Martial Arts vs Martial Sports

I get emails all the time from angry people, arguing that MMA is real fighting. They tell me, "You don't know what you're talking about, UFC fighting is as real as it gets!" Well, they can argue all they want, but they would still be wrong. If there is a referee, a time limit, protective gear and rules, it's not real!

No matter how difficult and how complex it may be, it's still a sport. And a sport is built around a set of rules. So, the best way you can tell if you are learning a martial art, or a martial sport, is if you are given a series of actions that you are not allowed to do.

Of course, terms such as "No Holds Barred" aren't really an accurate description of the modern sport, with its formalized rules and banned techniques that were developed for the fighters' safety. Billed as "no-holds-bared", anything goes, MMA is anything but!

You can check the Official Rules of UFC on the web. It lists over 30 fouls. Sorry, but you can't call a foul in a street fight! Let's face it. When the rules of the competition are stacked in your favor, it is easy to win.

I don't have room to list all the "fouls" of UFC competition here, but I do want to give a few examples, just so you can see what I'm talking about. You are NOT allowed to use:

• #2. Eye gouging of any kind.
• #4. Hair pulling.
• #6. Groin attacks of any kind.
• #11. Throat strikes of any kind, including grabbing the trachea.
• #12. Clawing, pinching or twisting the flesh.

And, of course...

• #22. Engaging in an unsportsmanlike conduct that causes an injury to an opponent.

If you look at all of the rules, at least two-thirds of them are the very tactics your attacker will be using in a street fight, including all of those listed above, especially #22! You can't afford to "fight fair", when you opponent won't follow the rules. Now I don't know about you, but if it came down to my life or his, you can bet that almost all of these illegal moves are going to be some of the FIRST things I do!

Unfortunately, most people forget about this when outside the ring. People train for these competitions according to the rules of the game. If required to use their skills to defend themselves, they tend to forget where they are and resort to what they have trained for. If you had spent years training to box, and someone in a parking lot decided to pick a fight, what would you do? Box! That's how your trained. That's how you fight. Do you think you'll ever see Mike Tyson throwing roundhouse kicks in a street fight?

Here's the bottom line...

You will know if you are learning a martial sport if you are given a list of "dirty tricks" that you are forbidden to use. You are learning a martial art if you are taught a bunch of dirty tricks that you MUST do.

And herein lies the real reason so many "black belts" get their butts kicked in a real street fight. Fighters fight the way they are trained to fight. If you are trained to fight "clean", and by the rules, you won't have all the skills necessary to deal with every situation. And the worst thing is, your attacker won't be playing by the same "fair" rules! You are at a disadvantage from the start, and by the time you realize it, it could be too late.

Remember when Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield's ear off? [Well, not the whole thing, but a piece of it.] What was Evander's reaction? Did he fight harder? Did he bite him back? NO! He jumped up and down like a five year old because he was shocked at what just happened. This by no means says that Evander Holyfield is not tough. You'd be hard pressed to find someone tougher. It does demonstrate how a highly trained athlete responds to something that happens outside the realm of what he trained for... he reacts like everyone else does!

Matches All Look the Same

If you follow any form of combative sport, after watching several fights you will notice all of the matches have a similar pattern. I doesn't matter if you are talking about boxing, karate, wrestling or mixed martial arts; each one has it's own sequence of events that become quite predictable.

It is true that some matches may last a short time while others take up the full allotted time period, but you begin to notice that each fighter is working with pretty much the same set of skills and attempting to execute the same set of techniques. It is the nature of the sport. The winner is determined by which one can apply those skills better, faster and smarter.

• But, you still can't kick in boxing (unless you're "kick-boxing")
• You can't punch in judo or wrestling
• You can't wrestle in tae kwon do
• And you can't gouge eyes in any of them.

So much good stuff is left unused in every martial (combative) sport, including the so-called anything goes MMA!

The biggest problem with MMA techniques is Exposure! Virtually every takedown of requires going for the legs. Granted, a highly skilled player can do it quickly and effectively. Unfortunately, not everyone is as skilled as Royce Gracie, even though they think they are. Anytime you go for the opponent's legs, you have no choice but to expose your head, neck and spine. Any average street punk won't hesitate to "break the rules" and take advantage of such a glaring mistake; usually with devastating results. But since UFC and other competitive formats don't allow striking to the back of the head or spine, competitors can get away with it.

Everyone has their own reason for wanting to learn a martial art in the first place. Some want to learn self-defense. Some like the thrill of competition. Others find it important to involve themselves in various aspects of ancient cultures. And still others are only seeking an enjoyable activity to get them out of the house once or twice a week. The great thing about martial arts, to me, is that no matter what you are looking for, there is a style out there to accommodate you. But you cannot lump it all together, or think it is all the same thing. It's not.

By now you should have a good idea that Combative Sports don't really teach you self-defense. While it is undeniably true that training in "mixed martial arts" will certainly give someone an edge if attacked on the street, it is mainly due one's physical conditioning and reactionary skills that save them, not the techniques they use.

Of course, BJJ players like Jean Machado, Walid Ismial and the Gracies are great players who are an immediate threat in the ring. But I feel it is their mat experience, athletic gifts and mental agility that make them great. Some claim that it is BJJ and BJJ alone; but that reasoning is simply flawed and is proven wrong time and time again as BJJ falls before fighters from different disciplines. This is not to put BJJ down; but it is silly to believe that it is the end all and be all to grappling, much less an effective form of self-defense.

© 2008 The Paragon Project. All rights reserved.