What epiphany made you change to MMA?

**sempaiman** · Posted On: 12/28/2007 3:36pm

Probably most of us did some other art before switching to MMA or RBSD. What circumstance caused you to make the change?

**nezha** · Posted On: 12/28/2007 3:49pm

I have not had my "epiphanie" yet

**whisper** · Posted On: 12/28/2007 3:51pm

Wouldn't this best be suited for the MMA forum (if at all..)? YMAS is for every martial art, so you probably won't get as much of a response.

**DdlR** · Posted On: 12/28/2007 3:53pm

In the early '80s I started reading about the old boxing vs. jujitsu, savate vs. wrestling etc. contests that were held about a hundred years ago, which led me to test out what we used to call "rough and tumble fighting" after Tae Kwon Do classes. Basically "R&T" was TKD kicking, boxing (body punches only as we didn't have face protectors or boxing gloves) and bits and pieces of GR wrestling, hapkido and basic judo at close quarters, fought to submission. That was enough to confirm that grappling tended to beat kicking and that "live" training was valuable.

Later on this was confirmed when I started teaching self defense full-time, and quickly moved into full-force, scenario based padded attacker training because it obviously worked better than pre-set technique based training.

By the time BJJ and the UFC rolled around I was actually kind of surprised that the "paradigm shift" was such big news.

All of that said, I still appreciate different arts for what they are. I'm totally happy to study some things for purely academic interest, I respect the preservation of historical styles for their own sake, etc. No law against thinking both ways.

**meataxe** · Posted On: 12/28/2007 3:57pm

Epiphany is not until January 6th...

**jdinca** · Posted On: 12/28/2007 4:26pm

Hmm, epiphany...nope haven't had one yet.

**JingMerchant!** · Posted On: 12/28/2007 4:41pm

DdlR FTW

**TheMightyMcClaw** · Posted On: 12/28/2007 9:59pm

I don't do MMA that often, as there are no gyms for it in Ann Arbor, but what brought me to my Bullshido mentality was being repeatedly lured in by charlatans in early 2006. First it was a Silat instructor who had us do jurus all the time and talked about how BJJ and kung fu "aren't natural", and that's what makes Silat better. Then it was a Kung Fu instructor who spent far too much time complaining about karate and charged 150 dollars to teach a form. Throw in a prominent "Five Element" Ninjutsu club on campus and being good friends with a Bagua nutrider, and my first year of college left me in prime condition to be critical of martial arts.
Ironically, this was AFTER my first semester of BJJ. I spent my second semester of college "exploring" the wide world of martial arts in Ann Arbor, a sojourn that left me deeply jaded and with a lowered opinion of this city. We have, how shall we say, an abundance of people around here who believe in faeries. And that is definitely reflected in the martial arts schools around here.
Sophomore year, I was BJJ all the way. I started doing Judo while in Kalamazoo over the summer, and I decided that was pretty great too, so I found a Judo club in my college town.

**sempaiman** · Posted On: 12/29/2007 5:36pm

I faced a situation where a fight was very likely and suddenly realized my Karate training seemed inadequate. Things like what if we go to ground and what if we clinch went thru my mind. From that point I started boxing and grappling training.