Why is this so important to you? Why does it matter that others don't agree with you? And frankly, I really don't think you have given up trying to change others opinions.
Totally agree. I tried to make this point earlier. It's ABSOLUTELY okay for people to have different opinions. And there's nothing wrong with trying to influence someone's opinions or bring someone around to your way of thinking. Often, though, that is a sure path to frustration. And typically, changing one's opinion is something for everyone else to do. People advocating that other people change their opinions are very unlikely EVER to budge from their own position. It's human nature.
Sometimes martial artists that purport to teach self defense outside the ring fail completely at that purpose.
The author of this article is one such example.
Absolutely. This just appears to be another person with little actual experience in something claiming to be an expert.
Absolutely but you can still pressure test a street system. Either by sparring in some manner or by fighting people. Otherwise without some sort of grounding you confuse what should be with what is.
Confirmation bias i think is the term.
If the instructor is a real expert, then he/she should be able to bring a student to the point where they can independently demonstrate proficiency. In other words, the teacher should be an expert. But at some point, as a student, I need to stand on my own and demonstrate proficiency independent of my instructor. It's perfectly valid to say, "This system is legimate and useful because my instructor can demonstrate that it works." This is not, however, the same as saying, "I can make this sytem work." And unless you have established yourself as an expert, independent of your instructor, you shouldn't (IMO) consider teaching the system. That's trouble.
Does anyone else here find it ironic that the OP is complaining about "MMA bashing", yet many of the replies in this thread (and many others) are bashing more traditional martial arts? IE; "they don't train like us, and don't fight in a ring like us, therefore their art is not as good". I find this slightly amusing. LOL.
Mike
I chuckle every time I open the thread.
But, it's kind of a circular thing. I mean, even the statement, "Another example of a TMA guy bashing MMA," is perceived by some as bashing TMA.
Yeah, it was me complaining about this guy in the blog complaining. It's kind of funny but obviously it's made a fairly interesting discussion topic. For the record, I'm only referring to TMA guys like the one in the blog that view mma as ineffective for the street or in the words of the blogger "horrible for pressure testing". If you are willing to admit that mma is one valid approach to self defense your in the same boat as me. Some believe that mma is terrible for self defense and that they are better off without sparring, these guys actually believe compliant drills are superior for learning self defense. there are many TMA guys who like mma and see its value as a training approach, I'm not lumping all TMA together here.
This is an extremely important distinction. Some MMA guys are complete a-holes. Some BJJ guys, some TKD guys and so on and so on. We shouldn't feel compelled to own the a-holes within our own systems. And the term TMA is so broad and poorly defined that it's pointless for anyone to take umbrage at its use.
