Hi, thank you for approving my membership to your forum. I've been reading this site for a while, and although I find it amusing, there seems to be a lot of misconceptions being spouted here that I really feel compelled to correct. I believe many members here will find this thread enlightening because I've never seen this insight posted here before.
Now, most everybody here seems to think that UFC and BJJ are the be-all-end-all of martial arts. According to Bullshido, traditional martial arts like Wing Chun and Systema were rendered obsolete the day Royce Gracie "proved ground-fighting's superiority" in UFC 1. The reality is, however, that UFC and Gracie ju-jutsu are in fact merely SPORTS with RULES. They're not designed to be used in the context of a real street fight or battle situation. Ancient fighting styles such as Taekwondo and Aikido, although lacking a presence in UFC, have been used effectively on the battlefield for centuries. Can you deny a track record like that just because grappling has been effective in a SPORT context? Going for submissions and pulling mount are not relevant skills in a real fight that takes place outside the ring. I'm sorry, but that's the cold truth.
I'll elaborate. Eye-gouging, pressure points, bone breaking, and elbow strikes are all banned from BJJ and UFC. Doesn't that seem to severely shift the odds in favor of the grappler to you? Just imagine how much better traditional strikers would do in BJJ competition if all those techniques were allowed. The ubiquitously feared "ground-and-pound" strategy would be rendered laughably useless if a TMA fighter was allowed to simply just reach up and break the neck or pluck an eye out. Check these out:
^ Easy fix for the ninja if this was a bar fight. From 1:50-1:55 the kickboxer's eyes were totally exposed for a thumb jab.
^ At 0:30, the guy in the yellow trunks gets a hold of the beaner's head. If this was a no-holds-barred fight he could've used that to break his neck.
^ Same thing here. If there were no rules, the kung-fu guy could've snapped the dude's neck at 1:10 or gouged his eyes out at 1:50 onwards.
^ Probably the best example of why grappling is just intrinsically useless in a real fight. No soft mats in the street to break your fall when you hit the ground.
Sport fighters spend most of their time training not to break the rules and expect their opponents to do the same. Sport fighting is about looking cool and scoring points, not developing real effective technique. It's fine if you like that, but you must understand that there's a difference between sport and street. Traditional street martial arts are about using survival and lethal tactics. Just for perspective, I'm a camo sash in Aikido and have been privately instructed in ninjutsu by an authentic instructor in the basement of a Chinese restaurant for the past several years. I've been putting these skills to use every night as a bouncer in one of the most rough-and-tumble bars in Brick Township, New Jersey, and as of today I have six justifiable homicides to my name. Believe me, I know what I'm talking about.
Discuss.
Now, most everybody here seems to think that UFC and BJJ are the be-all-end-all of martial arts. According to Bullshido, traditional martial arts like Wing Chun and Systema were rendered obsolete the day Royce Gracie "proved ground-fighting's superiority" in UFC 1. The reality is, however, that UFC and Gracie ju-jutsu are in fact merely SPORTS with RULES. They're not designed to be used in the context of a real street fight or battle situation. Ancient fighting styles such as Taekwondo and Aikido, although lacking a presence in UFC, have been used effectively on the battlefield for centuries. Can you deny a track record like that just because grappling has been effective in a SPORT context? Going for submissions and pulling mount are not relevant skills in a real fight that takes place outside the ring. I'm sorry, but that's the cold truth.
I'll elaborate. Eye-gouging, pressure points, bone breaking, and elbow strikes are all banned from BJJ and UFC. Doesn't that seem to severely shift the odds in favor of the grappler to you? Just imagine how much better traditional strikers would do in BJJ competition if all those techniques were allowed. The ubiquitously feared "ground-and-pound" strategy would be rendered laughably useless if a TMA fighter was allowed to simply just reach up and break the neck or pluck an eye out. Check these out:
^ Easy fix for the ninja if this was a bar fight. From 1:50-1:55 the kickboxer's eyes were totally exposed for a thumb jab.
^ At 0:30, the guy in the yellow trunks gets a hold of the beaner's head. If this was a no-holds-barred fight he could've used that to break his neck.
^ Same thing here. If there were no rules, the kung-fu guy could've snapped the dude's neck at 1:10 or gouged his eyes out at 1:50 onwards.
^ Probably the best example of why grappling is just intrinsically useless in a real fight. No soft mats in the street to break your fall when you hit the ground.
Sport fighters spend most of their time training not to break the rules and expect their opponents to do the same. Sport fighting is about looking cool and scoring points, not developing real effective technique. It's fine if you like that, but you must understand that there's a difference between sport and street. Traditional street martial arts are about using survival and lethal tactics. Just for perspective, I'm a camo sash in Aikido and have been privately instructed in ninjutsu by an authentic instructor in the basement of a Chinese restaurant for the past several years. I've been putting these skills to use every night as a bouncer in one of the most rough-and-tumble bars in Brick Township, New Jersey, and as of today I have six justifiable homicides to my name. Believe me, I know what I'm talking about.
Discuss.