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Personally, I think that MMA has demonstrated the importance of sparring and grappling. However, I think that the value of MMA itself is less clear. MMA has be

Personally, I think that MMA has demonstrated the importance of sparring and grappling. However, I think that the value of MMA itself is less clear. MMA has been hurt a lot by the dominance of UFC. A lot of the details of UFC's rules distort its similarity to actual combat. For example: wearing gloves, fighting on highly padded floors, lenient rules on fighters circling each other, forbidding kicks and knees on the ground, fighting shirtless, etc. MMA also overlooks a lot of aspects of combat: - Situational awareness and deescalation - Responses that are appropriate for less forceful situation (e.g. control techniques) - Use of weapons - Defense against weapons - Strategies against multiple attackers Finally, I think that there is some survivor bias. Even if MMA is the ideal martial art for young fit males with an aptitude for athletics, that doesn't necessarily mean that it is ideal for people who are less physically or athletically gifted.

thomascgalvin 5y ago
The early UFC, when it was owned and run by the Gracies, was probably as close as we're ever going to get to a "real" fight in a sport-based situation. And by that, I mean it was mostly two guys rolling on the ground, one of whom might have known what he was doing. I think that's fairly comparable to most bar fights a person is likely to encounter. Your point about weapons, situational awareness, and so on are well taken. Krav Maga claims to focus on those areas, and they generally admit that it won't make you as good at one-on-one fighting as BJJ, but will make you more likely to survive a fight where someone might stab you in the neck while you're trying to sink in your gogoplata. I don't know it that's accurate, but it makes sense. I also appreciate that, from the videos I've seen, Krav Maga stresses that the best self defence technique is enough cardio to run away.

thomascgalvin 5y ago

The early UFC, when it was owned and run by the Gracies, was probably as close as we're ever going to get to a "real" fight in a sport-based situation. And by that, I mean it was mostly two guys rolling on the ground, one of whom might have known what he was doing. I think that's fairly comparable to most bar fights a person is likely to encounter. Your point about weapons, situational awareness, and so on are well taken. Krav Maga claims to focus on those areas, and they generally admit that it won't make you as good at one-on-one fighting as BJJ, but will make you more likely to survive a fight where someone might stab you in the neck while you're trying to sink in your gogoplata. I don't know it that's accurate, but it makes sense. I also appreciate that, from the videos I've seen, Krav Maga stresses that the best self defence technique is enough cardio to run away.