UFC _ Have any Karate Masters entered, and if so was result?

[NeilT]

Hi all

Been following the UFC lately and whilst I understand this is far from street fighting / self defence (i.e. lots of excluded techniques) I was wondering whether, like the Gracie bros, any Karate masters (or high dan grades) has entered, and if so how did they fare?

Neil

[Menjo]

Hi all

Been following the UFC lately and whilst I understand this is far from street fighting / self defence (i.e. lots of excluded techniques) I was wondering whether, like the Gracie bros, any Karate masters (or high dan grades) has entered, and if so how did they fare?

Neil

Maybe, but I have yet to see a skilled one, or a master enter UFC.

In the earlier days there was more variety, now, in MMA there are SOME skilled fighters with a little karate background but mainly have switched over to a different style.

[ps1]

I think the real problem with that is determining who is a master any more. I don't remember the exact ranks of the guys who fought in the first few UFC cometitions, but I think some claimed to be as high as 5th or 6th dan. As we all know, that doesn't necessarily mean anything though.

At this point it wouldn't make a difference because the rules of the sport are set up to cater to the types of fighters you see today. That's not a bad thing, just the way it is. Bottom line: In the UFC or any other top notch MMA event, if you only know one system, you will lose rather quickly. That goes for Karate, TKD, BJJ or any other martial art. If that's all you know, you'll lose.

[AngelaG]

The people that have used karate as their base art and have done well tend to have still done some cross-training. As such there is a a tendency for anti TMAers to say that it is the other art that stood them in good stead, or alternatively they get called MMAers.

Suprisingly if someone uses BJJ as their base art it seems to get acknowledged a lot more.

[BT]

Why is that surprising? Royce Gracie won UFC 1 and was dominant in the first few UFC events. So basically in UFC, BJJ beat all the other styles in the days when MMA wasn't seen in UFC.

[AngelaG]

Why is that surprising? Royce Gracie won UFC 1 and was dominant in the first few UFC events. So basically in UFC, BJJ beat all the other styles in the days when MMA wasn't seen in UFC.

I am not talking about people in the old days who studied purely one art. I am talking about these days when most people cross train. Also I don't think you can especially count the Gracies in the early days, as basically the UFC was a vehicle for BJJ back then.

[Elky]

Ryoto Machida

http://www.sherdog.com/fightfinder/fightfinder.asp?FighterID=7513

[bushido_man96]

Why is that surprising? Royce Gracie won UFC 1 and was dominant in the first few UFC events. So basically in UFC, BJJ beat all the other styles in the days when MMA wasn't seen in UFC.

I am not talking about people in the old days who studied purely one art. I am talking about these days when most people cross train. Also I don't think you can especially count the Gracies in the early days, as basically the UFC was a vehicle for BJJ back then.

This paradigm here can be likened to what is called "brandnaming" in business/marketing. Take the WeedEater, for example. It was the first brand to make the line trimmers that we all call weedeaters. That was everyone's first exposure to it. Then, when Toro made a "line trimmer," everyone just referred to it as a "weedeater." Kleenex has the same kind of relation with "facial tissue." BJJ made its name at the right time in MMA competitions, and therefore, it gets this kind of recognition. Really, you just can't read too much into it. In fact, why couldn't BJJ be considered a "traditional art?"

[AngelaG]

Why is that surprising? Royce Gracie won UFC 1 and was dominant in the first few UFC events. So basically in UFC, BJJ beat all the other styles in the days when MMA wasn't seen in UFC.

I am not talking about people in the old days who studied purely one art. I am talking about these days when most people cross train. Also I don't think you can especially count the Gracies in the early days, as basically the UFC was a vehicle for BJJ back then.

This paradigm here can be likened to what is called "brandnaming" in business/marketing. Take the WeedEater, for example. It was the first brand to make the line trimmers that we all call weedeaters. That was everyone's first exposure to it. Then, when Toro made a "line trimmer," everyone just referred to it as a "weedeater." Kleenex has the same kind of relation with "facial tissue." BJJ made its name at the right time in MMA competitions, and therefore, it gets this kind of recognition. Really, you just can't read too much into it. In fact, why couldn't BJJ be considered a "traditional art?"

I have nothing about BJJ, that was not my point. If someone who is primarily trained in BJJ wins it is acknowledged, if someone who is primarily karate wins then they are considered crosstrainers or MMAists.

[shoshinkan]

from my limited exposure to MMA tournaments it would seem a good starting point for training would be BJJ and Thai Boxing training,

not karate - classical or sports.

The UFC guys and what have you are seriously conditioned athletes first, something most karateka simply are not, myself included.