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Old 07-16-2009, 08:50 AM   #49
Keith Larman
Dojo: AIA, Los Angeles, CA
Location: California
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 1,604
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Re: Aikido in the UFC

Just to toss in an observation from the uber-cheap seats here...

A few years ago I was out at a restaurant with some friends. One is a BJJ guy, young, fairly new, fairly enamored with his BJJ as the be-all, end-all of "martial effectiveness" evidenced by UFC, etc. style bouts. Also there were a few guys I know from different, varied arts, mostly Japanese, some koryu, some with BJJ backgrounds as well, and so forth. A few were LEO and a few others were military. The young, enthusiastic guy went on and on about how he could come in fast at the legs and take any one of us down. We all looked at each other then slowly each on of us brought out the blades we'd already all taken out and were holding under the table. Of course mine was my steak knife I had on the table all along, but hey, I had the presence of mine to pull it off the table quietly and drop it in my lap as he went on thinking I'd make a point... Great minds and all that.

I also know that at least three of them were otherwise legally armed with vastly more powerful weapons that they didn't pull out in a crowded restaurant (imagine the mob scene then...).

Now this doesn't go to any sort of discussion like Aikido vs. BJJ or anything like that. But I found it interesting that each one of us felt the need to make the same point. To me what I think is interesting about a lot of Japanese arts is the inherent assumption that each person is otherwise likely armed. There are a lot of movements that involve grabs, etc. which makes sense in an environment where many would have a tanto thrust in their obi at all times. You can't just go in with your head down if the other guy is pulling a tanto out behind his back. One has to try to isolate and control the arms/hands before closing too much of the distance. Or keep them extended out so they can't effectively bring the weapon into play. The emphasis on kuzushi ASAP is important on so many levels!

There's a lot of things you can do martially if you *assume* the other guy isn't armed. But that's a major assumption and was obviously quite wrong in the particular situation I described above. If for some odd reason he was a "bad guy" and had tried to go after any person at that table he would have been in serious trouble. That stuff works great up until you realize the guy you're grappling with isn't going to tap out but is instead shoving a sharpened object between your ribs. You may be able to take a few light punches there, but how tough are your major arteries?

Two guys wearing only tights in a closed ring don't tend to have shanks hidden in their pants so that opens the door to a lot of things you'd otherwise be insane to try if you didn't know if the other guy had a 12" steel blade behind his back.

So is it any surprise that many things done in a ring environment (no weapons thank you) aren't part of the core curriculum of arts that operated under a completely different assumed context?

To me the real point of most of these discussions is that context matters. Aikido in UFC strikes me as quite silly -- it is too easy for an experienced, wily attacker to bust up the "operating system" with powerful, devastating and direct attacks. The underlying aiki skills *can* be very useful (having wrestled, played in Judo, and boxed a bit) but that's true of all things as has already been pointed out. Just not the right "tool belt" to be wearing in a ring.

But to me none of this denigrates aikido or any other art for that matter. You just have to keep things in perspective. The aiki arts evolved in a very different context. Now we can have discussions about how one should train in order to be the best aikidoka possible, but that will assume some understanding of what that really means. Personally I enjoy randori, jiuwaza, and I get out and work on the mat with people from outside my aikido. I'm not trying to learn their art, just trying to learn to expand my understanding of the art I train in.

But if I was forced at gun point to compete in a UFC style match I'd be looking for MMA figthers to train with. And I'd be going back to old greco wrestling, Judo, and my boxing experiences. And I'd hope my aikido would add refinement to my movement, positioning and application of those things.

I'll never forgot training with one guy a few years back. A student asked why we bothered with pins when pins tend to be problematic "in the real world/on the street" (fill in your favorite expression). He just smiled and said "because you're supposed to break their arm and then shove your tanto into them if they're that much of a threat."

You stop them from attacking in the first place if you can. Take them down and calm them if you can't stop them first. But you have to be able to end it if you must. But that's a very different world from a ring experience.

Enough rambling for me... I normally stay out of these discussions because they're fraught with conflicting expectations and different assumed contexts. Just be honest about why you're doing what you're doing. I'm not training for UFC. I find value in the things that go beyond the waza themselves -- the internal structure work, the balance, the grace, the flow, the difficulty, the notions of a larger philosophical context to my training, and so forth. And we all weight those things differently. So should anyone be surprised that intelligent people will differ on what is "best" for themselves?

Best of luck folks. Just be honest with yourself and let everyone else figure it out for themselves...

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