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One of the first posts I published on this site was entitled MMA: Martial Art or Commercial Enterprise? If you haven’t already done so then I suggest you read it before reading this follow-up post. The article basically discussed the rise of MMA and cage fighting, the blatant commercialism that surrounded it and whether or not MMA could be considered a martial art. The article attracted a fair bit of attention in the martial arts press, with most people agreeing with many of the points I had to make. One person in particular though, Ben Stone the editor of Blitz Australasian Martial Arts Magazine had some very good counter-points to make in response to what I had to say on the subject of MMA.
I am all for debate (it’s what I want this site to be about) so I have decided to include Ben’s comments here for all of you to read and hopefully see things from someone else’s point of view. So here they are.
“I must say I agree with some of your points – though I also train in MMA and have found the people training to be of no lesser moral/ethical capacity than those I’ve trained with in more traditional arts. And as far as the teachers go, I’ve also found those in MMA to be more open-minded and less likely to be in the business of passing off self-defence methods as practical when they are not and instead perpetuating legends of the amazing feats of the founding master and duping people with fantasy expectations. They also tend to be less interested in being worshipped, yet those I’ve trained with have also been top-notch as far as teaching ability and care for their students, not to mention training hard. That’s one thing I like about MMA: it’s often more honest than traditional MA, in that what you see is what you get (although I’d say that you personally must have seen a lot less of MMA training than what it can actually offer). On the other hand, I have met many, many traditional martial artists who present a veneer of respectability, but are not true to the codes of budo in the way they live their lives and treat others. It’s often no more than an adherence to the dogma of their art, for which the reasons are various, but include a subconscious desire to maintain the security that comes from living in a cultural bubble and not having to evaluate their teaching/training in relation to its effectiveness in today’s world (and I’m not just talking about self-defence, but what the system offers the student in terms of philosophies/ethics and, importantly, the social skills to apply those ethics outside the dojo). Not to mention all the unfit instructors who entreat their students to do as they say, not as they do, because they tend to do very little that would raise a sweat.
But, it would be wholly unfair to uphold these bad examples as indicative of what happens in traditional MA, as I feel you have done with your evaluation of MMA. Obviously, I have met many fantastic and dedicated people from traditional martial arts (though it’s fair to say that few of them, even some Buddhists, have come anywhere close to truly conquering their egos) and those who are of dubious moral integrity are thankfully in the minority.
I wholeheartedly agree with you that traditional arts have a lot to offer, and that MMA as a sport may be lacking somewhat in the latter areas, particularly in the US, but I think in part you are making the mistake of attributing the bad qualities we see emanate from some MMA fighters as par for the course. I, for example, hate certain things about MMA - most of all, related clothing brands like Tapout, and others that present an image of thuggishness and disrespect. However, even within the sport itself, there are a lot with traditional training backgrounds and this shows in the respect that most fighters show one another in the ring and how they share their knowledge in training. The few who talk a certain kind of trash and present the sport in a bad light, I feel, are in the minority. Look at boxing, too – I would regard Kostya Tszyu as highly as any of the traditional martial artists I have met; I don’t think it’s at all fair to compare him to Anthony Mundine or the many other loudmouthed, aggressive people in the sport. That said, I think Mixed Martial Arts training at a grass-roots level, at least in my experience, does not bear such a strong connection to the sport of cage-fighting – and certainly not its macho elements – as you might believe.
Anyway, it’s good to have debate, and I’m all for it!”
Some good points made there, I’m sure you’ll agree.
I would just like to add a couple of points for the record. Firstly, I know quite a few MMA fighters and I occasionally train with some of them. While I find the training enjoyable enough I also find that they concentrate quite a lot on the fitness side of things, to the point were it takes up the majority of the class. The reason I train with these guys is to improve my grappling skills so I often take exception to the long arduous stamina routines (some of the things they do, I feel like I’m back in physical education class in school). Obviously MMA fighters need a lot of stamina for the fights they do, but to me, it’s all a bit sporty, even down to their attitude, which is focused on winning all the time.
Secondly, I still believe that there is a certain arrogance that permeates the whole scene. MMA itself is built on the arrogant “we are the best, no one can beat us” attitude originally laid down by the Gracie clan when they started the UFC. The Gracie’s are very good marketers and I think many of the fighters that came after them and adopted their style of fighting took the attitude with them and made it a part of the whole scene, to the point were most MMA fighters seem to have an incurable superiority complex.
When all is said and done though, MMA, to my mind anyway, is still a blatant exercise in commercialism and it is far from being a martial art. It’s much too shallow and self-absorbed to be a martial art. It also lacks any real underlying philosophy to tie it all together. In terms of the actual training, I think it has some good elements in it, but not enough to tempt me into taking it seriously.
What can I say; I’m a traditionalist when it comes to martial arts.
I’d like to hear your opinions on the subject. Do you class MMA as a martial art? Do you train in MMA yourself? Drop me a line and let me know. I value your views and comments.
