I read an article the other day where someone had rated the
top 10 martial arts. It made me think about which art I would put at the bottom
of such a list. A particular genre of the arts popped into my head and it left
me somewhat perplexed, as 25 years ago I would have rated it higher. It sparked
my thinking as to why.
Whether you like it or not, there has been something of a
major shift in the arts that continues to gain momentum. MMA is changing the
martial arts landscape. In my time as a student of the arts a few decades ago,
those exponents who had learned several different arts never integrated them to
any real degree, certainly nothing like they are doing now. Back then people
who had a couple of black belts from different styles were looking for the
kudos that went with it but now you get the impression exponents who are
multi-disciplined are much more interested in fixing weaknesses in approach.
Who cares whether MMA is really a martial art in its own
right. You occasionally see claims that ‘it is mainly a sport and doesn’t
really translate to the street’ etc. but you can’t help feeling that this
position is hard to justify and it’s more about the TMA’s trying to stake out
their turf. The thing I like about MMA is that it is forcing a shift in exponents thinking
to a greater focus on getting the job done.
This seems to be having an ever-increasing effect on the
traditional martial arts (TMA) systems. We are seeing martial arts schools
opening up that teach a combination of arts and students of the arts that look
to improve stand up and ground games. What does this mean for the TMA systems
over the next few decades? That is not an easy one to predict.
Take for example one of the major TMA’s such as Karate (no,
it’s not the one in my list above) where there are tens of millions of people
around the world involved in some form or another. You cannot see something
like Karate disappearing any time soon. Whether it’s Karate or another TMA,
people’s participation in the arts is not all about fighting; for a lot of
people the passion for their art plays a big part.
That said, you can be forgiven for having the impression
that the reputations of the TMA’s are being squeezed, some more so than others.
The problem the TMA’s have in terms of reputation relate to the whether students
of a particular style are easy meat for multi-disciplined exponents. If they
are, then at some point those students are going to have a crisis of confidence
in their system. For instance, those TMA’s that are traditionally ‘stand-up’ in
approach have an obvious weakness if someone takes them to ground to fight the
battle on those terms. You see some traditional arts trying to incorporate
takedown avoidance techniques in their training, and you see terms like
grappling and ground fighting in their literature where it never was
previously, but you wonder if these ‘patches’ will ultimately be successful.
MMA seems to be providing a reality check to the martial
arts systems that have lost the focus on getting the job done. A basic strategy of ‘ground and pound’ has the
potential to pull the rug out from under a lot of martial arts and they are
still struggling to come to terms with it. You are now see video of fights
where people with only a basic skill level of controlling the opponent on the
ground, are pounding their opponent into submission.
You read forums where students of a style expound the virtue
of their art’s rapid handwork or their short powerful strikes. Then you see a
post where someone asks what they will do when someone ‘shoots’ for their legs,
takes them to ground and starts going to work on them. The outcry this
generates is somewhat amusing, as the person asking the question was obviously
trolling, but their question is rarely answered to anyone’s satisfaction.
It’s an unfortunate part of the human condition that we
don’t want to hear things that conflict with what we want to believe. We don’t
want to hear that the art we are invested in has failings. Of course you can
never underestimate the illusions that people will hold onto for dear life, but
those niggling thoughts probably remain at the back of those student’s minds.
We might dream of being great fighters but in reality we
don't need to be one. It’s just our egos and it's the same with the art we
chose to follow; we need to believe it is the real thing and we don't want to
hear any criticism it might not be. However, that is no excuse to ignore
weaknesses in approach that are more of an inconvenient truth than anything
else, and which we are happier not acknowledging. Ignorance may be bliss, but
there is a pointy end to the equation when reality comes calling.
I think some arts suspect they are looking relatively weaker
when it comes to usefulness in battle. It makes you wonder if, in the future,
the pressure is just going to keep steadily climbing for them to make their art
work as the alternative may be they will start losing students to the MMA
school down the road. Will weaknesses in approach need to be addressed if there
is to be any hope of salvaging a styles reputation in the future? The momentum
at the moment seems to be towards a multi-disciplined approach and it will be
interesting to see what the martial arts landscape looks like in a decade when the
numbers of these exponents will be a lot larger as MMA continues to gain
traction.
Am I proposing that everyone should just take up MMA? No I’m
not, as while MMA will turn out lots of good martial artists, it is ultimately a
branch of the arts that is a cul-de-sac. Exponents will combine different arts
but they are generally locked into a similar approach and a similar philosophy.
One thing that some of the TMA’s have is the possibility that the arts can transcend the
technical approach, although not without a large divergence from the original
art.
‘What does all this have to do with fighting multiple
attackers’, you ask. Basically it all comes back to the ability to get the job
done. Does your art have any good strategies for dealing with multiple
opponents or are they just hoping the students will not ask too many questions.
You probably don’t want to hear that grappling, wrestling, submissions, fast
handwork, short powerful strikes, etc. has little relevance to a multiple
opponent attack.
The faster you move your hands the slower you move your feet.
Grappling, wrestling, submissions, and similar strategies will likely result in
being taken to ground by the group. Your short powerful strikes won’t do you
any good when someone dive-tackles you to the ground and the rest of the group
piles in. I get the same feeling of warmth when I see a good group take out an
individual who thinks their techniques will work under pressure, as when I see
someone shoot for the legs of a traditional martial artist and start to work
them over on the ground. The lesson to beware delusions of grandeur is not pleasant
but it can be an instructive one to learn.
Pressure is the great leveller in the multiple attacker
arena. When you are comfortable in the group attack training environment it is
a real buzz to be one of the group. You can actually watch people go internal
as the pressure reaches a point where they cannot handle it. It was a real eye
opener for me the first time a black belt from another system tried a group
encounter where I was part of the group. He was outwardly confident and he
tried to strike the closest attacker. Tried and failed, we swarmed him and I
remember that I could see him going internal where he stopped seeing us, and a
few seconds later he was taken to ground. We destroyed his vision that day of how
he thought he could defend himself against a group.
It probably was a bit harsh for that person as he would
never expect to come up against a relatively high functioning group as he did
that day. It probably explains why he folded so quickly when he met the level
of pressure he did from the group. It does highlight to those who want to be
better at defending themselves against multiple opponents to ensure the group
they train with is giving them sufficient pressure. The last thing you would
want to happen is to go internal in a real situation because it was too much
for you.
As always with group work, train safely and under the
supervision of a qualified instructor.
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