MMA a belts are a shame.

[jrljudoka]

MMA "Styles" that issue belt ranks is an absolute sham and shamefull attempt to make money off the backs of legitimate and recognized martial systems. Who the heck is "awarding" the ranks for MMA? Who awarded them rank?! What does thier advancement syllabus consist of, what are the "rank" requirements? Only moronic fighter wanna be's sporting tap out clothing from head to toe buy into this rediculous practice.

[Omega Supreme]

Culled from:
http://www.bullshido.net/forums/show...=115774&page=5

Dude, stay on fucking topic.

On that note I think you're right, go tell Marco Ruas he's wrong.

Get over it the same **** can be made of TMA.

[thrutch]

If nothing else, if it becomes widespread enough it might provide a slightly better guide for tournament entry than the current novice/beginner/intermediate system. At least the fighters will have reached a level based on (hopefully) standard, rather than just the fact they've been training at their gym for six months.

Maybe not though.

Meh.

[jrljudoka]

All right Dan higgins? integratedmma.com

MMA specialist.

Black Belt in integrated MMA!?? REALLY! I guess well wait for mike Tyson to open up a Boxing club as a 10th Degree Black Belt in American Boxing ...... OH .. wait wait ... I know ... lets create a belt rank system for Greco Roman Wrestling so we can create a Greco Roman "Dojo" and award and charge for Belt ranks ... Gimme a BREAK!!!!

[bobyclumsyninja]

MMA "Styles" that issue belt ranks is an absolute sham and shamefull attempt to make money off the backs of legitimate and recognized martial systems. Who the heck is "awarding" the ranks for MMA? Who awarded them rank?! What does thier advancement syllabus consist of, what are the "rank" requirements? Only moronic fighter wanna be's sporting tap out clothing from head to toe buy into this rediculous practice.

This was bound to happen. Could be done well, or poorly, depending. I would guess more poorly as it becomes more prevalent.

Thing is, TMA's offer belts, to people who often can't or haven't actually fought, so what do they mean? That someone navigated a syllabus. That's good, but martial arts are martial....fighting prowess, not just syllabus attainment.

The clear standard in mma, has been to have fought in it. There are now people who take mma and mma related classes who don't fight, so as that becomes more popular, schools will sometimes attempt to rank prowess by belts. Within a school, it could be useful, even if from school to school the merit of said belts is wildly divergent.

We never had SanShou "belts" but we did have level 2, and 3 classes which you had to test up to, to be considered controlled, and tough enough to train with.

If someone can hold rank/level in other combat sports, or ma styles, even just within the school/gym, without having fought in a match, perhaps it's not so crazy, even if in practical application, it's gonna suck.

[jrljudoka]

It's already a combat sport; it won't become a true martial art until it's taught by and for people who are not going to be competing.

What constitutes a "true" martial art? Are we talking Martial Art in relative to Asian systems or European Systems .... the term "Martial Art" is typically used to relate to the former (Asian) systems .. not to detract from European "styles" to not meet similar techniques (Boxing, Savate, etc). Its a bit shamefull when MMA clubs start creating a "Rank" system for what they teach. There are no rank systems for Boxing, wrestling, etc ... todays modern Rank system (color belts, etc) is an iteration of the Menkyo system from Japanese Koryu Jujutsu. Ranks were awarded from senior Masters/Instructors of the system who were in turn awarded thier rank from a previous senior Master/Instructor. There is credibility and some measure of independant and objective evaluation of ones skill level and knowledge of techniqe/s to be awarded such rank/recognition. How can this exist in an MMA club who creates a rank system for MMA? Where do the credentials for these individuals come from, who has evaluated thier skills and knowledge? Even the classic Koryu Japanese Ryu-ha had a specific collection of techniques and progression of learning .... do MMA "Blackbelts" have this ... I actually threw up in my mouth a bit there when I used "MMA" and "Blackbelt" together in one word! LOL

[Diesel_tke]

Black Belt in integrated MMA!?? REALLY! I guess well wait for mike Tyson to open up a Boxing club as a 10th Degree Black Belt in American Boxing ...... OH .. wait wait ... I know ... lets create a belt rank system for Greco Roman Wrestling so we can create a Greco Roman "Dojo" and award and charge for Belt ranks ... Gimme a BREAK!!!!

The real question is: who cares? So someone wants a ranking system for their gym, who cares? They want a ranking system for their system, who cares?

Most people would like a guage to tell how their progress is going. Some people use logs, some use belts, some use glove colors, some use shirt colors, some use fight records, it's all the same thing.

What are you really mad about?

[Azatdawn]

One would think five years of lurking might be enough.

[jrljudoka]

Its a safe assumption that these MMA belt ranks are an attempt to legitiamize what they are teaching, false credibility so to speak. Its very similar to the diploma mills you can find on the internet to obtain a college degree which in reality means nothing but implies quite a bit. We all have know how insulting and fraudualent it is when one claims fake BJJ rank. How is this any different? TKD became what they are in a similar fashion .... McDojos .... degrading the perception of what a Black Belt really meant .. now were gonna have MMA studios popping up everywhere with Black Belt instructors. Even Law enforcement instuctors are required to obtain independant certification to become an instructor are they not?

[jrljudoka]

One would think five years of lurking might be enough.

Lurking implies logging in .... havent logged in much. Relax ....