Thought on Judo ?

**Ghostsp78** · Posted On: 9/15/2010 2:57pm

So I have a few friends who take bjj and as I was telling them I was going to start judo soon I caught the why would you waste your time when you could take bjj. Then It went on look at mma and how come no one uses judo as a base and all it is is throws and against a bjj they will take you down and that is it . needless to say i was kinda pissed but I figure I would bring it on here because as a noob I felt I wasn't able to properly defend judo!

***Plasma*** · Posted On: 9/15/2010 3:00pm

Karo Parisyan

Judo is the other half of a BJJ game.

**judoka_uk** · Posted On: 9/15/2010 3:39pm

Originally Posted by Ghostsp78

So I have a few friends who take bjj and as I was telling them I was going to start judo soon I caught the why would you waste your time when you could take bjj. Then It went on look at mma and how come no one uses judo as a base and all it is is throws and against a bjj they will take you down and that is it . needless to say i was kinda pissed but I figure I would bring it on here because as a noob I felt I wasn't able to properly defend judo!

There are Judoka in MMA - Fedor, Akiyama, Karo, Roussey etc... However, looking at the UFC gives you a skewed sample., Judo is a minority activity in the US vastly smaller numbers of people practice Judo than wrestling or boxing in America and so you will naturally see fewer Judoka crop up in American based MMA promotions. Add into that that the athletic talent is directed away from Judo by the American school system which directs them to wrestling, american football, baseball, basketball etc...

Now take the polar opposite of Japan where there is a massive Judo trained population, the athletic elite is directed through the school system into Judo and as result... Well surprise, surprise you see an awful lot of Judoka crop up in Japanese MMA promotions.

I suspect if you looked into the backgrounds of MMA practicioners from France, Russia, Korea and other countries that have significant popualtions practicing Judo and where Judo is part of the school system then you will also have signifcant numbers of Judoka in MMA promotions in those countries.

The notion that Judo doesn't work or doesn't translate to MMA is based on a very small sample size of the US and forgets those who've made it very far in MMA in non-US promotions who are Judoka.

Another factor is that wrestling being done without a gi and BJJ often also practiced without a gi means that you have a grounding, understanding and experience of dealing with gi-less opponents. This is something you will not gain from Judo so in countries where wrestling and no-gi BJJ is very common (America!) then you will see people gravitate towards those sports because of their applicabality, avaliability and familiarity.

Also the great white hopes of Judo have often been those Judoka with a high level (Olympic/ World) entering MMA - Yoshida. Now given that these people are leaving Judo they are usually at the end of their careers, athletically they have peaked and are now troughing and they have specialised very hard in one relatively limited aspect of MMA the takedown, which is limited more by the specialistaion in use of the gi.

Now take the factors of declining athletic prowess, the toll of injury, intense specialistion of knowledge and therefore much reduced performance in their new endeavour -MMA, much slower learning process to pick up key MMA skills - striking and no gi grappling. Then it is unsurprising that former elite Judoka often struggle in US MMA competitions.

Furthermore you have to question the entire logic of your BJJ friends and of your own terms of comparison. What do your BJJ friends believe your are wasting your time preparing for? Unless you want to enter MMA than training in any serious alive MA is not a waste of your time be it Muay Thai, Boxing, Judo, Wrestling etc...

Why also would you judge Judo's validity as a combat system on its applicability to MMA and the success of its practicioners in MMA competitions, this may seem like a bullsihdoka argument. However, Judo proves its efficacy as an effective combat system every randori and every competition it doesn't need external validation from MMA.

**DarkPhoenix** · Posted On: 9/15/2010 3:49pm

Moar pushups for a very detailed and concise response from judoka_uk.

Plasma was good too. :P

**callum828** · Posted On: 9/15/2010 3:50pm

Also, Judo is awesome. I'd much prefer to have ten years Judo experience then ten years BJJ if I wasn't going into MMA. If you're going into MMA then find a BJJ club or a straight MMA club, but I would argue that Judo is better for self defence and all-round fun.

**judoka_uk** · Posted On: 9/15/2010 3:59pm

Originally Posted by DarkPhoenix

Moar pushups for a very detailed and concise response from judoka_uk.

I'll take those push ups in uchikomi, much better for you!

Is that your Judo shodan you're going for by the way?

**dizzie56** · Posted On: 9/15/2010 4:05pm

Originally Posted by Ghostsp78

So I have a few friends who take bjj and as I was telling them I was going to start judo soon I caught the why would you waste your time when you could take bjj. Then It went on look at mma and how come no one uses judo as a base and all it is is throws and against a bjj they will take you down and that is it . needless to say i was kinda pissed but I figure I would bring it on here because as a noob I felt I wasn't able to properly defend judo!

This is like your fifth thread now and you STILL havent even started to even do ANYTHING. Dont worry bout defending judo to your friends, just start doing something.

**DarkPhoenix** · Posted On: 9/15/2010 4:08pm

Originally Posted by judoka_uk

I'll take those push ups in uchikomi, much better for you!

Is that your Judo shodan you're going for by the way?

Yes sir it is. It only took me 18 years to get it, but Sensei thinks I am ready. And I prefer the uchikomi myself. :-)

**judoka_uk** · Posted On: 9/15/2010 4:22pm

Originally Posted by DarkPhoenix

Yes sir it is. It only took me 18 years to get it, but Sensei thinks I am ready. And I prefer the uchikomi myself. :-)

After 18 years I would hope you're ready! You have about 4x as much Judo experience as I do lol.

Best of luck with it, the American system is very different from ours so I'm not sure exactly what you'll be doing, but I hope it all goes well!

Make sure you enjoy the feeling of holding that shiny crisp belt in your hands whilst you can, because it just gets harder once you've got one lol!

Oh btw, please don't call me sir, I don't deserve any form of honorific from anyone lol!

**Just Guess** · Posted On: 9/15/2010 5:36pm

The first thing I would have to ask is, what exactly is your motivation for training Judo? If you want to compete in BJJ or MMA, then that's what you should be doing. If you want to compete in compete in Judo, then Judo is what you should be doing. If you just want to train in any old martial art, then do whatever appeals the most to you because it won't matter what your friends think as long as you're enjoying yourself and getting what you want out of it.