Convince Me That Silat Doesn't Suck Completely

[TheMightyMcClaw]

So, I have a strong prejudice against Silat.
Most of it comes from a Silat school which I trained at for a month several years ago, but the trauma of which still haunts me to this day; outlandish prices, forms/djurus/otherwise mandancing that wasted entire classes but still didn't look as cool as wushu, lengthy exposes on how Silat is way better than BJJ/kung fu/karate, and a mystery cult atmosphere steeped in goofy mysticism which gave me the very heebiest of jeebies.
Now, compound that with the fact that all of the Silat I've ever seen on TV/internet has consisted of happy slapping, Javanese man-dancing, and, at best, TKD-style point sparring, I'm not exactly impressed.
So I don't like Silat. Not one bit. I like it even less than I like Ninjutsu and Aikido.
But then I keep running across all these folks on Bullshido and MAP who insist that ZOMG Silat Totally Rules!! And hey, I'm an open minded guy. So I'd like to make an open invitation to give me evidence contrary to my overwhelmingly negative impression of Silat. Show some Silat that isn't garbage.
Here are my conditions:
-Show me, don't tell me: that is, post videos. If I wanted anecdotes about the totally hardcore training you do at your Silat school which is way better than everyone else's Silat school, then I'd be posting this on MAP.
-In particular, post videos of people actually fighting. I've already found my fill of youtube clutter of STREET SILAT REAL SELF DEFENSE RAH demos on how deadly Silat is the deadliest of all arts against a compliant opponent who means you no harm.
-Ideally,said people fighting should be those who fight for a living, or at least as one of their principle hobbies. Backyard MMA matches and sparring sessions are less impressive, and demonstrate the effectiveness of Silat about as well as my butterfly kick at the Detroit Throwdown demonstrated the "effectiveness" of performance wushu.
-Explain to me how what is going on in said video is related to Silat. For example, when I watch Serkan Yilmaz fight, I can tell that he did TKD because of the way he kicks; when I watch Lyoto Machida, I can see the Shotokan influence in his footwork.
-I realize that at least someone out there is already queing up there favorite fifty dog brothers videos, but I'm much more interested in watching people fight without weapons. That's what my training is in, and that's where my most of my interest resides.

[Erebus]

Eh, looks a bit like TKD mixed with Sanda rules wise in the fights. Lots of dancing, some pretty nifty stuff in the competitive fighting bits, but nothing amazing.

EDIT: here's the site because I fail at embedding.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LR7V5...eature=related

[Jim_Jude]

Honestly, I wouldn't be holding my breath if I was you, TMM.
IMO, good applicable Silat instruction is too few and far between for most people to worry about it. It's got good stuff, granted, but I do Silat, & I don't thing it's some super-art that's light years ahead of anything else. It's just good stuff that fits me and my existing skill sets (which are actual what got me in the door) and I have silly good access to it.
You got burned by teh Bu77$hid0. Get over it & move on.

[Jim_Jude]

Actually, your post peaked my interest.

So, I have a strong prejudice against Silat.
Most of it comes from a Silat school which I trained at for a month several years ago, but the trauma of which still haunts me to this day; outlandish prices, forms/djurus/otherwise mandancing that wasted entire classes but still didn't look as cool as wushu, lengthy exposes on how Silat is way better than BJJ/kung fu/karate, and a mystery cult atmosphere steeped in goofy mysticism which gave me the very heebiest of jeebies.
Now, compound that with the fact that all of the Silat I've ever seen on TV/internet has consisted of happy slapping, Javanese man-dancing, and, at best, TKD-style point sparring, I'm not exactly impressed.
So I don't like Silat. Not one bit. I like it even less than I like Ninjutsu and Aikido.
But then I keep running across all these folks on Bullshido and MAP who insist that ZOMG Silat Totally Rules!! And hey, I'm an open minded guy. So I'd like to make an open invitation to give me evidence contrary to my overwhelmingly negative impression of Silat. Show some Silat that isn't garbage.
Here are my conditions:
-Show me, don't tell me: that is, post videos. If I wanted anecdotes about the totally hardcore training you do at your Silat school which is way better than everyone else's Silat school, then I'd be posting this on MAP.
-In particular, post videos of people actually fighting. I've already found my fill of youtube clutter of STREET SILAT REAL SELF DEFENSE RAH demos on how deadly Silat is the deadliest of all arts against a compliant opponent who means you no harm.

What you want to see is Silat applied by a fighter. Where the **** do you expect to see "people actually fighting"? I suppose you want to see "Silat" in MMA, huh? Stupid. That's like saying you want to see Kung Fu in MMA. We've see it, when Cung Le kicked the **** out of Frank Shamrock. Did it resemble what you think is kung fu? Could you, with your trained eye, see the subtleties in his movements? Could you see the traditional Kung Fu influence in his display of Sanshou when he broke Frank Shamrock's arm with a kick?

-Ideally,said people fighting should be those who fight for a living, or at least as one of their principle hobbies. Backyard MMA matches and sparring sessions are less impressive, and demonstrate the effectiveness of Silat about as well as my butterfly kick at the Detroit Throwdown demonstrated the "effectiveness" of performance wushu.

Yeah, you wanna see Silat applied by "those who fight for a living"???
What part of Silat do you want to see applied? The prodigious open-handed techniques? Just look to Pancrase. Open hands were applied there quite effectively.
Silat elbows are little different than any other kinds of elbows. Why look to Silat for something profound? Of course, Silat loves elbows to the head. Where are they allowed in MMA?
No eye gouging? No hair pulling? No strikes to the back of the head or spine? No throat strikes? NO GROIN ATTACKS??? These are part and parcel to Pencak Silat!
Perhaps some Silat low kicks or sweeps (sapu or beset)? They're not much different from any other kinds of sweeps you may think you've seen.
However, in Silat, most if not all of the sweeps or takedowns are followed by stomping the downed opponent or aiming to kick or knee the head, which are largely considered illegal in MMA.
You think an MMA fighter who used Silat would apply triangular langkah?
To survive in the MMA environment, any TMA stylist must adapt their fighting style to conform to MMA rules and use only those techniques which will allow him to win. Any Silat fighter would have to throw away most of what makes Silat distinctive.

-I realize that at least someone out there is already queing up there favorite fifty dog brothers videos, but I'm much more interested in watching people fight without weapons. That's what my training is in, and that's where my most of my interest resides.

You want to see ONLY people fighting w/o weapons? & yet, it is said by many, "No blade, no Silat". Much of what makes Silat what it is is the very fact that the movements are specific to the awareness that attackers frequently have blades, more often than not hidden. This fact affects all movements and techniques greatly, but you don't like it because this mentality has little application to your current training.

So, good luck getting a serious Silat fighter to throw his art away for you, spend months or years getting into fighting, and then posting a vid here to satisfy your thread. I know I won't be holding my breath.

[Neildo]

you did silat training without weapons? no wonder you think it sucks. silat people don't fight, they get shanky.

[raylawley]

No eye gouging? No hair pulling? No strikes to the back of the head or spine? No throat strikes? NO GROIN ATTACKS???

You didn't....

However, in Silat, most if not all of the sweeps or takedowns are followed by stomping the downed opponent or aiming to kick or knee the head, which are largely considered illegal in MMA.

Oh god, you did.

So, good luck getting a serious Silat fighter to throw his art away for you, spend months or years getting into fighting, and then posting a vid here to satisfy your thread. I know I won't be holding my breath.

Sensors indicate STREET VS SPORT!!!

[CrackFox]

My local equivalent of Coda Scott teaches silat. He says it's deadly.

[jkdbuck76]

Ninjutsu sucks completely.

Silat =/= Ninjutsu.

Therefore, Silat does not suck completely.

[Neildo]

silat sucks about as much as getting a knife in the gut sucks.

[thatrugbyguy]

silat sucks about as much as getting a knife in the gut sucks.

Does it improve the ability to knife somebody in the gut beyond what watching some jailyard rush/sewing machine CCTV tapes and randomly shanking friends with markers would? Why?

*EDIT* Wait you meant that it does suck didn't you? ****.