MMA: a TRUE martial art?

[Lu Tze]

Art amongst other things means a "skill that is attained by study, practice, or observation".

The people who try to continuously redefine 'martial art' really need to take their heads out of their arses, it's not like it's a controversial usage of the word, it's standard fucking English.

Just because it isn't pretty doesn't mean it isn't an 'art'.

[Letum]

Art amongst other things means a "skill that is attained by study, practice, or observation".

The people who try to continuously redefine 'martial art' really need to take their heads out of their arses, it's not like it's a controversial usage of the word, it's standard fucking English.

Just because it isn't pretty doesn't mean it isn't an 'art'.

I always think of Art in this case as the sense used by Aristotle in his "Arts of Rhetoric" i.e a method or manner to use and attain skills. When we add martial to that you kind of get "Method for Fighting better" essentially.

Not necessarily for "war" (bella) but for combat. One cannot state that something like Karate is MA but that the alamagated style of MMA is not.

[Airman Kai]

This thread needs to die. RIGHT. NOW.

[Virus]

What would you consider a better way to go about "owning" someone?

[Roidie McDouchebag]

Trollshido? Ban? Stabbing with a rusty kitchen knife and fucking the hole?

[Lu Tze]

But would that be art?

[kohadril]

[FONT=Arial]Forgive me if this is a stupid question.

I'm going to treat you like a genuine poster, and assume you're not a troll. I hope this doesn't bite me in the ass.

Even though MMA is considered to be a martial art, whenever I watch an MMA practitioner fight, they might really own their opponent:f-off: , but all it looks like is getting close to the opponent to knock them over and then sitting on them until the battle is over.

You don't understand what you're seeing when you watch MMA; that's normal for someone who hasn't experienced it. When I was young, this is how I felt about boxing and amateur wrestling; it looked ugly and uncoordinated. I didn't understand the technique and athleticism that was involved. I didn't understand the head movement, the ducking and weaving--I didn't get the moves and countermoves, the balance and the leverage. It's hard to grasp, hard to watch, even, when you don't know what to look for. But eventually you start to get it if you watch enough of it.

There's a faster way, though. Go to an MMA gym. Try the activity. Learn some wrestling, some Muay Thai, some BJJ. Trading punches, taking somebody down, getting a dominant position, finishing him--these things don't seem complicated until you actually try to do them. Until you see the number of things an opponent can do, until you try to use techniques against actively resisting opponents rather than solely in compliant drills, you'll never understand why MMA doesn't look like a Bruce Lee movie.

MMA is what martial arts looks like when you stop point-sparring and allow as many types of attacks as are safely possible. It isn't street fighting, but it's the closest approximation legally allowable. The real question isn't why MMA looks like it does; the real question is why traditional martial arts don't look like MMA. In the early UFCs, when traditional martial artists fought, why do you think it still came down to takedowns and submissions? Why did Muay Thai and Boxing dominate the striking portion of the sport, even against Karate and Taekwondo Black Belts? Why are there more KOs from the lead hook than from the spinning back kick, axe kick, butterfly kick, and all kinds of chambered punches combined.

Could you really call that martial arts? And I deeply apologize to all MMA practitioners.

There are no "MMA practitioners." There are martial artists who train in a variety of arts who compete in MMA. There are some arts or systems designed for MMA, but they each have their own name (like the Miletich Fighting System, for instance), and they're not all the same. You're essentializing an entire class of athlete.

Let me say this again: there is no way that you've watched enough MMA to make this judgment. How many times have you seen Chuck Liddell sit on a guy? How many times have you seen him take a guy down? There are many different ways to win in MMA, and you're commenting based on the narrow selection you've seen. Moreover, you're insinuating that what you've seen doesn't require grace, balance, agility, athleticism, willpower, tenacity, and skill.

I know you all are a force to be reckoned with, but I need some serious clarification, and fast

MMA is not a martial art. It is, on the other hand, the closest thing to a legitimate testing ground martial arts may ever have.

[Roidie McDouchebag]

But would that be art?

Of the highest order.

[The Question]

I know people who think "art" is that crap seen in XMA/Sport Krotty.

[meataxe]

This is art!