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30 votes

Why Are Traditional Martial Arts Apparently So Reluctant to Evolve?

I suspect that the primary answer lies between that they genuinely deemphasize pitched fighting, and that it's guided by rulesets. Not every martial art is about fighting, or defending yourself For ...
Macaco Branco's user avatar
21 votes
Accepted

Is there a reason why wing chun is uncommon in MMA

Wing Chun is uncommon in MMA for three major reasons. First, its practitioners generally shun sparring. Second, its practitioners generally shun realistic wrestling, throwing, and groundwork practice. ...
Dave Liepmann's user avatar
20 votes

Are there any effective Kung Fu fighters in MMA?

KUNG FU, MMA, and UFC Roy Nelson, a top tier UFC fighter, commented on his kung fu background: The Lohan school of Shaolin, I actually got started in my Sifu’s garage. I think I was 15 1/2, 16. Kung-...
Curtis W's user avatar
  • 201
18 votes

Karate doesn't provide defense against wrestlers and MMA fighters. Or does it?

The short answer is: No, karate does not train people to deal with wrestlers. The long answer is that karate does have grappling built into it, but it tends to be of the stand-up variety and only for ...
Steve Weigand's user avatar
15 votes
Accepted

Do martial arts encourage bad posture habits?

I'm not convinced it was martial arts that caused your bad posture. There are other potential causes. Beware the post hoc, ergo propter hoc fallacy. But sure, martial arts can cause bad posture. ...
Dave Liepmann's user avatar
15 votes
Accepted

How to Deal with Unprofessional Sparring Partners

An opponent of this demeanour can be viewed as a curse or a blessing. As you've probably figured out by now, the development of mental strength represents one of the greatest demands of martial arts, ...
Futilitarian's user avatar
  • 2,951
13 votes

How to beat a vastly superior opponent?

The simple answer is: No. You're gonna lose. You may never win against a guy who is much heavier than you, much stronger than you, much faster than you, and much more skilled and experienced than you. ...
Steve Weigand's user avatar
12 votes
Accepted

Defence in martial arts in general

One thing to realize is that you have two factors that affect blocking a strike: 1) reaction time, and 2) tracking. Reaction time is the time taken by your brain to notice the strike coming towards ...
Steve Weigand's user avatar
12 votes
Accepted

How do I avoid getting a cauliflower ear while practicing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

A common precaution is to wear wrestling headgear, which is designed to protect the ears, while practicing. Cauliflower ear is caused by impacts or rubbing on the ear. Headgear will reduce both of ...
mattm's user avatar
  • 13.9k
11 votes

Does BJJ adequately train defence against "ground and pound" situations?

Today we focused on some details of escaping mount. This involves controlling the opponent's hips with your arms. Good luck doing that in a MMA fight when your head is being caved in with ground and ...
Dave Liepmann's user avatar
10 votes
Accepted

Advice on wearable technology during MMA class to alert me of critical phone calls (on-call 24/7)

I'm a Taekwondo instructor. I would happily make an exception for a special case like this, put your phone on the loudest volume, somewhere at the side of the class where it's easily hearable. Even ...
Andy Jeffries's user avatar
10 votes

Why Are Traditional Martial Arts Apparently So Reluctant to Evolve?

I suspect there's a lot of instructors that are more concerned about the techniques of their art, rather than flooding their students with ever increasing amount of styles. This makes sense that they ...
computercarguy's user avatar
9 votes
Accepted

Why is wrestling often not seen as a martial art?

Television and movies give people impressions of things that are never corrected. What is the first thing an American thinks of when they hear "wrestling"? World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), which ...
mattm's user avatar
  • 13.9k
9 votes

Why is wrestling often not seen as a martial art?

Wrestling isn't often seen as a martial art because it has been primarily pushed as a sport - much in the same way most people don't consider archery, javelin, or shot put, as war arts, though those ...
Bankuei's user avatar
  • 8,313
9 votes

How to condition knuckles?

I second coinbird's motion: don't do this. There is a theory called Wolff's Law, which is a medical concept first studied by a German surgeon Julius Wolff back in the 1800's, and he found that ...
Andrew Jay's user avatar
  • 4,007
9 votes
Accepted

Are there MMA rules that prohibits reactions which would render grappling unusable in a real world scenario?

It's certainly possible to hit someone while they work on a takedown. It sounds like you're asking specifically about countering wrestling shots, where the grappler attacks the hips and legs, rather ...
Dave Liepmann's user avatar
9 votes

How to Deal with Unprofessional Sparring Partners

I'd look at this a slightly different way, why is this martial artist sparring you (and others) this way? As an experienced fighter, I often spar lower grades with my hands down - it allows me to move ...
Collett89's user avatar
  • 2,799
8 votes
Accepted

How do Boxers and other Martial Arts practitioners deal with pain?

There are all kinds of places on the body where fighters can get hit (the nose, the jaw, the solar plexus, the thigh, the liver, the kidneys, etc.), and each one of those triggers not just pain but ...
Steve Weigand's user avatar
8 votes
Accepted

Is Kicking with Shin is a weakness / advantage in Muay Thai?

Your shin can break if you kick someone very hard and they block just right and all conditions align against you. You can break your hand punching someone, even aiming to soft targets like the ribs. ...
Dave Liepmann's user avatar
8 votes
Accepted

How I can read "Record" results of MMA Fight?

The record is Mirko Filipović's cumulative record as of each fight. It is not a recording of what happened in that particular fight. The breakdown is: Wins - Losses - Draws (No contests) Taking ...
mattm's user avatar
  • 13.9k
8 votes

Is 'pressure point' striking a useful skill to know in a street fight?

I have an answer that I wrote which goes over the pressure point "knock out" phenomenon: How do you knock someone out using pressure points? In summary, the pressure point knock-out stuff is either ...
Steve Weigand's user avatar
8 votes

Why are there no competitive martial art champions aged 62 or above?

It is also a simple fact of aging. You could look at any sport, and see the same thing. Champions in any sport at extended ages are outliers. Some examples of these outliers would be: Al Oerter - ...
JohnP's user avatar
  • 4,580
8 votes

Is the predominance of grappling in MMA prizefighting primarily a function of the small ring and cage?

Grappling is not predominant in modern MMA, and hasn't been for a decade or two, so the "matches seem to pivot on one competitor being forced against the cage...moving to the ground, and decided ...
Dave Liepmann's user avatar
7 votes

How can I build striking power?

From a physics perspective, one way to think about striking is impulse: To have an effective strike, you want to: Maximize mass. The normal advice is use your whole body to strike. This means that ...
mattm's user avatar
  • 13.9k
7 votes
Accepted

Why are some people just not getting knocked out?

Boxers, kickboxers, and MMA fighters train to be able to minimize the damage caused by a hit to the head. It's actually pretty hard to knock anyone out who has trained for any length of time in these ...
Steve Weigand's user avatar
7 votes

What does "submission (terror)" mean as method of winning or losing a fight in MMA?

I think the answer can be found in the Wikipedia page you linked to, in the section "Mixed Martial Arts Career" On April 12, 2002, Son also took part in Xtreme Pankration 2, wherein he faced Joe ...
Mike P's user avatar
  • 1,545
7 votes
Accepted

Why aren't forbidden moves in grappling sports like Judo and BJJ also a problem in MMA?

Usefulness of "dangerous" moves why haven't we seen more people landing badly (or purposefully) on legs and breaking them? Because it's actually really hard to cause damage with these ...
Dave Liepmann's user avatar
7 votes

Do leg sweeps work with big people with muscles?

I'm roughly 105kg. One day at the gym, a guy who was maybe 70kg caught me with a low spinning back sweep which almost snapped my achilles. I wasn't very experienced back then, and I like to think I'd ...
Futilitarian's user avatar
  • 2,951
6 votes

Starting two or more different martial arts at the same time

It generally takes two/three classes per week (so four/six hours?) to progress in a martial art. Doing two arts, you will need that in both. Three arts brings you to around fifteen hours! That is a ...
Sardathrion - against SE abuse's user avatar

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