Mixed Martial Arts

MMA Syndicate

Why MMA is Good For the Martial Arts
By Kosta Megas

With the rising popularity of mixed martial arts we have also seen an increase in the criticism by many traditional martial artists and modern martial systems of the validity and image MMA brings to the public eye.

Many criticize MMA as being the opposite of what the martial arts are about citing that many fighters involved in the sport represent a brutish and thug like depiction of what MMA is about. These critics say that the martial arts are about honor, respect and bringing out the best in people whereas MMA is about the selfish glory, disdain and violence.

The truth is really somewhere in between. Anyone watching MMA today will note the strong personalities of many fighters. The competitiveness, intensity, and drive necessary to win in such a contest makes for dramatic fights and volatile personalities, sometimes. Respect and honor are actually very common in many of these modern day gladiators. It’s also very difficult to train at this level and not bring the best out of yourself, however there is always a shadow side to everything and amidst all the good there can also be bad.

Competing at the highest level can bring out the bad in people by pushing themselves to levels that require a drive that can turn to anger if that is what the person has inside. In any sport you will have fierce competitors that get pulled into the anger that might have brought them into an aggressive sport to begin with, that anger can easily grow and manifest itself in negative ways.

But clearly most competitors, maintain a respect and camaraderie rarely seen in most other sports. The fact that the best fighters in the sport rarely bad-mouth each other and visibly show their respect for their opponents and their skills shows that they are not the brutes that people criticize them of being, but rather accomplished athletes and martial artists.

As for the sport itself, it has brought something very important that was greatly lacking before, a sense of honesty and honor of the truth in the martial arts. Is it the complete truth? No. But it has evolved into a sport where the techniques involved are all proven in the ring to work and honestly demonstrate what the techniques can do.

Before there was always much speculation and theorizing on how effective certain techniques and training methods were. MMA brought some clarity to that and did away with much theorizing and fantasy. It proved what wprked and the outcome involved.

Now I say that this isn’t the complete truth, because MMA demonstrates this in the context of sport where there are limits and rules as to what is allowed. The streets and battlefields are different and this distinction needs to be understood concerning the limitations of MMA.

Either way though, the mixed martial arts have clearly been good for the arts and raised their populalrity as well.

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