Many little things bother people for various reasons. To some people, putting you're elbows on the dinner table during meal time is sacrilege. To others, using the lords name in vein is the highest of personal sins.
To me, one simple phrase drives me up the wall, as well as my blood pressure.
"I do MMA."
It's a phrase that has seemingly ingrained itself into our culture. It's a phrase that says so much, and so little, at the same time. It's a phrase that bears no direct comparison to what Mixed Martial Arts actually is.
What does MMA actually mean? MMA is short for Mixed Martial Arts. It's the culmination of knowledge in a person that manifests itself in how they fight, how they train, even so far as how they live. Being a true Mixed Martial Artist is a lifestyle, a subculture. Something that when you go deep enough, it symbolizes you, and what you live for.
As my username suggests, I am a practitioner of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. However, I also train/have trained in Boxing, Kick Boxing, Judo, Aikido, and Wrestling. Among those, however, Jiu Jitsu is easily my most advanced, and favorite, form to practice and train in.
I have done it for many years. It's something I live and breath. It's a background on my desktop; it's a poster on my wall; it's a tattoo on my arm. It's something that has melded itself into my lifestyle, as well as many other forms that I have trained in in the past. Melding all of these together has given me the ability to call on separate forms and arts when needed. Did I just get pushed to the ground? Better try a leg sweep. Am I going to get punched here? Better get ready to cover and block.
So what is MMA perceived like from the average person who doesn't train in a specific Martial Art? I've talked with people who have a view on it from the outside, so I understand the general opinion. What what is it when you sign up for an "MMA Class?"
Pretty much a cardio workout.
Sorry to bust you're bubble. But that's what it is. I've been involved with one "MMA" class my entire existence, and i've rolled with people that have "trained MMA." My old supervisor at work, the Lieutenant of my shift, had trained MMA for 10 years, and was a "Brown Belt" in this particular teacher's system. I submitted him in two minutes. Without a gi. I asked him later how close he was to getting his Black Belt. He said he had to show a few techniques and write an essay.
I hear it all too often. "I train MMA." "I do MMA." MMA Classes teach you the basics alright - about enough to go out and actually get you're ass kicked on the street. People walk around tall, with their chest puffed out, thinking they are big and bad because they have done MMA Classes. It actually upsets me, and, I think, gives actually artists a bad name.
I think it best to put a story so that I can help get my point across.
When I was 18, I started working at a bar was a doorman. I was full of piss and vinegar. Young, 18, just out of highschool, ready to fight on the world. I loved the adrenaline of getting into fights, of throwing people out the back door. It was one of my favorite jobs in the world.
I started training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for the wrong reasons. I trained so that I could kick more ass and take more names. I soon realized that that wasn't what it was all about. I learned that just because I had the ability to beat someone didn't mean that I had to, and trying to avoid the violence was better then trying to instigate it. In the instances that violence DID happen (and it did happen, many times still occurring through my young adult life) I am able to handle it with a clearer mind and clearer ability.
I don't know how someone in "MMA Classes" would handle that same situation. They might think the same way, actually, that violence could be avoided. But I know that I would feel much safer next to someone who trained in different Martial Arts and incorporated different parts of them then someone who went to MMA Classes twice a week and learned how to do what that entails.
My advice to you? If you want to learn Mixed Martial Arts...learn Mixed Martial Arts. Go out, find a good instructor, and learn the different arts that can combine into something that you can use no matter the situation. Don't go to a school that offers "MMA" and let them take you're money.
Great writeup, I feel that what you say about MMA can be applied to many other martial arts that people are encouraged to learn, like karate. They are just not practical enough to be useful, and it's better to simply find a quality instructor and be trained rather than going to a place that advertises itself as being "MMA".
I think this is also similar in sc2 -- there are people who walk around and brag about how "look how damn good I am with my micro! i'm a good player!" but then they're really lacking in fundamentals like macro, or are paying attention to the wrong things.
Great post. I've found that a lot of martial arts schools nowadays don't really train their students well. I learned MMA from a teacher who was fresh out of the marines, and even though I was really young at the time (7-13) he pushed us quite hard. We weren't trained to win tournaments, we were trained to take down our opponents. After my family moved and I started going to a new school nearby, I found that I was on even footing with their adult black belts, even though I was only 14 and had less years of experience. The other school didn't teach control, they didn't even use proper technique, and they didn't teach you the correct mindset. Before moving, I had to use what I'd learned several times, both in fighting and avoiding fights. Those experiences really reinforce the idea that you must train the way you will actually fight, since in the heat of the moment you act purely on instinct. You don't have time to think consciously. I never got to a very high belt, despite over a decade of learning, but I know that the color of your belt doesn't really mean much. I could mop the floor with most so-called "black belts", even those significantly stronger than I am.
EDIT: There are MMA classes that teach you how to fight and aren't just a workout. They're probably rare, though.
The ability to remain calm under stress and to defuse potentially violent situations are things you also don't learn at most places, but luckily, I did.
Guys that brags loud about how they train MMA and looks for fights on a friday night or any time just in general are most of the time just sad wannabes without any real skill and all they want is to impress the "bros" they watch UFC with or some chick from the club. I've seen these people fight outside clubs and shit a few times and most of them get owned 1v1 and then their friends will jump in and help. It's sad really.
I feel the same way. Ive been training in BJJ for 2 years now. People would walk up to me and ask me if they could "do" MMA. I agree with you, it's a lifestyle. I train 5 days a week and alter my whole diet around it. People who think its just some thing to beat people up on the streets are idiots. It's an art.
I've done martial arts for 12 years now and I can say the one thing that makes me so mad is not when people say "I do MMA." But when people go "Oh yeah, I do UFC" OH REALLY??? You do a fighting league?? No, you mean to say "I do MMA" which in this case if you say you "do" UFC then im guessing you don't even do MMA. gtfo! People brag about these things and think theyre all swoll and tough and cool but no...I have a black belt in karate and taekwondo and i've trained/currently train in 5 different types of kung fu from a guy who studied with a shoalin monk in china for 15 years, boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, and BJJ. And still I don't go flaunting around telling everyone I know and trying to make myself look like such a badass. People these days.... :/
I know that feeling, I've been involved (watching/training MMA) for around 10 years now and now that its finally caught up in popularity its kind of annoying to see all these people. I think the worst part was some years ago before it got popular when no one had any idea at all what MMA was and whenever someone asked what I did for a hobby I just had to say "I do martial arts" and they always thought I was some kungfu master.
I did muay thai for a couple months but had to stop due to school but i would gladly go back to it. I had some of the most fun of my life boxing there. I play tennis regularly but due to my tendinitis i can't play as much as i would like to. Personally i trained at an "MMA" gym but really i found that BJJ wasn't much fun for me because i'm small and that muay thai was more fun.
That annoys me as well. One of the first things I was taught in Kung Fu was not to flaunt what you know or can do, since by my sensei's reasoning "Why give up a weapon willingly?". Anyone serious about what they do would never parade it in public, since if they had a teacher worth his salt, they would have a good dose of humility, and know that any man can fall on any given day.Then there is the people who think their art is better than others and that they are automatically a better fighter since they do said 'Art", when in reality there is no superior Martial Art, just superior Martial Artists.
Hmm.. I'm sensing a lot of elitism in this thread. You somehow think that when someone says "I do MMA", that they are stealing your thunder. This is your ego saying, "I'm better than you!". I bet you are, but why are you so insecure?
MMA is a sport. It is also entertainment. Do I have anger if a bronze noob in sc2 says, "I play sc2"? Nope. Do NFL players get angry when someone they know claims to play football on the weekends? Probably not.
If someone is a poser, I can understand the anger. They are representing themselves as something they are not. But if someone does MMA twice a week for an hour and claims, "I do MMA", they aren't posing. They are being honest. They probably suck compared to you anyways. Be happy.
MMA sounds like a sport to me, while the more traditional martial arts all have a mental respect/way of life aspect to them that perhaps the recent MMA trend lacks.
Judge each club/school by it (and its instructors) own merits, not by what they call things. Especially when there are sooooo many places out there that have "MMA training" that are extremely legit.
Your anecdotes are ridiculous examples of isolated incidents held up as proof of some overarching theme that just doesnt exist.
There are people trying to cash in on everything that is popular, there always will be. Whether that is McDojo TKD or Karate clubs or MMA gyms ran by the previous owners of said gyms that re-branded in an effort to rake in more money as the tide of popularity ebbed on, it doesnt much matter - bullshit is bullshit regardless of name, painting all MMA gyms as being "most likely not worth your time", is ignorant.
On March 05 2012 05:54 Liquid`Jinro wrote: Really, really dumb post.
Judge each club/school by it (and its instructors) own merits, not by what they call things. Especially when there are sooooo many places out there that have "MMA training" that are extremely legit.
Your anecdotes are ridiculous examples of isolated incidents held up as proof of some overarching theme that just doesnt exist.
Way to be active in the TL community, Jinro! Your posts lately in Blogs as well as SC2 General make me respect you more and more as a player and more inclined to support your stream and your play during matches.
Off-topic, I was wondering if this was a rant on Terrans following MMA playstyle....lol.
On topic,
Mixed Martial Arts is exactly that, and can be taught as an introduction to many styles of martial arts at its core. Think of a general psychology 101 class, it gives us a view of "mixed psychological sciences" to let us pursue a few specializations or simply know it all in some way. Many programs require a "MMA" lesson requirement to at least study the basics of discipline, each general style, and weed out people who are not serious about martial arts (and bring in more people to experiment in them).
Let me say one anecdote.
I was a wrestler in middle school and high school. I was not a very tip-top tier one, but I stuck to it and trained for meets and I got in shape doing so. Little did I know I was learning how to kick a "bar fighters" ass any day of the week, despite not being the most muscular guy myself. Over my six years of experience I learned traditional, greco (sp?), and freestyle wrestling with the heaviest influence in traditional. When I was in my first semester in college my roomate was trying to rough up on me (and being the person I am, I roughed back and it escalated). I had left wrestling to die, in my conscience mind, but the knowledge and instinct persisted. My roomate came in with fists and I promptly deflected them with no harm, moved to be behind his back, suplex, and pin him within five seconds. As a benchmark of strength, I am a 140 teddy bear that can hardly bench 120 anymore and my roomate was 175 benching in the 200s.
Just because I was a wrestler I was able to respond very favorably to this engagement despite being at a "numbers" advantage in overall strength. Brute strength is the street/bar fighters strength. Throw punches until they can't muster a fight any more and hope to god that you don't run out of strength first.
MMA will always tend to make you a better streetfighter because you will learn about weapons, disarmament, many styles of fighting that come in handy more than others. (See: wrestling is great when you're up close and just trying to disable a hostile who let you in close. Other forms of martial arts are better at O SHI WE ARE GONNA FIGHT NOW situations IE calling someone out from across the street)
EPT
