The future of Martial Arts

**illegalusername** · Posted On: 7/14/2011 1:07pm

The Chun will slowly eat all other styles away.

Imagine a vertical fist chainpunching a human face, forever

**It is Fake** · Posted On: 7/14/2011 1:14pm

Good lord how many more "Bjj/MMA fad" trolls are we going to get this summer? No, I don't care if he joined in 2004. Seven years later only an idiot would still be saying fad.

**atomicpoet** · Posted On: 7/14/2011 1:27pm

To be fair, it was phrased as a question not a statement:

I made this topic as a place to debate/speculate on future trends regarding martial arts. Maybe things like "Is MMA just the new fad, or is it going to become a fixture in sports?"

"New" is a subjective term. Several posters on this forum agree that MMA is a "new" sport that is still battling for acceptance in mainstream culture.

Although I agree that bringing up this topic is superfluous on this message board.

**Disastorm** · Posted On: 7/14/2011 1:39pm

I don't think MMA will ever be a fad since mixing martial arts will probably always be the optimal solution to combat. However, what I am interested in is how the styles will change and improve. I havn't seen that many mma matches especially any of the ones from the old days, but from what I understand, the fights looked pretty different in the early UFCs.

Do you guys think the whole time over the history of mma, it has gotten closer and closer to the optimal style which is possible the current style, or is it actually constantly changing, with always something better, and is it possible that fights 10 years from now might look significantly different than current ones?

**SpinKiK** · Posted On: 7/14/2011 2:21pm

Originally Posted by PXM

MMA has been going for long enough to not be considered a 'fad'. The first UFC event was held around 20 years ago.

And 20 years ago UFC was no where near as popular as it is today. I'm sure the UFC will still be around 20 years from now, but I'm just saying there is a good possibility that it won't nearly as popular. I'm not even sure its as popular today as it was last year or even two years ago.

Just like when I was in high school, WWF was the hottest thing around, much like the UFC is today. Fast forward a couple years and wrestling is still around, but not as popular as it was in the late 90s.

And this happens with martial arts too, when I was a kid I remember Tae Kwon Do being very popular, before that there was the whole ninjutsu fad in the 80s, there was also the tae bo fad in the 90s, which made every karate school start including "cardio kickboxing" classes into their schedule.

And now it's MMA. How many schools have you seen jump on the MMA bandwagon? Like I mentioned previously, even Tiger Schulamann's Karate changed its' name to Tiger Shulmann's Mixed Martial Arts. I know a Shotokan Karate school in LI that changed its name to Karate and MMA. And they didn't even have an MMA teacher at the time. MMA schools are popping up all over the place. The same way TKD schools were popping up all over the place when I was a kid because that was the most popular martial art at the time.

All I'm asking is how long until MMA loses its number one spot to the next big thing? Or do you think it will be number one forever?

**Kintanon** · Posted On: 7/14/2011 2:35pm

Well, it's not #1 now. It's still a relatively niche sport which is rapidly stealing fans from two dying entertainment outlets. Boxing and Pro Wrestling.

MMA will be the premier combat sport of the future simply because it's the closest to actual combat. As the audience increases and the fight purses improve we'll see more and more top level athletes entering the sport. It provides a post Olympic career for Wrestlers and Judoka and is pretty much the best combat sports format we can come up with that doesn't result in constant gruesome fatalities.

**It is Fake** · Posted On: 7/14/2011 2:45pm

Originally Posted by SpinKiK

And 20 years ago UFC was no where near as popular as it is today. I'm sure the UFC will still be around 20 years from now, but I'm just saying there is a good possibility that it won't nearly as popular. I'm not even sure its as popular today as it was last year or even two years ago.

Just like when I was in high school, WWF was the hottest thing around, much like the UFC is today. Fast forward a couple years and wrestling is still around, but not as popular as it was in the late 90s.

And this happens with martial arts too, when I was a kid I remember Tae Kwon Do being very popular, before that there was the whole ninjutsu fad in the 80s, there was also the tae bo fad in the 90s, which made every karate school start including "cardio kickboxing" classes into their schedule.

And now it's MMA. How many schools have you seen jump on the MMA bandwagon? Like I mentioned previously, even Tiger Schulamann's Karate changed its' name to Tiger Shulmann's Mixed Martial Arts. I know a Shotokan Karate school in LI that changed its name to Karate and MMA. And they didn't even have an MMA teacher at the time. MMA schools are popping up all over the place. The same way TKD schools were popping up all over the place when I was a kid because that was the most popular martial art at the time.

All I'm asking is how long until MMA loses its number one spot to the next big thing? Or do you think it will be number one forever?

...and none of this makes it a fad. The NBA, NFL, MLB, Boxing, and even the WWE/WWF have been jockeying for ratings and position for decades. .

**atomicpoet** · Posted On: 7/14/2011 2:54pm

Originally Posted by Kintanon

Well, it's not #1 now. It's still a relatively niche sport which is rapidly stealing fans from two dying entertainment outlets. Boxing and Pro Wrestling.

So in your opinion, boxing and pro wrestling will soon cease to exist?

Originally Posted by Kintanon

MMA will be the premier combat sport of the future simply because it's the closest to actual combat.

"Actual combat" != popularity

Originally Posted by Kintanon

It provides a post Olympic career for Wrestlers and Judoka and is pretty much the best combat sports format we can come up with that doesn't result in constant gruesome fatalities.

Non-worked professional wrestling was once a mainstream American sport. It was then usurped by worked theatrics. Why do you think this happened?

**Kintanon** · Posted On: 7/14/2011 3:00pm

Originally Posted by atomicpoet

So in your opinion, boxing and pro wrestling will soon cease to exist?

"Actual combat" != popularity

Non-worked professional wrestling was once a mainstream American sport. It was then usurped by worked theatrics. Why do you think this happened?

I challenge you to provide any kind of evidence that non-worked professional wrestling was mainstream. Carnival Catch was not a "Main Stream" sport. Boxing is the only combat sport that can make a claim to mainstream popularity in the US. MMA is still just barely edging its way into main stream.

And no, boxing and pro-wrestling will probably never cease to exist. But they are definitely suffering a huge exodus of fans in favor of MMA right now and that trend is likely to continue for quite some time.

**SpinKiK** · Posted On: 7/14/2011 3:03pm

We're talking about two minor different things though. In regards to Kintanon: I would say it is the number #1 martial art today, at least in the US.

It is Fake: Maybe fad is the wrong word then. Flavor of the year/half decade?? But only time will tell. MMA could remain the most popular ma forever. But how likely is that? I'm waiting for TMA to make a comeback, but that's not very likely either. :P