Intro to Popular MMA terms

[Tez3]

In the United States, yes.

That's not good to say the least! I have to say that the MMA stuff I see on here is nothing much I recognise from what we do, this thread is indicticive of that. When I showed it to people they scratched their heads,drills with more than one attacker? Pressure testing? Attacker and defender? That's not MMA. You have a MMA fight between two people of equal weight and experience, in a cage or ring. There is a referee and judges, timekeeper etc. Ring girl too if you wish lol! Bell goes, the fighters fight.
What goes on before the fight is training, fitness work, weights, running. In the club sparring, grappling, practicing takedowns, chokes, locks, anything and everything.Studying your opponent, watching his fights. making a plan, sorting tactics. preparing for the fight.This is all MMA.
Everything else is..... well everything else!

 

[Rook]

That's not good to say the least! I have to say that the MMA stuff I see on here is nothing much I recognise from what we do, this thread is indicticive of that. When I showed it to people they scratched their heads,drills with more than one attacker? Pressure testing? Attacker and defender? That's not MMA. You have a MMA fight between two people of equal weight and experience, in a cage or ring. There is a referee and judges, timekeeper etc. Ring girl too if you wish lol! Bell goes, the fighters fight.
What goes on before the fight is training, fitness work, weights, running. In the club sparring, grappling, practicing takedowns, chokes, locks, anything and everything.Studying your opponent, watching his fights. making a plan, sorting tactics. preparing for the fight.This is all MMA.
Everything else is..... well everything else!

In the US, most of the MMA gyms are not purely ring competition oriented. Many have retained either the BJJ weapons defenses or added ones from Ken or Frank Shamrock, Bas Rutten, SBG, or any number of others. Many still do multiple opponent drills. There is a strong relationship here between MMA and military/LEO stuff... some gyms have special classes that focus on helping LEOs. Many big name MMA trainers spend as much time on military bases and in police gyms as they do on their own stable.

I gain the impression that the because Europe got MMA when it was established as its own style you have gotten to leapfrog over all the challenge matches and associated bad blood and good recruiting that happened in the US.

I have heard you comment before that your gym gets along well with the TMA schools around you. While that is by and large the case here as well, there are some very, very common debates between MMA and TMA here which unfortunately have still not been fully resolved and may never be.

 

[Tez3]

I don't think we got MMA exactly from the States although perhaps the UFC made it more popular. A lot of the TMA's here have done a mixture of styles and Pankration has never died out in Greece.A lot of martial artists I know have always trained in more than one club and have often combined styles when fighting. I also do Wado Ryu karate, the founder of which was also a Juijitsu Master so there are elements of both in it. Although my club is based on a military camp we are a 'leisure or sport' facility as far as the MOD is concerned, the same as any other sport. Our spec ops units do their own thing....secretly lol!
I have noticed an atmosphere that is quite uptight about American Martial arts with insistance on lineage, strictly upheld traditions and fierce arguments about history! Lineage in relation to martial arts was a new concept to me, no one asks it here. A lot of us keep traditions to a minimum.

 

[zDom]

Oops! Are things so bad between TMA and MMA that arguments break out as easy as this?

Locally? Nope.

On MT? Unfortunately, yes.

 

[zDom]

... I do not take the attitude that I must personally devote my life to fighting ability ...

That's one of the GOOD things about hapkido (and quality "do's" in general): it isn't just about devoting myself to fighting ability (although I believe HKD is serving me well enough in that department, also),

HKD is "good medicine" for my mind, spirit and body. It has truly made me a better person in significant ways.

 

[zDom]

Ring girl too if you wish lol!

I LIKE the ring girls! And those cute little Xience shorts they wear

I wish we could get hapkido-mat girls to walk around the mat during breaks in hapkido class *sigh*

 

[zDom]

I have noticed an atmosphere that is quite uptight about American Martial arts with insistance on lineage, strictly upheld traditions and fierce arguments about history! Lineage in relation to martial arts was a new concept to me, no one asks it here. A lot of us keep traditions to a minimum.

This isn't limited to TMA, though: the MMA camps are coming with NEW lineages:

Gracies, Miletich, Bas, etc., etc.

And nobody as is uptight about lineage as the Japanese!

Personally, I think it is nice to know where your roots are, but quality instruction always should take precedence over a "lineage" of ANY type, IMO.

 

[rutherford]

I'm not sure why my simultaneous involvement in karate and defense of MMA would be so confusing to you. Although it might seem like I spend alot of time on here arguing with you guys, and although I spent alot of time of time on karate (not very well spend in retrospect) I have a life outside of either activity and up until recently have not really considered spending the necessary amount of money and time to become a better fighter. Though I live in an urban area, I have avoided fights to my satisfaction and I do not take the attitude that I must personally devote my life to fighting ability; that said, I do have a great deal of respect for the people who do have different priorities and greater dedication and I feel that the professional fighters whose abilities I admire have earned my respect.

It's confusing because much of physical and martial culture has to be FELT to be understood.

You can read about Martial Arts all you like. But until you have actual experience, you don't Know anything. Only by consitantly and daily deepening your practice, will you ever have any understanding.

 

[zDom]

Something occurred to me as I was surfing other threads:

Out of respect for Rook's topic (MMA terminology), could a moderator move the last part of this thread somewhere else?

Maybe title it "MMA culture discussion"?

This is a nice discussion, but I'm feeling guilty for my part in what now appears to be a thread hijack.

 

[Rook]

It's confusing because much of physical and martial culture has to be FELT to be understood.

You can read about Martial Arts all you like. But until you have actual experience, you don't Know anything. Only by consitantly and daily deepening your practice, will you ever have any understanding.

The karate I did the last 3 years of my experiance was not that dissimilar to what I am doing with MMA. We had an instructor belted in BJJ and we did some work with it. We had sparring more similar to kickboxing that other karate. I ultimately decided to switch because I felt that my time was not well spent doing some of the distractions that went along with it (kata, one-step sparring, some standup joint locks, the formalities at the begining and end of class and belt tests).

 

[rutherford]

The karate I did the last 3 years of my experiance was not that dissimilar to what I am doing with MMA. We had an instructor belted in BJJ and we did some work with it. We had sparring more similar to kickboxing that other karate. I ultimately decided to switch because I felt that my time was not well spent doing some of the distractions that went along with it (kata, one-step sparring, some standup joint locks, the formalities at the begining and end of class and belt tests).

Your timeline does not match the one you posted in your Welcome thread.

Where do you study MMA?