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Old 04-24-2013, 02:19 PM   #34
Lee Salzman
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 406
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Re: Can we see that aikido is all over the place in MMA?

Quote:
Cliff Judge wrote: View Post
Hmmm. So this thread is about aiki as a type of technique, and how you can see it used in MMA sometimes, and you are saying that you'd like it if aiki-as-technique were more or a plug-n-play thing that you could teach to people who could then apply it in an MMA setting better. Possibly MMA is just one example here, for you. Your criticism is that you have to get into the entire Aikido thing to do that.

I feel like this is basically the same conversation people have been having for decades. You step onto the mat and right away, you are given notions such as "nonresistance" and "don't make it a struggle" and "no competition" and "Satsuninto / Katsujinken". Then years later, mysteriously, you start to wonder why Aikido hasn't increased your ability to struggle, resist, fight, or compete.

I dunno...but there is a baby in that bathwater.
The funny thing is, you can improve at MMA by non-struggle, non-resistance, non-competition, etc... The fighting part, well, MMA is fighting, I'll give you that - but even then, it takes on a waaay different meaning when you do it with IP and aiki. None of these are in any way contrary to MMA, not do they really require the learning of waza to apply into MMA. It seems like, from my experience, the more I dump the waza, the bathwater if you will, the easier it is for me to find the baby, aiki, and teach it how to fight MMA-style. To abuse the metaphor further, the bathwater is so murky and thick, I don't think anyone could find the baby in it if they tried short of that - I know I could not.

So, yep, if you expect to just do MMA like you always did with aiki, it's not going to happen. No argument there. There's a long slow learning process that will change you, and your fighting from the very core of your being to the outside of your body where people can and will feel it. So long as you're willing to accept that, aiki really is plug-and-play with MMA.
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