 1 came out. It was a marketing campaign for BJJ. The Gracies had a hard start teaching BJJ in Socal since no one heard of it, and it was ground based not possessing flashy strikes popular in martial arts at the time. They started the Gracie challenge and dojo storming to spread jts popularity, and its co-founder Rorion hand picked his smaller brother Royce to compete so the world could see a small guy defeating larger opponents with Jiu Jitsu. Its Vale Tudo style rules with no time limit favoured them as well as Jiu Jitsu players use time to wear their opponents down. You can tell which fighters come from traditional backgrounds, and those that don't. Guys like GSP, Chuck Liddell, Lyoto Machida, the new prospect Sage Northcutt, and not to mention an Irishman headlining next weeks event in Dublin, my man Joseph Duffy(all Karate guys too!), tend not to trash talk, showboat, and are mkre gracious in victory or defeat. I've seen the trends and fads too. I remember being coached against flashy TKD and Karate kicks I was pulling off in sparring just a few years ago because they "don't work" and leave you vulnerable to take downs.( Wrestling isn't done in Irish or UK schools compared to where I grew up in Missouri so I was confident then in my defense), now you have the likes of Conor McGregor and this whole new generation is exoerimenting with flashy kicks. Zuffa has played their part too. As an entertainment industry interested in pay per view sales you see fighters trash talking on twitter to hype their fights up, grapplers stood up, favoritism, and all the rest of the pro athlete antics. It's a shame when it affects the whole sport, and leaves me a bit disheartened with an amateur scene that trains like pros, deals with PHD's, making brutal weight cuts, gamble with their health and personal life to make it in a sport largely catered for entertainment, however I have a lot of faith in MMA as a sport, fighting system, and fitness lifestyle. My gym is a Tai Justu school(not the bujinkan ninja stuff. A progressive Jujutsu style with added elements of Muay Thai), we have our traditional self defense classes, and our MMA regimen as well, however we promote traditional values and tolerate no egos. Being a part time bouncer though I will say MMA is also an effective self defence system. Groin strikes and joint locks don't always work on drunks.... And lol at that pic. I understand the intentions, but Jeff Monson is a respectable Jiu Jitsu black belt with a bachelors and masters degree in psychology!!

I achieved Shodan in Shito-ryu back in my hometown of St. Louis, MO. since then the dojo, USA Karate Clubs, relocated to Illinois.

I'd say go for it. In my opinion a grappling art like Judo or Jiu Jitsu would make great supplementary training to your experience in a primarily striking art. As far as dabbling without having a solid base art, grappling would be something different to where you wouldn't have to worry much about bad habits, however dividing your time between two gyms and styles could hinder your progression in your base art if you wanted to wait until you at least reach a significant rank first.... But other than that, I'm all for cross training.

Cheers for the welcomes everyone!

Greetings all! Looks like a good forum here, so thought I'd try to be social and do an intro. I'm currently 32 and have been doing martial arts on and off since I was 6 starting with TKD. I always had a weird thing for Japan, so after I got my BB I moved to a Shito-ryu dojo more local and made my conversion to a Shodan. The Sensei had an eclectic background, and twice a week also offered Muay Thai and Shoot-wrestling, which I thought was the coolest thing ever, but unfortunately the dojo moved out of town abd became strictly Shito-ryu only... Other than wrestling for my school that was basically it until a few years ago I took up MMA, and additionally BJJ last year. I love, and will always train them, but as of late I've been missing the traditional elements familiar to me that are lacking in the MMA scene, and have a yearning to get involved with Karate in some form again. When time allows, we'll see how it goes!