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Old 04-13-2007, 11:13 PM   #21
KIT
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 140
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Re: MMA as catalyst for change in Aikido?

The overwhelming majority of people on the Internet are more fans and wannabes than they are actual MMA fighters. Like with any aikido school, there are a lot of goof balls who (barely) train in the public classes even at places like Team Quest, but by no means represent the school or even good MMA. You can spot them after a few strategic questions.

People in MMA circles are constantly joking about the guys who are "going to be cage fighters." That category has exploded with the recent explosion of MMA. I remember rolling with a guy in LE who was known for constantly talking about his "MMA background" and all the people with Quest that he knew, and trained with, and his fight preparation and "personal instruction" from an MMA legend, and he had barely decent white belt skills. I happened to train Judo with one of Quest's fight team members and instructors, and work with a guy in Quest's instructor candidate program, and neither one of these guys had ever heard of this guy. He lives in a fantasy world.

On New Years eve I summarily dumped a real world attacker who later told officers that he "was an Ultimate fighter" and just got out of prison. The man was no ultimate fighter....

So take what people say regarding MMA with a huge grain of salt, just as you would what any aikidoka said who offered to you how "skilled" he was, until you found out who he trained with and what his actual rank was. And sometimes even that doesn't matter. There are D and F students at Ivy league schools, and so there are at MMA schools...

All that being said, there are also a lot of inroads being made in military and LE adapting the MMA methodology to the violent encounters that they face - much in the same way LE adapted aikido to address similar concerns.

FWIW, I now train at a Purebred affiliated gym that includes a Kenpo class - because the MMA figher/brown belt BJJ instructor holds dan rank in that art and wanted to respect his teacher by brining him in.

Last edited by KIT : 04-13-2007 at 11:25 PM. Reason: Added last paragraph - and changed "-bread" to "-bred" LOL
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