With the introduction of such sports competitions as UFC, Pride and Prancrase many people have jumped unto the grappling bandwagon. In truth, grappling has been a lost art that thankfully has only begun to resurface. However, it’s naive that so many now believe grappling to be the ultimate martial art.

Now, from time to time, I hear people jeering that Tae Kwon Do, karate and kung-fu are weak compared to Muay Thai and Brazilian Jui jitsu... In defense of the these martial arts (TKD, karate, Kung-fu), with so many practitioners you are bound to get a variety of good and mediocre fighters. Some fault lies in the marketing machine of martial arts. Many instructors are out to make a living first and before instructing.

In boxing, you’re likely to get better fighters because the money is much, much more. BIG money encourages better work ethics, more training and better trainers. The average TKD practitioner cannot aspire beyond anything else, other than a few trophies or a low-end kickboxing career.

Consequently, I’ve noticed that Muay Thai is headed down the same road as TKD. Every year Thai instructors flock to the US introducing their brand of Muay Thai. Furthermore, American instructors trained in Thailand are now very accessable. It’s a simple equation that the more people learning one art, the greater the number of mediocre fighters within that art.

I try to emphasize to many students that UFC is a grapplers version of boxing... It isn’t REAL fighting. When I was in grappling, I was told 90% of fights end up on the ground... However, nobody mentions that about 3/4 of that 90% involve people who can’t fight.

Nothing I’ve seen has convinced me that grappling is more effective than striking or that Muay Thai kicks are more powerful than TKD kicks. Muay Thai fighters in general have more conditioned legs, but the concept is like swinging a bat. The idea of swing versus snap is debatable...