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Old 05-01-2013, 10:53 AM   #72
Chris Li
 
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Dojo: Aikido Sangenkai
Location: Honolulu, Hawaii
Join Date: Dec 2000
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Re: Can we see that aikido is all over the place in MMA?

Quote:
Matthew Story wrote: View Post
I really, really, really dislike it when people find aiki-like elements in MMA and then say, "See? REAL aikido is all over the place in MMA! People who say aikido doesn't work in MMA just don't know what REAL aikido is!"

This is a misuse of the word aikido. Aiki is a way of doing things; aikido is a specific martial art founded by Morihei Ueshiba which makes extensive use of aiki movement and whose techniques consist primarily of throws and locks.

Most people who claim to see aikido everywhere actually mean that they see aiki everywhere. Aikido is what we do in the dojo; the reason the stuff MMAers do doesn't look like what we do in the dojo is that it isn't aikido, according to any meaningful definition of the word.
There's that dance that Morihei Ueshiba promoted to 10th Dan (without any in class experience), so I don't know that it holds that you have to be in a formal Aikido class in order to be doing Aikido, at least according to the Founder.

It's interesting that Ueshiba presented a number of definitions for Aikido, none of which mentioned the technical curriculum of throws and locks.

Best,

Chris

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