You’ve probably heard the MMA and BJJ crowd making jokes about traditional martial arts, haven’t you?
How about the classic BJJ T-shirt = “Your Kung Fu’s No Good Here”
Just go to Bullshido.com and you’ll find 1000’s of posts making fun of traditional martial arts.
Now, I’m going to go out on a limb here and make a controversial statement…
… that the people making those comments are probably not really qualified to do so. They were probably never true, life-long experts in both mma and traditional arts.
Hate me yet? Listen, here’s why I’m saying this…
…I’ve been on both sides a lot. With 45 years teaching and training martial arts, an education in Chinese Medicine, a student of eastern philosophy, and plenty of MMA & BJJ knowledge, I’ve seen a lot.
It was due to my “traditional” martial arts training that I learned acupuncture, herbal medicine, Chinese dietary therapy and other techniques that I’ve been credited with saving a few lives with (plus my own), and helped hundred improve their life.
It was due to my traditional martial arts training that I learned meditation, which helped me deal with stress hard times that would possibly destroy others.
Traditional martial arts taught me to preserve my body, allowing me to continue to train martial arts aggressively after 45 years.
It led me to Taoist principles to navigate life with that are so ingrained now that I don’t even think about them.
Yes, MMA will very often produce better overall fighters. And it can be helpful in a lot of other ways. But…
… ask yourself if you REALLY got the type of benefits from MMA that I described above?
If so, that’s awesome! Congratulatons, you’ve had a great and very unique instructor.
However, if not, then don’t buy into the “America… F**k Yeah!” type attitude that you’ll hear and read online.
It’s not a one or the other type of thing. Think “And”… not “Or”.
“Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater” (as my mother always said, bless her soul!)
It took other societies hundreds of years to come up with some of those great concepts and knowledge they developed.
Yes, I’d say we’ve improved the fighting, but let’s EVOLVE martial arts…
…not throw away everything that came before and start all over again. It’s simply the smarter thing to do.
Keep training!
Bob Dorris
