The Major Difference: Combat Sports Vs. Traditional Martial Arts

Years ago, people used to think that boxing, wrestling, and kickboxing among many other non-asian styles of martial arts were not  martial arts. This is due to the culture that people assume that all martial arts have to be "asian" in order to be effective. Hollywood has put many people in a big trance since the 1970s..when all the kung fu / karate movies came out, people really thought that was the proper way to fight. 

However, with the evolution of mma and the formation of the Ufc, people's view point have changed...at least a portion of them. Even Steven "Wonderboy" Thompson admits in an interview that Karate really sucked against grapplers. He also stated that Karate does have it's place, but he also said having learning boxing, Muay Thai, and brazilian jiu jitsu was the only way to make it work. 

So what's the difference between combat sports and traditional martial arts?

Simple. It's a matter of results vs theory. Alot of traditional martial arts is based on theory; this is because they are afraid of getting hurt applying what they know. There is this bullsh** arguement that "Woah bro, my techniques are too effective, they could really hurt you" when the technique is rather rubbish and doesn't want to deal with it under pressure. 

Combat sports, or mma (or anything that goes into it), is the opposite of that. The approach is if it doesn't work under resistance, it doesn't work at all, and might as well scrap it. Still, there was an idea that spinning techniques don't work in mma. However, we are seeing more and more of them; why?

That is becuase THEY HAVE A SOLID FOUNDATION OF BOXING AND WRESTLING. People are very quick to say "ah...karate is effective, look at (insert lyoto machida / gsp / ect) " But people fail to realize that they learned OTHER THINGS. 

Have a great day,

Martial Arts Tutor

--------------

Facebook; Posts Twice A Day

Youtube Videos - Five Days A Week