traditional martial arts, are they loosing thier touch?

Question

now for all you traditonal martial artists, i dont speak for all but most of you, who do karate or taekwondo or aikido ect
dont you think your art is loosing its touch with mma being around, as now there is a new dimension to fighting which taking ur opponent to the ground
and for all the people who say well ill kick him by the time he gets me in a clinch is totaly wrong

ask ur instructor what he thinks of ground fighting
my instructor teaches karate to kids but he admits the techniques are useless in a fight
he said in a mma fight there stuffed, and he also said to me muay thai is the best stand up hands down

so are people realising times are changing
my kung fu instructor who teaches shuai jiao says that a kung fu guy vs shuai jiao
shuai jiao would win hands down as it is a grapaling art

thanks

Answer 1

TMA is losing because of the Mc Dojos out there. TMA is great if you find a non-Mc Dojo. MMA will have Mc Dojos.

Also remember Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Mauy Thai, Shuai Jiao are all TMAs

Answer 2

First, MMA would not exist without the TMAs. Like someone else posted, Muay Thai and BJJ are both TMAs. Other TMAs have also found some success in MMA as well, including Judo, Boxing, Wrestling, and some forms of Karate and Kung Fu too (Kyokushin and San Shou for example). As for other TMAs, they too could be useful in an MMA environment if the practitioners train for it right.

Of course you also have to remember not all who train in the martial arts are training with the goal to fight. Even though all martial arts were originally created for fighting. It may just be a side benefit or such. These people may be more interested in just getting a workout, having a hobby other than watching tv, or learning about something different. These people usually are not concerned about being good fighters or anything like that. Not that there's anything wrong with that, unless they go around claiming they are some bad *** who could beat up a pro MMA fighter or anything like that.

In the end it is all about the quality of the instructor and the person's training.

Answer 3

As an mma fighter, and train I can say that traditional arts aren't a waste of time. Whats a waste of time is trying to learn martial arts from a McDojo. If you learn Karate, TKD, Kung Fu, or other arts overseas you'll be better off. We as Americans want everything fast including our martial arts. Look at all the TKD studios at practically every strip mall out there. Do they really teach TKD or are they mostly a day care center for parents to leave their kids at, and brag to their friend how little Johnny just got his purple belt? I would say the latter. The same goes for the other arts also. Most have contracts that promise to make their kids black belts in 2 years.

Another factor is the so called mysticism in the various arts. We in America like magical things. We want to break boards, and learn the so called death touch. We want to hear stories about ninjas, samurais, and shoalin monks. There are idiots (you can find them on the net) here that think dragonball z is real. Come on people, wake up and smell the coffee.

Answer 4

Martial arts ans sport are 2 totally different concept. They by no means are equal. The 2 look different and are practiced different. Unfortunately many today do not know the difference. Many are being taught a sport and never learn the art. Therefore people with no knowledge of the arts see a weak version of a true art and gauge everyone according to their knowledge of martial arts and they don' have any knowledge. I love how pugspaw, sensei scandal, stillcrazy put it. I have nothing against those that play games. That is great for them. However, I am interested in having the knowledge and ability of self defense. I'm interested in budo. I do not even want to use the term martial with sport. The 2 does not go together. One is a game. The other is war. There is nothing better than when attacked knowing how to position yourself in a manner that the attacker can't do anything, but is exposed to everything that will stop the threat immediately. When I was a child I played tag. I don't play that childish game anymore. We used to trade punches in grade school. I don't trade punches anymore. If I hit you I mean to stop you. I do not look for a referee to say you tapped out. I'll know you are out when the lights go out and you go limp. I'll know that you surrender when I hear or feel the joint snap. I'll know you can't use that limb right now to attempt to harm me or my family.

Answer 5

My first instructor, in Shotokan, was a three time national Japanese champion in both forms and fighting. Even he would say that you can't beat a good Judoka, or Jiu-jutsu stylist at their own game-so you don't play it. You attack the groin while or when down as well as the eyes, ears, throat, etc. If you notice in MMA and the UFC they don't allow anything to the groin, eyes, throat or ear claps, fish hooking, rabbit punching for good reason. The fights would end much quicker and serious or permanent injury could occur. My second instructor in Shito-ryu taught many ground fighting aspects as well as Jiu-jutsu and that was thirty years ago. So even way back then there was some awareness among some that grappeling, wrestling, and that type of fighting requires something more than just stand up skills or for a stand up fighter to have a chance with.

I do think that MMA has got much of the rest of the martial arts community on board and it also has given those of us that already were even more to work with and master.

Answer 6

First off, I believe Traditional MA and MMA(sport fighting is what it has become) are two different things all together, and they both have their place. If you find a real Traditonal MA school, it will teach you history, philosiphy, and culture.. Also it will get your body in amazing shape, and will aid in real life self-defense (against someone completely untrained), then the arguement comes style vs stlye, but if you want to fight trained opponents, then an MMA school would be more appropriate. I have limited knowledge of MMA (start tomorrow,,, cant wait) but I do believe it to be more of a "Martial Sport" than a "Martial Art". But for someone who takes a ful-contact style like Muay Thai to talk down about another Art which teaches ful-contact as a last resort, is inappropriate.... All have their place provide they are taught correctly..

Answer 7

True traditional martial arts did/do have at least some grappling, and counters for grappling. The problem stems from the fact that these facets of the major stand up styles have been all but forgotten. Few teachers make it a practice to give instruction on these parts of their chosen art. Many teachers don't even know that their art has this in its history.

Answer 8

I am a instructor and we use ground fighting as part of our curriculum.Ground fighting is not a bad thing. If you think about it 90% of fights end up on the ground. Our first rule of ground fighting is not to go to the ground stay on your feet as long as possible.As far as most MA schools i've seen at tournaments and other students ability's as far as forms and sparring, it saddens me to see the quality of the martial arts that instructos are letting get by and not correcting it. I'm seeing more and more of the Mc dojo schools where instructors are making the Paris hilton wannabe parents and their spoiled kids happy instead of teaching correct technique and standards of traditional martial arts. Respect, disicpline, courtesy are almost non exsistant. Their more worried about making money than teaching or standing up to the parents when their students don't meet the standerds of their criccluim.

Answer 9

I fault the poor level of instruction in MOST TMA schools. Call it McDojo or whatever, but most Americans are not willing to actually sweat or put in their time learning a skill before they want to learn another, get another belt that doesn't mean much outside the school, and get their ego stroked. To keep the doors open a lot of schools will knuckle under and promote people to ranks due strickly to time served at the school. Real dojo with strict requirements for achievement of skill sets are few and far between. If a school is focused on tournaments rather than self-defense with real world situations (get some scenarios from local police, etc.) then you end up with sub-par practicioners.

Answer 10

Well I don't fully understand your question (because I didnt fully read it) but back in the old times theses arts were meant for real self defense but nowadays they have been modernized so they are easier to teach, quicker to teach and so that it is possible to teach children too (without them testing these moves on their friends).

So for a short answer YES i do think martial arts are losing their touch.

Answer 11

Taking your opponent to the ground has been around for a few thousand years longer than modern MMA rules. And Aikido is all about takedowns albeit very weird ones. People get themselves kneed or kicked in the head on a takedown attempt all the time in MMA too. Karate wasn't invented for sport competition but there are several karate black belts that have been successful in MMA. Like Chuck Liddel and Ryoto Machida. They also cross-train because karate has some takedowns but the focus really is counter-striking.