Intesting article on the UFC

[Adonis]

This is another Article by Roy Dean, I found very intersting about the UFC. I hope people check it out. Has a unique perspective on it.

http://www.roydeanacademy.com/articles/an_uchideshi_experience_chapter_eight

[A_Train]

Another good article, he definitely writes good ones.

[Adonis]

Its weird! His thoughts are my thoughts.

He is better at writing and articluting him self. I really love his articles.

Espcially since it is put in persective. UFC or MMA training isn't the end all be all.

However you get those people think MMA training is the ultimate

Then the other exterme is people that think there there techniques are to deadly, or train with compliant partners and theroize there training and think that is the ultimate also.

[The BB of C]

UFC II is the most brutal of them all, but also the most illuminating to the classical martial artist. Inoki Ichihara, an incredible karate practitioner from Japan, was easily taken out of his element by Royce Gracie, that “sneaky” Brazilian, and choked into submission. Pat Smith took on Scott Morris, a ninjitsu stylist, and elbowed him into both semi-consciousness and reconstructive surgery. And Johnny Rhodes fought Fred Ettish, in an infamous bout that I remember as the epitome of a martial artist meeting a street fighter.

I need to remind myself to look up these fights on YouTube.

I should know. I did, and I still do from time to time when people tell me the arts I’ve studied don’t work. Judo, jujutsu, aikido, iaido, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu; all have come under attack at one time or another by other martial artists. I take it all in stride, and try to see their points from their perspective.

He's a lot better at that than I am. The last person to tell me one of my Kuk Sool Won wrist throws wouldn't work, I was so insulted that I used it on him.

It’s survival of the fittest, plain and simple.

Which is why I think a lot of people simply ignore the UFC. Maybe it will just go away and they can go back to teaching tae kwon do (or whatever) in isolation, without having to have this constant visual reminder that not only have traditional arts failed to do well, but so have one-dimensional fighters. Who really wants to be reminded that an art they’ve labored in for years, and which has enriched their lives immeasurably, does very poorly against a skilled opponent?

That I dissagree with.

But today? Just look in the phone book, and you can study tae kwon do, karate, kung fu, judo, jujutsu, aikido, sambo, pa kua, tai chi, boxing, kickboxing, silat, or a dozen different arts from all corners of the globe. Since the advent of the VCR, and through modern telecommunications systems such as the Internet and satellite TV, you don’t even have to live in a town with martial arts instructors to receive exposure to the latest fighting technology. Watch the UFC on a satellite dish, order a bunch of exotic martial arts videos through a magazine or the Internet, and a wealth of information will be beamed or delivered right to your door.

I think he started off good there and then went downhill. Sure it's accessible, but I know I'm not the only one that's heard the saying "A video is a poor excuse for a good instructor."

Let’s start with clothes. Most competitors in the UFC reduce clothing to a pair of tight-fitting shorts, generally unacceptable for public outings. And the he kind of clothes you’re wearing can make a large difference in a fight.

That's half the reason I don't watch Ultimate Fighting Championship anymore. I'd be more than happy to start watching again when competetors wear clothes. That's also why when I fight I wear a C9 brand tee-shirt and karate pants.

With clothes, things are much slower, and if your opponent knows how to effectively manipulate you with what you’re wearing, you can feel pretty helpless. Believe me, I know.

Maybe I'm weird, but I always do better when I am wearing something other than a swimsuit. I've never been in that predicament before.

Don’t forget about footwear. A lot of those foot and leg locks are much harder for opponents to wiggle out of if they’re wearing shoes. But that risk would be offset by the huge power increase generated for kicking by a pair of steel-toed boots. Can you imagine a savate champion in the UFC with a pair of cowboy boots? He may not win, but it could be a Phyrric victory for his opponent if he managed to get some shots in.

Again, completely the opposite for me.

I could go on and on with other ways the UFC could change its format to more closely approximate the conditions of a street fight.

But why? Except for the slow, boring fights and the lack of clothing, I like it the way it is.

The modern era has provided us access to the best hand to hand combat techniques from every corner of the globe, refined over centuries of experimentation. Couple this with advances in sports physiology and scientific training methods, and it should be no surprise that these fighters are the greatest martial athletes the world has ever known. Weight training, whey protein, nutritional analysis, anabolic steroids, supplementation, PNF stretching, visualization, biofeedback, target heart rates; all of these have propelled the modern athlete to push the envelope of human capability.

Way I see it; that's a mechanical man. Not a fighter.

There’s unpredictability in a fight,

This is why I dissagree with most people. People think UFC fighters are invincible and other people think traditional is invincible. Nothing is invincible especially because fights are unpredictable. That's why I say that it all lies within the individual verses anything else.

That's all I've got for this one.

[bushido_man96]

Another nice article. I enjoy his writings.

My take on it is this. Yes, these can be effective techniques for primal, animalistic defense, but if you don’t have the ability to fight without your beloved eye gouge or the freedom to bite you’re severely deficient in martial ability. Using whatever it takes to survive is OK in a life or death situation, but the UFC is a method of testing martial prowess, and if you don’t want to test yourself because you believe the conditions are unfair, then when will you test yourself? When you get jumped in the street?

There are some very good points in this quote.

[Andrew_Patton]

One of the things I'd love to point out is there was an early vale-tudo fight between gerard gordeu (the guy who fought Royce Gracie in the finals of UFC 1) and Yuki Nakai, a Japanese fighter, Gordeu gouged Nakai's eye leaving him blinded in that one eye, later losing it, and all that did is push Yuki into punishing him, until he finally submited him via rear naked choke IIRC.

Gordeu also tried a simillar tactic against Royce in UFC1 upon being taken down, he gouged his eyes and bit his ear, hence the reason the choke was held for so long in that fight, it was an illegal tactic that Royce didn't like one bit

[bushido_man96]

One of the things I'd love to point out is there was an early vale-tudo fight between gerard gordeu (the guy who fought Royce Gracie in the finals of UFC 1) and Yuki Nakai, a Japanese fighter, Gordeu gouged Nakai's eye leaving him blinded in that one eye, later losing it, and all that did is push Yuki into punishing him, until he finally submited him via rear naked choke IIRC.

Gordeu also tried a simillar tactic against Royce in UFC1 upon being taken down, he gouged his eyes and bit his ear, hence the reason the choke was held for so long in that fight, it was an illegal tactic that Royce didn't like one bit

I remember hearing about this incident as well. I was actually quite surprised when I heard about the fighter going on to win the fight, and later the sight in that eye. Very interesting, and very thought-provoking.

[Adonis]

I alwasy find that intersting too. Its thought if you poke the eyes the fight won't go on. Just shows some ones commitment and pain tollerance is at diffrent levels. Got to be prepared for any thing huh?

Yikes!

[YoungMan]

Just goes to show, you start using illegal techniques and things escalate to the point where people get hurt. Nothing like an eye poke, bite, groin kick, or illegal choke to really irritate someone. As long as everyone are playing by the accepted rules, everything's cool. But you start doing illegal moves to get an edge and all bets are off.

[Adonis]

Actually I was refering to the fact that he did the eye gouge and still lost.

Reminds me of saying a karate teacher told me years ago. "When two tigers fight, one dies now, the other later."