Importance of Watching MMA Fights?

[Odin]

Sadly, no. Most martial arts students are suburban moms and dads. They are lawyers, stockbrokers or doctors. They are real estate agents, shop owners or sales assitants. They live comfortable lives, and the thought of actually encountering a violent assailant is almost totally removed. Their lives are divorced from the reality of violence, and that includes their martial arts training.

They don't want to train with full or near-to-full contact, they don't want to use scenario drills, and they don't want to practice against resisting opponents in free-style sparring sessions. They are content in the belief that their perfectly executed triple spinning jumping back crescent kick will be enough to disarm a knife wielding attacker. Heck, many folks believe the foot-tag we call Olympic TKD is an accurate simulation of a fight!

For these people, watching a full-contact fight with limited rules can be a real wake-up call. Obviously, the best thing to do is actually get in there and factor those elements (resisting opponents, full range of contact and techniques, heavy contact, scenario drills, etc) directly into your regular training. But failing that, just watching MMA matches gives these soft suburban samurai the chance to self-evaluate, which they otherwise would not have.

GOOD POST!!!!!

 

[Freestyler777]

You have a point about BJJ and boxing/kickboxing, both are very much 'alive' in their training methods (sparring, drills, conditioning). And I am aware that most UFC guys are ex-wrestlers.

And you have a point about how a trained martial athlete would have a much easier time with someone untrained as opposed to another martial athlete!

But still, despite MMA's realism, it is not actual streetfights, but just might be the closest thing possible. I'll have to ponder these truths....

 

[Langenschwert]

I don't know if it actually helps one improve, but it certainly gives one a different persepctive, and that's a good thing. I love watching MMA, and I'm a weapons guy.

Best regards,

-Mark

 

[10,000 Hit Combo]

I like MMA and UFC. In sanshou it gets kind of like that. It becomes about feel and fighting mode. There's so much going on at once. You have to keep your head clear and be concious of what you're doing and your instincts have to be right on the mark. You have to do it to develop a feel for it. You also have to learn to take the pain and pressure of combat. No matter how good or fast you are, assume you might get hit. When you do, if you know what being hit feels like, at least some of the surprise and shock value are diminished. It's all about the mind set though. There are people who've been there and people who haven't. I've been in a couple scuffles myself but wouldn't say I've been there. I've seen a real street fight or two though and count myself lucky. MMA and UFC on the pavement? Keep it in the ring. MMA is not primarily the science of streetfighting, nevertheless it is intensive research on the human body. I give it the respect I feel it deserves. Ideas and concepts can be learned but application is application.

 

[IcemanSK]

I would say it's interesting & perhaps I may learn someting from it. But I don't watch it to learn techniques. That's what my training is for. I think I've only seen the 1st one. I watch boxing not to learn techniques, but to see how well people who train APPLY those techniques. There are certainly fewer techniques in boxing than MMA. I doubt folks who train seriously in MMA for a long time learn new techniques from watching; but they watch to see folks on the top of their game APPLY the techniques they know.

 

[10,000 Hit Combo]

"Take what is usefull.
Discard what is useless.
Add what is specifically your own."

 

[Odin]

"Take what is usefull.
Discard what is useless.
Add what is specifically your own."

Which funny enough is the basic princable of MMA.

 

[Tez3]

Sadly quick knockouts do happen in MMA competitions. I say sadly because it's a promoters nightmare lol. Imagine having thirteen fights lined up and each one finishes in the first minute of the first round! It doesn't happen too often luckily because the fighters are (on should be) well matched whuch is one of the things that makes it differnt from street fighting. Rarely do you get 'matched' in the street with someone your size, weight and experience!
It is possible to learn new things by watching MMA fights, you learn subtle differences to moves you already know or sometimes ingenious uses of other moves.I think a lot of fighters do watch other fighters for anything new. Most times I can ask the fighters after their fight how they did certain moves, I'm not alone in this, I've seen guys ask their opponents how they did certain moves during the fight and then seen the pair of them rolling around on the warm up mats, with them swapping techniques. It's also one of the reason I love MMA,there's not many other sports where would you see that!