I guarantee you that some students of traditional martial arts can indeed fight and win fights with the skills taught them.
I can tell you that my study of Shotokan and Tae Kwon Do greatly increased my coordination and athleticism.
But are they are prepared to face MMA fighters?
Nope. Not even a little bit.
When I studied Isshin Ryu under Master Harold Long (look him up) in the early ‘60’s, every Saturday was dedicated to nothing but “street techniques”...
I never had a problem...
It’s not about fighting
it’s about having the skills that you don’t have to use them
Your reputation will proceed you
“...going to a couple of karate classes...”
It took me 6 years of study to obtain 1st Dan Black Belt in Isshin Ryu...
As a USAF Security Policeman on town patrol duty in ROK in 1969 I can’t tell you how many drunk Airmen I encountered trying to fight each other using Tai Kwan Do that got their butts kicked.
It would have helped if you had edited what you posted so that we didn’t have to read thru identical paragraphs.........
During my misspent youth I spent a few years studying Chinese boxing. The defenses I learned against grabs (arm grabs, shirt grabs, etc.) were quite useful and valuable. Everything else, not so much.
After college I took a series of nightly lessons from one of the ten original Japanese Akido teachers.
After the lesson each night, the black belts and myself would go at it.
I crushed them. They simply didn't have a whisper of hope. None of them.
It just goes to show that we were as highy trained as the most advanced martial arts. If you waited, you could get behind them and hogtie them. I could have broken their necks any time I wanted.
bttt
This guy is a moron ... articles like this give the untrained a false sense of security. I’ve been teaching Okinawan karate for over 30 years. I’ll guarantee that any of my intermediate ... not even black belt ... students will do quite well against your garden variety untrained bar bully. I actually take my students to local bars .. not to pick fights but to teach them where to sit ... locate the surveillance cameras ... locate the available weapons and to identify the potential opponents. This article is obviously written by someone who may have trained for a month or so ... if even that .. who thinks that they know the martial arts but doesnt really know anything. In other words .. hes talking out his ass
My son was a black belt when he was about 10 years old. He had an adult sparring partner that was champion in our region. She let her guard down and my son broke her nose even with head gear and gloves. I’m sure she would have begged to differ that martial arts is fake.
I’d certainly like to see an MMA trained badass go up against a Kung Fu San Soo trained badass.
The last 10-years of aging has made me dependent on them... Particularly if the fight is going to last more than 60-sec.
What about the five finger palm exploding heart technique?
I agree with this 100%. I trained in traditional Tang Soo Do, but learned an eye opening lesson when I started studying Thai boxing. There is a significant difference between a bout in a ring, with rules and a referee, and a street fight.
“Martial arts are fake because I got beat up trying to do movie chop-saki. Also YouTube.”
What a dweeb.
A college wrestler will be the baddest guy on the street.
I don’t know how many sorry karate fools kids have had a hard lesson when their spawn messed with a wrestler.
“but I’ve been in enough altercations to know things like meditation and flow states will get your head kicked in during a real bout.”
The main point is to teach the CONSCIOUS to STAY THE FORK OUT OF THE WAY and let the SUBCONSCIOUS run the BODY. The Conscious mind cannot operate fast enough to control all the signal communications it takes to operate the body.
The conscious mind should only decide WHAT it wants, and let the Subconscious decide the HOW.
Now, that sounds easy, but it really isn’t. That is why Meditation is beneficial to martial arts, or just about any physical endeavor.