Claims about MMA

[Fu-Pow]

I've recently been told by several people on this board the following....

A) MMA (ie Judo, BJJ and Muy Thai) has all the important techniques techniques/strategies/skills of TCMA they are just called something else.

B) If MMA doesn't have technique Y of CMA style X it is because it is not important, because if it was MMA would already have it (see A).


To the first charge I'd say that there is probably some overlap, with some styles more than others. However, every style of CMA has unique things about it. When presented with a problem (ie how to defend oneself or fight) the human mind is incredible at coming up with all kinds of different solutions to that problem.

To my knowledge there are over 300 styles of Kung Fu that have been documented in China so I find it kind of silly to say that in all cases "MMA already has it."

To the second charge, I'd say that that this reveals a kind of insular hubris of the MMA crowd. The MMA training methodology is geared toward solving a certain problem. The problem of how to win MMA competitions. There is a whole world of martial arts out there, designed to counter different sets of problems, maybe one or more of those solutions would work as well or BETTER than the current arsenal of MMA "accepted" solutions.

FP