The Resurgence of Traditional Martial Arts in Modern Mixed Martial Arts

[Sammy Naur]

That, to my mind, is the value of the MMA approach, though I freely admit that I don't feel at home in the MMA culture.

I think it really depends on the local scene. I've been part of very toxic boxing gyms, BJJ schools, but also others where everyone was respectful.

Some MMA places are absolutely terrible, usually because they are run by horrible human beings, and those places attract a certain kind of person.

Others, like you mentioned, are full of cool people, who also tend to flock together.

My favorites are still the wrestling people, male and female. That's a really tough crowd, and sure some of them have issues, but there is always a great sports unity going on there. The jackasses in the group tend to isolate themselves.

Sure the whole "jock" stereotype is always mentioned, but it's usually not fair,these are just people who follow the advice of champions and train harder than most. And MMA fighters tend to train way harder than anyone else in martial arts. I know hard as nails Judoka and Samboists who would never step in a cage, not because they are scared, they just know they don't train that level.

 

[Sammy Naur]

wondered if you had a combat sport where the goal was to actually injure the other guy as quickly as as possible, would you see way more TMA stuff?

I doubt it because I order to train it you would increase the number of serious injuries and decrease the population of fighters. I know there are some arts that claim to teach this sort of "life and death" stuff but let's face it, it's just not reality in the developed world. The most brutal competitions nowadays are still pretty tame, unless you count human cockfights and gang initiations in failed states like Somalia, or inner city slums.

But in history, when life wasn't nearly as valuable, that's basically how Roman gladiators fought. Hurt the other man until he yields or dies.

Professional Roman gladiators probably had a 10-20% death rate over time for various reasons. But the Romans would throw criminals into the Colosseum all the time, with minimal training, and they were expected to die.

Did most Roman gladiator fights end in death?

Gladiatorial contests are often depicted as bloody and brutal battles to the death, with only the most valiant fighters allowed to survive. But how true is this?

www.badancient.com

 

[drop bear]

"...bringing a renewed sense of strategy, artistry, and philosophy to the cage...

That's a stretch.

UFC fighters are following an arbitrary ruleset that's confined within an octagon with a fence around it. It's not that deep.

It is a pretty deep.

There wasn't the vehicle for people to fight with that many different dynamics before structured MMA.

Which has opened up the ability for people to scientifically test ideas a lot more.

Animal day for example was a messy version of trying to replicate that idea.