Is this an MMA forum?

[Taiji Rebel]

This entire Martial Art Talk forum and discussion board seems to have an MMA bias

Even the strange belt-status members are given appears to conform to the BJJ ranking system

So, is this forum basically just an echo chamber for MMA and BJJ cheerleaders?

 

[Dirty Dog]

This entire Martial Art Talk forum and discussion board seems to have an MMA bias

Only in the sense that most of us recognize the virtue of training in multiple systems. Nothing is perfect, and given the way different styles emphasize different details, it's handy to see different approaches.

Even the strange belt-status members are given appears to conform to the BJJ ranking system

No it doesn't. It conforms to the ranking system used by most systems that use belts.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Depends on what you mean by mma. Many of us have trained in multiple martial arts, but many of us also don't train mma. Off the top of my head, I can think of five people active that would call themselves MMA practitioners in terms of the sport-and two of them may just be BJJ. One of those people happens to be a very active poster, and very obvious in his bias. If you are asking about people that have cross-trained, then

The bias you are seeing is likely a result of you coming on and starting discussions about MMA. Those who are interested in the topic are the ones who will look at those threads. And when

Regarding the belt system, here it is. Very different than BJJ-if I had to guess, I'd say it's based off TKD.

Martial Talk White Belt (Minimum Posts: 0)
Martial Talk Yellow Belt (Minimum Posts: 20)
Martial Talk Orange Belt (Minimum Posts: 60)
Martial Talk Green Belt (Minimum Posts: 100)
Martial Talk Blue Belt (Minimum Posts: 200)
Martial Talk Purple Belt (Minimum Posts: 300)
Martial Talk Brown Belt (Minimum Posts: 400)
Martial Talk Black Belt (Minimum Posts: 500)
Martial Talk 2nd Black Belt (Minimum Posts: 700)
Martial Talk 3rd Black Belt (Minimum Posts: 900)
Martial Talk Master Black Belt (Minimum Posts: 1000)
Martial Talk Master of Arts (Minimum Posts: 1500)
Martial Talk Senior Master (Minimum Posts: 2000)
Martial Talk Grandmaster (Minimum Posts: 5000)

 

[Tony Dismukes]

In terms of currently active forum participants, I can think of one person who actively trains MMA (but doesn't compete) and one person who doesn't train but uses MMA as a criteria for bashing other systems because he is disillusioned with his past training.

There are more people who train BJJ, but I'd guess that half of them do it as a secondary art rather than as their primary focus.

Offhand, among regular posters I can think of practitioners of Wing Chun, White Crane, Tai Chi, Long Fist, Shuai Jiao, Jow Ga, Karate, TKD, Aikido, Kempo, and more.

BJJ is my primary art, but I think I have a decent reputation for engaging with other systems and trying to understand them on their own terms (before swiping whatever ideas seem useful for my own practice.)

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

My believe of "no style limitation" can be similar to the MMA approach. But I strongly believe in one should use one MA system to build his foundation. One should go through grade school (foundation training) before he can enter high school, and then ...

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

In terms of currently active forum participants, I can think of one person who actively trains MMA (but doesn't compete) and one person who doesn't train but uses MMA as a criteria for bashing other systems because he is disillusioned with his past training.

There are more people who train BJJ, but I'd guess that half of them do it as a secondary art rather than as their primary focus.

Offhand, among regular posters I can think of practitioners of Wing Chun, White Crane, Tai Chi, Long Fist, Shuai Jiao, Jow Ga, Karate, TKD, Aikido, Kempo, and more.

BJJ is my primary art, but I think I have a decent reputation for engaging with other systems and trying to understand them on their own terms (before swiping whatever ideas seem useful for my own practice.)

By the definition of MMA that I think OP is using, I actually considered you as one of the people. Mainly due to your current arts being BJJ and secondarily muay thai-so even if you don't consider it MMA, the OP likely would. that's also the reason I included another bjj 'fanboy' on the list, and one who I wouldn't be surprised to learn is retired, and wouldn't consider her active, except she did reply to one of OPs posts.

Otherwise, I agree.

 

[Tony Dismukes]

By the definition of MMA that I think OP is using, I actually considered you as one of the people. Mainly due to your current arts being BJJ and secondarily muay thai-so even if you don't consider it MMA, the OP likely would. that's also the reason I included another bjj 'fanboy' on the list, and one who I wouldn't be surprised to learn is retired, and wouldn't consider her active, except she did reply to one of OPs posts.

Otherwise, I agree.

I guess @Taiji Rebel can update us regarding what definition he is using for MMA.

I recently updated my list with my (very roughly) estimated hours of training time in various disciplines. Allowing for something like a +/- 15% margin of error, it's currently about:

7100+ hours BJJ
2000+ hours Muay Thai
1500+ hours Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu
600+ hours Yudansha Fighting Systems (a Danzan ryu spinoff)
500+ hours Judo
450+ hours Boxing
300+ hours SCA heavy weapons fighting
250+ hours HEMA
300+ hours wrestling
200+ hours Kali (various flavors)
200+ hours Sumo
200+ hours Capoeira
100+ hours Wing Chun
10 - 100 hours each TKD, Bando, Tai Chi, Karate, Sambo
less than 10 hours each Silat, JKD, Shaolin Do

 

[MetalBoar]

I think MMA has had a direct and enduring impact on how people discuss martial arts in general, whether they are MMA practitioners themselves or not. I definitely don't think of myself as an MMA guy, but I do understand why it takes up a lot of conversational space. Whether MMA provides what you want or not, and whether it may be lacking in some fundamentals or depth in some way, or not, I think there's a strong argument to say that the average MMA gym produces someone who can fight more effectively, more quickly, than the average TMA school.

Again, that may not be the most important metric for a lot of people and there's a lot of nuance available to debate whether it's the best way to train for self defense, or to have longevity in your MA journey, or whether it's lacking some key elements that people ought to really value, but for a lot of people learning an MA is, at some level, about learning how to fight. And if in some sense, MMA produces better fighters, faster than other methods, then the questions of, "Why does it do that better?", or "Why doesn't TMA do that as well?", are going to come up a lot until they're answered conclusively.

I think it's valid to talk about how training should be done, what we should be looking for out of training, and what constitutes successful training. MMA is the current challenger to the methods that a lot of us grew up with, so that's where the interesting and contentious conversation is happening. That being said, I also think it's valid to say, "I don't want nor care about the MMA answer to this question, I want to understand the Aikido, or the Tai Chi, or the Wado Ryu answer to this question", you just may miss out on some valuable perspective that way (which isn't to claim that everything the MMA drum beaters have to say is valuable).

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

This entire Martial Art Talk forum and discussion board seems to have an MMA bias

If people are not interested in MMA subjects, those MMA relative threads won't have that many responds. In another forum, if you start a combat thread, nobody will respond. But if you start a self-cultivation, inner peace, spiritual enhancement, fight without fighting, world peace, ... thread, everybody will participate into discussion. Different forum may attract different kind of members.