There has been lots of talk of MMA people. Some camps point to the domination of MMA venues. Granted, traditional martial arts haven't done well, with some very limited exceptions. My thought is that the reason of dominance, at least in one part is because you have a different grade of fighter that competes in these events and learns MMA from those who study more traditional arts. MMA guys are typically alpha males that like aggression. Many of these guys are happy to trade punches and go toe to toe, and some just use MMA as a means for aggression. Though there are others like Royce who are in a different camp and show the beauty, sophistication, and technical command he has in his art.

A recent post/video clip illustrated a point that the average mma person may not be so indestructible as some people suggest. I am not likely to fight or encounter someone of the likes of Gracie (any of them), Lidell, or any of the people that typically fight in pro venues. The average MMa person doesn't have those level of skills, but no doubt they do have valid skills. My personal goal is to be able to handle myself against someone of comparable training in MMA skills against mine. I would expect to be able to deal with what he offers. Perhaps I win, perhaps I lose, but I shouldn't be dismantled at will.

Success in my mind comes from having a very stable foundation. In all the fighting arts I learned (where experienced sport fighters taught), the topic was always the same, have a small skill set you master and rely on those. Don't get fancy or try something you haven't nailed. I think many of the martial arts demos I have seen fails because of this. I see people not having a strong foundation and relying of less that stellar skills. I think the beauty of MMA is that it forces us to be honest and have to bring those skills up to the proper level. My own recent sparring sessions seemed to credit this idea. When I failed in performing my wing chun properly, my execution suffered greatly and I was constantly off balance and played defense. When I happened to stick to what I was capable of doing and ensure that I was doing it properly, the outcome was much more favorable. And in fact, I could see why certain training aspects were vital where I used to take them for granted.

anyways...

So my question is has anyone else gone up against average MMA guys and what was the result? Does anyone have any intention on working with MMA guys? And how do you deal with them? Do you treat them differently, or treat them as any fighter?