Because of MMA’s core focus on effectiveness many TMA’s have had to take a fresh look at what they’re doing and how they’re doing it (which I think is beneficial).

That being said, MMA has experienced some serious growing pains and suffers routinely from “demons” that stand in stark contrast to the true nature of martial arts. Some of those demons have been poking their ugly heads out lately and I wonder if it’s just a bad series of events, or a larger trend.

Anderson Silva Gets Taunty

Anderson Silva is easily one of the most dominant fighters in UFC history. His ability to control distance and timing is uncanny, and his technique repertoire is impressive. Basically, he makes it look easy a lot of the time. Unfortunately, he recently abandoned all the respect and dignity that he infused into his earlier fights.

At UFC 112 Silva matched up against Demian Maia, and throughout the fight he taunted his opponent. While Silva did handle his business and landed plenty of good shots on Maia, he spent even more time dancing around and acting foolish.

Dana White was so angered by this turn of events that he refused to hand Silva the championship belt (which he successfully defended), instead giving it to Silva’s trainer before storming out of the stage area.

Mayhem Miller Brawl

In a recent StrikeForce fight Jake Shields defeated Dan Henderson. All was going smoothly until the post-fight interview. As Shields was answering questions about the match, Jason Mayhem Miller entered the ring and sidled up next to Shields, giving him a cock-eyed stare. Once Shields noticed him, Miller took control of the mic and started challenging Shields to a rematch.

Nick Diaz (Shields trainer) took exception to the pompous maneuver and pushed Miller away from the mic. From there it degraded into an all-out brawl. Shields and his entire crew tried to jump Miller on the spot, but as the carnage commenced a team of security personnel jumped in and tried to separate everyone.

The situation devolved due to the petty and inappropriate antics of Miller combined with a thuggish lack of control on the part of Diaz, Shields, and their team.

Paul Daley’s Cheap Shot

At UFC 113 Josh Koscheck was able to defeat Paul Daley. Koscheck dictated much of the fight and by the end was looking to be the clear cut winner. At the sound of the final bell, the two broke. As Koschek began walking to his corner, Daley followed him and swung a big left directly at his face.

As it turns out, Koscheck had spent the last 30 seconds of the final round berating his opponent while controlling him on the ground. He said things that were “much worse than your momma jokes” and did his best to steal as much dignity from his opponent as possible. Although these kinds of head games are not rare in MMA, Daley clearly took exception and chose to take a cheap shot after the fight was over.

Dana White summarily removed Daley from the UFC shortly after he found out about the incident.

The Sum of It’s Parts

On one hand, I think we all understand that fighting is a highly intense experience, which makes it difficult to be under perfect control at all times. These fighters are experiencing significant adrenaline dumps and are put in harm’s way. It’s tempting to argue that these incidences are just part of fighting, and that only soft-shelled wusses would bother to worry about it.

Personally, I find reason to be concerned. If MMA wants to be considered a legitimate sport and pastime like football (which MMA execs certainly DO want), they are shooting themselves in the foot repeatedly by proving all of their critics right. People that don’t like MMA are quick to point out the examples of juvenile, bone-headed, and disgraceful behavior amongst its participants. This recent slew of events gives them more ammunition than they need.

If MMA wants to be considered a martial art in the classical sense, these examples are moving them further and further away from the kind of character development and personal responsibility stressed in established arts.

Of course, there are plenty of examples of shady behavior in traditional arts as well. Remember when that Olympic Taekwondoka kicked the referee? That wasn’t so good. But MMA is at the height of its exposure right now and is at a pivotal point in regards to how the public sees it.

If MMA wants to move passed its reputation of being a face-punching playground for bullies and thugs, this type of stuff has to stop asap.

I hope MMA as an art can pull through it because I believe it has a lot to offer.

That fame grew rapidly. Soon the first few teachers that had trained in Okinawa and Japan were opening schools in the U.S. Some of those schools achieved high visibility and grew quickly, often finding that many more faces were popping in and out than were expected. Some of the more business savvy teachers realized that they could make quite a profit by charging testing fees, and promoting people through a series of ranks.

That first generation of karateka were being watched closely by a different class of people – the financial opportunists. These crafty individuals took the notion of money making through karate and multiplied it ten-fold by creating contracts, a myriad of belts, and get-rank-quick factories. They then expanded out into whole federations and took their businesses nationwide. When that happened, exposure for karate hit a climax – you couldn’t walk down the street of any small town in America without tripping over a couple of 9th and 10th dans.

Unfortunately, while karate was riding it’s sugar high, many people forgot to stop and notice that the quality (on a nationally broad level, not to say ALL quality) was declining at a rate exponential to the increase in quantity. Eventually, just like any kind of currency that becomes too abundant, the value of karate rank plummeted. A black belt was no longer awed and admired, but chuckled at because Lil 12-year-old-Johnny down the street had one too.

But then…just a few short years ago…something happened. Karate’s reign at the top of martial arts attention (alongside Tae Kwon Do) sputtered. It had fallen for a common trap – it had struggled with its own success.

MMA – The New Hotness

“Have you seen UFC?” people would ask each other in semi-hushed voices. “Those guys go into a cage and just duke it out. It’s for real. None of that hocus pocus nonsense, just real fighting.”

MMA, or mixed martial arts, is what many of the cage fighters in UFC professed to practice. In fact, many of those fighters were inspired by Bruce Lee, who had taken the first chunk out of traditional martial arts in the late 70′s. After Bruce had died his eclectic ideas took a hit and were swallowed back up by corny Kung Fu and Karate action. But UFC was a resurgence, and one that was gritty and real like the action in Bruce’s movies.

The UFC started off small and underground but became a sensation in no time. It’s popularity skyrocketed as Dana White (owner/founder) proved to be a marketing and business savant. He parlayed his federation into extremely profitable Pay Per View events. And then, in a move that left many ‘big wigs’ scratching their heads, he created a show on regular television for free consumption.

Nowadays you can’t go to any athletic store without seeing Tapout or Affliction gear. Stars like Anderson Silva are higher profile than any current boxer, and more MMA fighters are household names than ever before. Truly MMA’s star has risen and exploded.

But…looming in the murky shadows…

The Profiteers Were Ready For MMA

This is America, and to quote South Park, “if you don’t like it you can just giiit eeeouut.” In America capitalism is the rule, and martial arts profiteers know that. The people that spotted the trend of karate and capitalized on it are still around, or at least have their share of imitators and proteges.

MMA’s high profile has made it the go-to style for many potential students looking to get into martial arts, and if more people are looking for it, more profiteers are looking to give it to them. The problem, as you might imagine, is quality. There are a lot of good schools out there that teach MMA, or BJJ with MMA, or even traditional martial arts with MMA infused. These schools are building good extension programs and good core programs. But, just like with karate, they have to compete with chains, franchises, and quickie wannabes that are looking to cash in on that hot MMA buck.

In fact, in many strip malls and other locations you can see a direct transfer of where a karate school was, and where an MMA/BJJ school is now. Some entire franchises have gone ahead and made the switch.

It’s a bit painful, but it’s reality.

So How is MMA Saving Karate?

When karate was the main game in town, there were tons and tons of voices trying to get your attention. Everybody was yelling about this style or that style and what amazing secrets you could learn there. The high quality instructors who were focused primarily on quality could rarely compete. It looked kinda like this:

A bit disorienting isn’t it? Even in just this little collage it is easy to miss Tsuyoshi Chitose, the mild mannered man sitting in seiza. In this way it has been easy to miss really good karate amongst the white noise on a national level. Just imagine this picture only 10,000 times larger.

All of that nonsense is still around of course, but MMA is pulling more and more of the voices away. The blabbering snake oil salesmen are pitching a new and more attractive product. Because of that…karate seems to be quieting down a little. Just enough to start letting through those voices that have a lot of amazing things to say.

I’ve Seen it Happening

Have you ever visited a martial arts forum? There are some high quality ones out there, but generally they are places for people to yell at each other with no one ever really listening. A few years ago the style wars were raging full force in karate forums. If you wanted a reasonable discussion with people who were deeply skilled and invested in the arts, you were going to the wrong place.

One of the problems was the newness of technology and the high learning curve. Many of the most experienced karateka were not tech savvy enough like the youngsters who were bombarding the message boards. Now new technologies have been put in place that are so smart and intuitive that anyone can use them. Twitter and Facebook, for example.

I’ve started a community on Facebook, and with only slight moderation, I’ve found myself interacting with a whole bunch of bright and skilled martial artists. It’s nothing special that I did – we all simply found each other and realized it wasn’t a crazy notion for martial artists to learn from each other. Many (but not all of course) flaming and trolling fanboys have moved on to arguing about MMA matches, which has cleared a gap for traditional martial artists. Not to mention more and more great martial arts bloggers have started up their own sites to make high quality information available.

In the real world, karate instructors who truly and deeply love their art are persevering despite the lower number of total students walking in the door. Since those high quality instructors are the ones sticking around, the odds are increasing ever so slightly that interested students could find themselves learning real karate. If that’s the case, they have a much better chance at sticking around and becoming thoughtful traditional martial artists themselves. As such, there is a chance for them to perpetuate the good kind of karate rather than the paper thin kind.

Until Next Time

To the BJJ and MMA practitioners out there who are deeply invested in their art – you should know that you have some brothers in arms over in TMA (traditional martial arts) who know about the struggle you are going through and will continue to go through.

Hopefully we can all meet on the other side when the next big thing hits…whatever that may be.

During these giveaways I am always conscious to make the prizes training-related. After all, my goal here isn’t to buy friends and fans, it’s to help people in their training however I can. Luckily there a select few companies out there who understand that and are willing to help. This contest was driven by MMAZone.net, so a very special thanks goes out to them.

I won’t keep you waiting, here are the winners (reminder that all participants are entered into a randomization program and selected at random):

Twitter Prize - Revgear Pro Spar Foam Kicks

WINNER: Mr. Alex, @Gwinnett_Karate

Congratulations Alex! You said on twitter that your old foot pads are in a state of duct-tape disrepair, so hopefully these will get you back up and running.

Facebook Prize – Tiger Claw Dual Focus Mitts

WINNER: Gabe Jardon

Gabe is an excellent participant on the Facebook discussion boards, and hopefully will get some great use out of these top-notch punch mitts!

IkigaiWay Website Prize - Tiger Claw Muay Thai Striking Pads

WINNER: The Martial Arts Reporter

He kicks it over at themartialartsreporter.com, but now he’ll be kicking it with Tiger Claw.

Final Thoughts

Thanks again to everyone who participated, and keep it coming! Let’s keep building the traditional martial arts, and the martial way as best we can!

One of the things that makes the internets so great is the massive amount of interaction possible. People with similar interests and passions can get together and truly benefit from one another. IkigaiWay has an awesome group of commenters and readers, and that is something I appreciate greatly. In addition, there are two quickly growing communities on Facebook and Twitter that are augmenting the message I think we are trying to spread on a website like this (that the martial way is a noble and worthy pursuit!). That being said, I’d like to continue to encourage/thank all the readers here with a giveaway of some really cool prizes.

How to Win

Winning one of the prizes I have lined up is really quite simple. Leave a comment here, on Facebook, or on Twitter. Commenters are submitted to my random drawing program which selects a winner. The contest will run for appx 1 month…starting….now.

What is There to Win?

For this giveaway I have the pleasure of teaming up with the good folks at TheMMAZone.net.  Tony and his team are working hard to accommodate online shoppers and are offering a bunch of quality products, a few of which he was kind enough to provide for this giveaway. For the traditional artists out there, don’t worry – MMAZone has gear for people of all different styles.

Give em a visit!

Twitter Prize

The Revgear Pro Spar Foam Kicks go to a commenter who is a part of the IkigaiWay twitter community.

The Revgear kicks far outperform more classic foam dipped foot gear. Foam dipped have the potential to crack and wear over time, where as the Revgear feature a more flexible brushed surface while providing great protection. Top quality elastic is also used for the hook and loop closure.

To qualify, join the crew on twitter!

Facebook Prize

The Facebook community is growing rapidly indeed, and I have a very cool prize for anyone who joins the conversation there. Check out the Tiger Claw Dual Focus Mitts.

The Tiger Claw Mitts are extended all the way down to the lower forearm to provide enhanced protection. the striking surface is thickly padded and features a very comfortable hand compartment for the trainer/partner. Dual wrist loops ensure stable usage.

To qualify, join the Facebook crew!

IkigaiWay Website Prize

The last prize is dedicated to anyone who leaves a comment right here on the website itself. I think you’re really going to like these – Tiger Claw Muay Thai Striking Pads.

These serious pads are designed to resist the crushing kicks and blows of Muay Thai kickboxers. They feature thick, durable padding with a quality leather covering. The bag is secured through one comfort handle and two wrist strap. Useful for a wide variety of training regiments!

To qualify, leave a comment on any post you see coming up for the next month (counts on old posts as well).

Thanks Again!

I’ll be coming out with some new content asap, and I try to keep things updated on Facebook and Twitter daily. Hope to see you around.

A couple of months ago I wrote a post about Lyoto Machida, wherein I explained my fanhood for him, and how it wasn’t just me – Machida’s popularity has been consistently growing over the past 8-9 months. One of the main reasons why is Machida’s karate-inspired fighting style. His traditional background (along with a black belt in BJJ) is making big waves throughout the MMA community. How could it not – the guy has yet to lose a round.

These days it seems that karate is branching out, and the latest person to do the branching is Vitor Belfort. Belfort is a recently returned UFC fighter who has been studying karate for years. Many analysts are remarking at Belfort’s excellent control of distance and timing, and how he seems to have a natural sense of space. People are also commenting on the speed and directness of his counterattacks after making other fighters waffle and miss.

This may all sound familiar to UFC fans because those are the exact qualities that are granting Machida so much success.

To watch the Belfort fight (it only lasts one round), click here or below:

Due to his impressive win, Belfort is slated to fight Anderson Silva, aka, the guy so good that he makes champions look like raw beginners. Although UFC fans are pining for a Machida-v-Silva matchup, it looks like Belfort is going to have to do instead (both Machida and Silva have declared friendship with one another and a strong desire not to fight).

The most interesting thing to come out of these recent events is a raised eyebrow about karate from MMA fans and fighters. We’ve all been so overexposed by crappy, watered-down karate that seeing good karate in action is both intriguing and confusing. Fighters like Machida and Belfort are also doing karateka a service because they are showing the value of arts like BJJ, and how it isn’t a sin to be well-rounded and open to outside concepts.

Very interesting developments! Pay attention everyone because these are the things that slowly shape the martial arts realm right underneath our noses.

If you’d like to check out the fight for yourself, click the picture above or this link.  Also check out Noah’s page for more fights and options.

For those long time readers out there, you’ll know that I am a big fanboy for two UFC fighters – Lyoto Machida and Anderson Silva. This last fight, which took place at UFC 101 in Philadelphia, was another stunner that left me wondering how Anderson Silva performs at such a high level.

Silva’s last two victories over Patrick Cote and Thales Leites were widely regarded as underwhelming. There was a lot of controversy as to whether or not Silva was losing his touch, or if he was just getting bored. It turns out he wasn’t losing his touch.

Forrest Griffin, a UFC pro and highly regarded competitor, tried to stand up with Silva but had no success. In fact, Silva made Griffin look like a tentative rookie (which he is far from being). After a minute or so of gauging each other, Griffin tried to establish a rhythm on Silva by throwing out half-paced punches and kicks. Silva calmly slid away from those attacks, and carefully picked his opportunities to explode into Griffin.

Everytime Griffin attempted to push the pace, Silva slipped the attack and punished Griffin in return. The result was a fight so lopsided that some people are wondering if Griffin threw the fight, or if he was sick/drugged during the match.

One thing I can guarantee is that there was no throwing of the fight – Griffin is renounded for his big heart and taking a dive would never enter into is realm of possibility. Furthermore, there are no reports (as of yet) confirming illness or injury on the part of Griffin. What we are left to conclude is that Silva was simply operating at a level that nullified Griffin in every way.

Silva is a little guilty of antics during the fight – dropping his hands and urging Griffin to come and fight. That stemmed from the stream of bad press he had been getting from his last two fights, and the accusations that he was not putting out any energy or effort. It is also important to note that both fighters showed each other full respect throughout the match, which is a big differentiating factor when observing antics vs mockery.

I’d also like to point out that when Silva dropped his hands it was because he was in such dominant control of distancing and timing that that was the only way to get Griffin to come and fight. Silva saw the opportunity to use such a tactic to win, so he took it. He further demonstrated his command by knocking out Griffin in an almost casual fashion.

Call this match what you will – weird, unusual, astounding, intriguing…for me, I can confidently say that it was definitely worth watching.

This is an extremely unfortunate event; one that every martial artist and fighter should take note of.

The Details

Forrest, 38, is best known as the first man to defeat Shane Mosley (an extremely dominant force in the boxing world). Forrest was also a member of the 1992 Olympic boxing team alongside Oscar De La Hoya. Achieving a professional record of 41-3, Forrest was able to attain the ranks of welterweight and junior-middleweight champion.

On Saturday the 25th Forrest stopped at an Atlanta gas station to refill the air in his tires. His 11-year-old son was in tow, whom Forrest allowed to enter the gas station itself. While refilling, Forrest was approached by a gun-wielding assailant and was robbed of his Rolex and championship ring.

As the robber made his escape, Forrest retrieved a firearm from his vehicle and began pursuit. The chase went on for roughly 3 blocks where the assailant was able to slip away. Forrest, still in close pursuit, encountered another individual, according to police lieutenant Keith Meadows:

“Forrest comes around the corner and he encounters another individual who we believe has a gun in his hand,” Meadows said, adding that Forrest and the second person “exchange words” before Forrest “realizes that this is not the individual who actually robbed him.

“So he turns to walk away and it was at that point the subject shot Mr. Forrest a number of times in the back,” Meadows said. – Yahoo Sports

The Takeaway

Here we have a sports fighting phenom – strong, fast, confident, and effective. On top of that, he was reportedly a great father and humanitarian outside the ring. Yet despite all that he still fell victim to a classic case of street violence.

No matter how much ground-n-pound, kyusho, or sparring we do, we can never be sure how things will unfold on the street. Furthermore, if we let our anger and self-confidence take ahold of us, we might exacerbate an escapable situation.

No one can be blamed for Forrest’s death besides the assailants. However, it is becoming more evident that Forrest made questionable decisions in dealing with his situation. The first of which was making the choice to stop. Trainer Emanuel Steward had this to say:

“I always preach to my boxers to never stop for gas late at night when you don’t know your surroundings,” Steward said. “Vernon did, and his natural instinct as an athlete was to go after his assailant. He’s going to fight back. The problem is everyone, it seems, has a gun.” – Freep.com

Awareness and proper planning are very underrated tools for self defense. No matter how skilled or well armed you are, Steward is right – it seems like everyone has a gun.

The second issue was Forrest’s decision to chase after his possessions. I can only imagine what kind of sentimental value the championship ring must have had, but it was replaceable. As that robber ran off so did the immediate danger to Forrest and his son. Unfortunately, street justice wouldn’t have been served, and Forrest seemed like the kind of man who wanted to punish wrong doing.

Who can say they haven’t felt the same way at some point?

We need to take stock in our training and realize the importance of the mental side of body, mind, spirit. We need to be able to quickly choose when fighting is necessary and utterly required to protect ourselves and others. This is extremely difficult, especially when combined with the quick chaotic nature of true violence.

The third issue was Forrest’s disengagement from his eventual killer. When Forrest lost site of his robber, he encountered another individual who was allegedly wielding a firearm. The two exchanged words, and Forrest realized that this wasn’t the guy who robbed him. After that, he turned his back to walk away, and was shot repeatedly.

I don’t know what was said, but there is absolutely no reason to trust this random, armed individual enough to turn your back or drop your guard even for a moment.

When it comes to violent events, hindsight is easy. We can do shoulda-woulda all day, but the fact is those split second decisions determine the final outcome of the event. Perhaps we can store Forrest’s untimely death in the back our minds so that we might learn from it.

For those who are unfamiliar, Jissen is an online publication created and run by Iain Abernethy. Iain is a strong voice for traditional martial arts in the online community and I was very pleased to be able to contribute to his magazine.

My article for this issue is entitled “Okinawan Karate: An Eclectic Arsenal”. It is an exploration of the roots of traditional karate and an analysis of the way the original masters thought and trained.

Despite the serious divide between eclectic arts (like Jeet Kune Do, MMA, etc) and traditional arts, there are actually more connections than one might think. For example, did you know that old-style karate actively encouraged fighting and training from all three ranges, long, mid, and close? Furthermore, there were distinct methods of grappling known as Tegumi which were an integral part of the karate curriculum.

Another fact that often shocks modern practitioners is level to which instructors would share students, and encourage them to seek out knowledge from different sources. This hardly sounds like the strict, only-learn-from-me-I-have-the-secrets method we see today does it?

They may be buried underneath the sands of time, but the realities of classical training are still there for us to unearth. If you’re interested in finding out more about the development of karate and how history seems to be repeating itself – download the latest issue of Jissen for free – http://www.jissenmag.com/backIssues.asp

Sometimes these fights are taken down due to legal purposes, but if you check it out asap you’ll get to see one of the greatest demonstrations of karate in The Octogan ever recorded.

I know the last post was about MMA too, but I figured this was worth mentioning. If you haven’t been following, Lyoto Machida is a Shotokan stylist who has been making waves in the UFC. Machida is an extremely well rounded karate fighter who also holds a black belt in BJJ (click here for his dvd set).

I wasn’t paying close attention to Machida’s progress until I read an excellent analysis of his role in the UFC over at Way of Least Resistance. Dan goes into much deeper detail than I intend to about Machida’s overall fighting style and how it is being received.

For me personally, I didn’t expect to see much of a difference between Machida and other UFC fighters. I figured his background was being hyped up, but that his overall approach would be the same as everyone elses. After seeing the fight video I can tell you my mind has been changed.

Machida uses some classic karate strategies that thrilled me when I saw them in action. His stancing, control of distance, timing, and techniques were beautifully karate. At one point (around 6:20) he throws a perfect straight punch that had trademark retraction, leaving the bulk of the force in Rashad and knocking him for a loop.

Evans, who has never before lost a fight in the UFC, was completely baffled at trying to find range. His techniques whiffed because Machida placed his body in a forward zenkutsu style stance, which oriented his head differently to his front leg than what boxers are accostomed to.

Machida’s kicks came with exceptionally small telegraphing. In the UFC, Muay Thai kicking has become prevelant and that usually entails front foot movement and hip opening for huge amounts of power. Without that telegraph, Machida was able to land big kicks.

So is Karate the Ultimate Style Again?

I think a lot of karate people are getting excited about Machida, which is annoying a lot of MMA people (and rightfully so in some cases). Lyoto is an exceptional fighter with great all around experience and it is my hope that he is respected as an individual rather than a cardboard cut-out of karate. I happen to know that a lot of karate people do not train the way he does, and would be trying to ride serious coattails by suggesting Machida is a representative of what all karateka can do.

That being said, the people that are downplaying Machida’s style are drinking a little bit of haterade. There is definite karate in Lyoto and it is proving to be extremely effective.

Unfortunately, as intimidating as Slice was during his street brawls, he didn’t quite translate into the world of MMA. In fact, he promptly got knocked out by Seth Petruzelli, a skilled but hardly headlining MMA fighter. This loss began a downward spiral for EliteXC, the company promoting Slice, and ultimately led to a franchise shut down (which I wrote about here).

EliteXC is still gone, but Slice is looking to make a comeback. The UFC runs an annual show called “The Ultimate Fighter” wherein two groups of potential MMA professionals get together and duke it out in tournament style elimination matches to find out who is best. The show is presented like a reality TV program, following the fighters as they live together in a giant mansion and struggle not to get wasted and punch each other out before the real fights start.

This year Slice will be joining them.

This is an interesting move for UFC president Dana White who has openly doubted Slice’s skill in the past. He and many professional MMA fighters believe that this particular opportunity is perfect for Slice as “Ultimate Fighter” is a proving ground and has supplied the UFC with some of its most dynamic combatants to date.

This push to involve the ratings-friendly Kimbo is coming shortly after a successful yet risky gamble on former WWE superstar Brock Lesner.

Lesnar, who is an absolute mountain of a human being, also struggled during his debut into MMA. White, being a very savvy business owner, must have seen potential for Lesnar’s abilities and marketability because he supported the big man and gave him a second shot, which Lesnar used to secure the heavyweight UFC title from Randy Couture.

Will Slice have the same success as Lesnar? It’s hard to say. But one thing is for sure – “Ultimate Fighter” will be giving us some very interesting and entertaining clips as Slice makes his second bid for MMA glory.