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Old 07-20-2009, 06:05 AM   #72
DonMagee
Location: Indiana
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 1,311
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Re: Aikido in the UFC

Quote:
Rob Liberti wrote: View Post
Let me first say that at a certain level, I am all for pressure-tested aikido - and I mean very high pressure. For that kind of training, I think aiki powered MMA moving as if you are holding a knife is the way to go.

I actually am VERY interested in eventually trying every drill that Chris Hein has come up with for his unique study.

For that kind of thing to be what I consider my kind of aikido training in a pressure-tested situation - it has to be movement without struggle. To me, the idea of 2 people *struggling* over a knife and that getting resolved by an externally powered shihonage technique offends my idea of what aikido ever was or can be.

In my view, pressure-tested aikido should be like I am holding a knife, and no matter what you try to do to me you feel stabbed and slashed - but now you cannot get away and you are wishing you were somewhere else from the moment of engagement - regardless of how confident you started. And at higher levels (relative to the attacker), it is still that way but somehow the attacker gets thrown or pinned and it didn't turn out nearly as badly for them as they thought when they hit their "oh sh*t! I'm in trouble!" revelation, so they they wind up a bit more grateful than you would typically expect.

Triaining that way against someone else who also has aiki in their body as well as position dominance takes training where I would prefer to continue my research. My feeling is that this is the best way to explore the universal physical principles so I can better relate them to my attempts to understand universal spiritual principles (which to me is more why it is aikido).

Rob
The most important part of pressure testing is this: If it's going exactly how you thought or wanted it to go then you are not being pressured hard enough.

In a perfect world everything I want to do works and it's as if I am an invincible wall of win. I'm still looking for that perfect world. Pressure testing is about learning to cope with adversity, to be creative and adjust to your environment. If you start off with a game plan, and thinking you know how the next few minutes will go, but end up being forced into a situation you never wanted to be in and using your intelligence, skill, and character to get out of it, then you know you are training properly.

My sparing matches always have the same plan. Clinch, judo throw, maintain side control, choke. Anyone want to take a guess on how often that happens against anyone near my skill level?

- Don
"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough" - Albert Einstein
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