Quote:
Mert Gambito wrote:
Well, this thread has mentioned Seagal, MMA and Anderson Silva.
Did any aikidoka reading this see even a modest uptick in interest when videos of Silva training with Seagal went viral a few years ago?
Given that MMA is the in thing, and Silva is one of the most successful and high-profile fighters, if he ever expressly credits aikido for a winning tactic or technique, or for being integral to his training regimen, that would most likely bring in the younger lookie-loo's. In the meantime, Silva does continue to associate and train with Seagal, but it's Seagal who's doing the talk and taking the credit for what he's doing for Silva, and the young bucks ain't buying into it just yet.
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There is a vast spectrum of opinions related to Seagal within the MMA "fan" community. If you did a search on Seagal on the Underground forum you'd see everything from "Seagal is full of $%^&" to "he is an Aikido grandmaster and could get in the ring and kill any of these fighters with his deadly stuff".
There is an interesting thread about wristlocks in MMA that was recently started where the Seagal training with Silva video was mentioned. I've watched it a couple of times, but I thought it seemed more like Silva humoring Seagal for PR purposes (and his future B movie career) more than actually viewing him as a coach.