Martial arts for fighting question.

Question

I just got my copies of ufc 1-4 and got to thinking about the styles. In the fights, everyone other than Gerard Gordeau, Royce Gracie, and Ken Shamrock look like their techniques flew out of the window. Which made me think that even if you take a Martial Art is it good to practice in a MMA, boxing, or Muay Thai gym to kind of engrain fighting into your muscle memory? Say like if you take Taekwondo to go and get some good sparring sessions with the Muay Thai or Boxing. If you are in something that uses grappling even a little to get with a friend from the dojo from some live excersises if your school doesn't have it? Not everyone is in it to be a MMA fighter, but it seems that the little time I've been in BJJ (noob) I can see my mistakes a lot better and correct them with the live sparring and I get a much better feel for the resistance of a person than when we did submissions when I was in Taekwondo and dabbled in budo taijitsu.

Not suggesting that everyone become a MMA gym junkie. Just a thought since the fights turned into something that was looked like there was NO particular style. In ufc4 the ninjitsu guy took a long time to realize that he was in the perfect position for a armbar which he finally pulled off in the end. Would "rolling" have helped him realize this faster?

Answer 1

Actually, when UFC launched,  I liked Pancrase, K1, and boxing a lot better.  I think it just took time for the sport to evolve.  I think because co-founder Rorion Gracie really wasn't paying any of the fighters squat, the competition may have been a little you-get-what-you-pay-for.  Most of those guys had full time jobs, so it'd be like a tough man competition, or if you rounded us YA martial artists up and had us fight.  I think the old UFC format was designed by Rorion Gracie to make Brazilian Jiu Jitsu look like the the ultimate martial art, and so that Royce would win.  If it would have been done on a normal boxing canvas instead of soft wrestling mats, Royce would've been Rampage slammed unconscious early in the competition.

That said.  I love the new format.  I think the sport is really awesome now.  The professionals that compete now days would maintain their form in a street fight, but most part time practicioners would not.

Answer 2

You know... I would have to agree with your observation, as it is very astute! This was something I also noticed, though back in the 90's watching those matches. The guys in the cage looked like they were in some point tournament, and not a free-for-all beat-down competition.

This is why you will find on here that there are about 12 or so Traditional Martial Artists that stress heavily on sparring that is as realistic as it can get. Granted there is no way to practice realistically without actually doing it full throttle, but if we as students of any art train as close to a life or death fight as we can... we should be able to do the same in the real situation when our skills are called upon.

I have also seen this sad translation from kata to sparring in the dojo. There are a lot of people out there that stress kata, and impress upon their students that without these there is no martial art. The big problem with that is they don't know what they are doing as far as interpretations of the movements, and making the students execute the kata engrained techniques until these techniques become second nature. If you run kata all day long you will have no idea how to use what without thinking when it comes to "go time", but if you train kata techniques with resisting opponents, up to full throttle sparring then the ability to use what has been engrained is absolutely present. Then the real fight for life becomes ugly and quick as you walk away only a few seconds later.

Answer 3

Its subjective as everyone has an opinon, but japanese Jiu-jitsu and Boxing always worked for me in street self defence situations.

Just my humble opinion best wishes :)***