Exactly. To say that in the UFC contests the traditionalists always lost - well, you've got to take a hard look at the event itself.
- Who owned the event? After making public challenges to "names" such as Bill Wallace and others, the Gracies decided to conduct this special event- and guess who always managed to win?
- I recall some of the hype which featured "traditional martial arts 'masters' " including:
*A karate master from Japan who, according to the hype, was
legendary throughout that nation. Now, I try to keep fairly
current on these things but I never heard of this guy-
*A top kenpo "master" from the U.S. The guy had to weigh in at
least at 400 lbs. I was surprised he didn't roll out onto the mat.
If I'd been a kenpo practitioner, I'd have been wondering who on
earth this guy was? Not surprisingly, he lost...
*One of the top kung-fu competitors in America...a young
Caucasian kid. Now, at the time, I was Nat'L Chairman of the
AAU Kung-Fu Division which was the largest kung-fu organization
in the country. I'd never seen or heard of this fellow. And,
well...he lost. But he would've lost if he'd fought my sister, too.
And so on it went. So let's not make foolish statements like "virtually every traditional martial artist who fought in an MMA match lost..." because that's like saying that "every MMA person who competed in the Triple Crown Golf Tournament lost..." It's meaningless.
Traditional martial arts were (and still are) designed to kill an opponent rather than pin him to the ground or force him to submit. They were designed for dealing with multiple aggressors (try wrestling some scumbag on the street and see if his buddies stand around and watch...). On the street, as several members have pointed out, there are no rules, no ring, no cushy mats, no referees, no prize money. You enemy may be (and likely will be) armed. I'd rather not wrestle some bozo who's got a knife in his pocket.
And, as has been pointed out, mixed martial arts are nothing new at all. Competing under rules like they use, is. Traditionalists who compete against MMA practitioners under these rules are fools because their arts were never designed to be restricted by such rules.
For many years people have wanted to see if this karate and kung-fu "stuff" really works...thus, the "full-contact" contests - which are neither "full contact" nor are they really karate or kung-fu. The fact is that you simply can't compete with the real thing. That'd be like having combat shooting matches with competitors shooting at each other, or fencing matches with sabers and no protective gear.
It just ain't healthy.
MMA (which I still insist is a misnomer) has its place as a competitive sport and that's fine. But to say that it's superior to traditional martial arts is like comparing a fish to a bicycle...