Why is it we don't see taiji, karate, arnis or taekwondo in UFC?

Question

Is there a restriction to specific martial art systems like Jiujitsu, judo, wrestling, boxing, muaythai at the UFC octagon? I wonder why we don't see any of the other martial arts systems of Korea, China, Japan and the Philippines in these matches? Dana White or anybody out there, if you have the answer...I'd really like to know. Thanks.

Answer 1

no, but it is how the different styles train that better transfer to the octogon.... MT fighters train at hard sparring,, BJJ guys train to submit their opponent... Karate and TKD trains at point sparring... and there is nothing wrong with point sparring, but it doesnt translate well to full contact fighting against trained fighters... I suspect that as the MMA world evolves, there will be someone good at other arts along with the popular ones that will take advantage of some of the techniques from the styles you mentioned... just dont take a knife to a gunfight

Answer 2

First of all, Arnis is a weapon based Martial art so anyone carrying a stick or bladed weapon into the Octagon will be disqualified. And though Arnis and escrima have empty hand training at higher levels, these techniques are focused more towards weapon disarms and counters than offensive hand to hand combat unlike in other empty hand MA. Secondly, Tai Chi is an internal art that focuses more on promoting good health and longetivity, although it has some self defense applications at higher levels, but this takes at least 13 years to master and more added years for advanced techniques and weapon proficiency, by the time you've mastered Tai Chi Chuan, you'll be in your 50s which is not exactly a good age to enter the Octagon. Besides, as stated, Tai Chi techniques are mostly for defense not offense and not suited for the UFC where.aggressive offense techniques is preferred and favored to win. As for Karate and TKD, during the early years of the UFC, there were a lot of Karate and TKD practitioners(heck there were even Ninjutsu practitioners back in those days) who joined the UFC, but since they were used to point fighting, most them were not able to cope with the new rules of fighting in the Octagon and didn't do as well especially against the grapplers. After a while, the UFC had to change the rules for safety concerns in order to have the continued support and sanction from the governing sports commission and therefore still be allowed to stage televised fights in the various states. Unfortunately, these rules tend to be skewed to favor grapplers and ground fighters hence these arts thrived and most striking arts were limited to strikes and kicks only when an opponent was standing. So in the long run, grapplers abound in the UFC while only the strikers who learned how to grapple or counter it were able to stay in the running.

Answer 3

Georges st pierre has a strong kyokushin karate back ground. When he beat Matt Hughes, Matt said the 1 thing that gave him the most trouble was Georges ability to get in and out of range very quickly. Because of karate ponit sparring this is an ability Karate-ka develop to a high level. Lyoto Machida also has a strong karate background, again this contributes to why he is so difficult to hit. Rich Franklins first fighting art was Karate. I'm not saying that all these fighters are as good as they are because they have stuided karate (far from it). But if you stuty somthing for so long to makes sense that the skills you develop will then used going forward when studying other things.

Answer 4

some of the practitioners of other arts havent successfully adapted to cage fighting. also some traditional arts do not to fight for "sport" and their techniques are too "deadly" to use in the octagon.

but you do see some other arts in mma. chuck liddell studied koei-kan karate, georges st pierre and bas rutten studied kyokushin karate(you'll normally see gsp coming to the ring in his karate gi), san shou is coming up and though hes not in the ufc cung le is becoming very popular. etc...

in the 1st ufc gerard gordeau used savate. well actually quite a few of the 1st UFCs has had quite a few different styles: scott morris with "ninjitsu", jason delucia with (5 animal)kung fu, teila using sumo wrestling etc...but pretty much for a decent run bjj was beating everything.

even with K1 in japan being only striking matches you dont see too many styles outside of muay thai, kickboxing, and san shou winning. im not trying to say that thai boxing, san shou, boxing, wrestling, bjj, judo are the best they are just the most dominate now since other people havent been too successful adapting other arts to cage fighting

Answer 5

in the UFC every technique that helps you win a fight is allowed but some of them just doesnt work in the octagon,just like boxing if you fight in the ufc with just boxing or kungfu or taikwondo as the only tool or technique of fighting you wont last 2 minutes in the octagon and you will be submitted or choked out ,you need to have if possible all the martial arts decipline to become one of the boys in the ufc and theres not even a guarantee if you reach the top

Answer 6

alot of people feel their martial art cannot be properly displayed in a ring setting, and alot of people dont feel the need to prove so. Also you are wrong too....look on fightfinder.com and type in a style you will see lots of diffrent stylist. They may not be in the UFC but their are alot of mma fighters who are traditionalists. I fi were in the ufc my tiger style was deffinately be banned. But its all good, those guys train hard and should be respected. I use Taji in combat alot, most people are too lazy to train their techniques forreal anyways

Answer 7

There are indeed all of those martial arts in UFC. Most of the newer guys though, come from MMA specific schools, which have already taken the moves from these style that are most applicable to MMA rules.

Answer 8

no restriction for those, & in fact i have seen karate & kung fu contestants, but they didn't reach the finals.
probably, esp tai chi, arnis & kung fu, they are not best for enclosed space competition without weapons.
& the karate fighter i saw was really good. except when he was taken down on the floor he wasn't able to wriggle out of it

Answer 9

Hi there

Fit for the purpose they were intended for.

Square pegs into round holes ring any bells?

Best wishes

idai

Answer 10

Because the things you mentioned are ARTS!

UFC and all the other mma stuff is savagery, violence and barbarism.