Grandmaster Ken MacKenzie - Taekwondo Times

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Dr. Jerry Beasley is professor of Exercise, Sport and Health at Radford University in Virginia, where he has headed the martial arts program since 1973. He has two new books out this year including: Dojo Dynamics: Essential Marketing Principles for Martial Arts Schools and JKD; High-Risk Sparring. Check out his Web page at www. aikia.net. Many of the people who will read this column have already taken sides. They feel that MMA (mixed martial arts) and TMA (traditional martial arts) are two opposing groups each competing for acceptance in the martial arts market. My opinion is that MMA is so different from TMA that you miss the point if you confuse the two or are threatened by one group as opposed to the other. Here’s why. MMA introduced the theme of “reality fighting” in sports competition. In reality fighting opponents fight to the knockout using whatever skills work. There is no need to identify styles or systems. There are no masters, no grandmasters and no chain of command. If a skill or method works, it is used. MMA is a sport for the moment. We watch it, we enjoy it, we speculate about it and then we forget about it. Many of us also learn from it. It is true that the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) began as a venue to promote Gracie Jujitsu as the one and only superior style. Rorion Gracie and Art Davies developed the UFC in 1993 and matched fighters from various styles against their hand-picked representative for the Brazilian style of Jujitsu. His name was Royce Gracie. Between 1993 and 1995, Royce Gracie became the only three-time UFC tournament winner. Royce then began to fight exclusively in challenge matches in which he continued to win. The original UFC theme, “There are no rules,” may have attracted viewers that looked forward to an event in which blood letting and knockouts were common fare, but it also attracted government scrutiny. Senator John McCain called the reality fighting presented in the UFC “human cockfighting.” The controversial fighting events were banned in most states and eventually lost rights to the lucrative Pay-Per-View market. The fact is that the “no rules” position attracted the barroom brawler type epitomized by Tank Abbott. Abbott was a slugger with no style or affiliations. He came to knockout the opponent or get knocked out in the process. Interestingly enough, when CBS decided recently to enter the lucrative market for MMA sports programming they pinned their hopes on a former “street fighter” named Kimbo Slice. Kimbo had gained a reputation as being the tough guy in some of the most often viewed videos on Youtube. When Slice was knocked out by a younger and smaller opponent in the MMA ring, his defeat sank an entire MMA organization. Look for Kimbo Slice to reemerge in the next season of The Ultimate Fighter on Spike TV. Near the mid-1990s, it became evident that the style versus style comparisons were losing their appeal. The street fighter types recruited by the UFC were equally unable to hold the viewer’s interest. To win acceptance from government sanctioning offices and earn back the Pay-Per-View market, the UFC developed rules and regulations to ensure the safety of the fighters. Commentators for the UFC had introduced the term “mixed martial arts” to indicate a fighter who represented no particular style. The true MMA fighter trained to perfect his personal stand up and grappling game and supplemented his progress with proper nutrition and fitness training. In the MMA scheme of things the term “style” represents “limitations.” Bruce Lee had made the same type of observations in the late 1960s. When I say my style is Tae Kwon Do, for example, I am saying that I am limited to the kicks, punches, blocks, and forms that are taught in my style. At this point the reader may be thinking, “Okay, he’s insulting my style.” Not true. Remember, I have been a martial artist for over 40 years. I have trained in MMA instruction and promoted MMA seminars. I can see the easily identified differences in the two concepts. The MMA sport martial artist identifies the body as the superior weapon. The MMA stylist seeks the finest training in stand up and ground. They seek to develop a muscular and fit body, often times adorned with body art. Like the samurai of old they are trained to fight. To accomplish the goals of their training they must engage in competitions to determine who, on a given day, will win a contest within the framework of selected rules. Sport fighters train to win! The traditional martial artist takes a different view of his/her art. The traditional martial artist identifies the mind as the superior weapon. The traditionalist trains the mind through character development, discipline, and self-denial. The goal of the traditionalist is to first avoid the fight, but if necessary to fight in the confidence that victory can be measured in many ways. While the MMA sport fighter is expected to engage in his sport for up to ten years, the traditionalist trains for life. MMA is very different than TMA. While MMA represents instant gratification, TMA thrives on deferred gratification. MMA is just right for today’s society, seeking the good life here and now. Others take a different view. TMA teaches us to invest in our lifetime. Work hard now and reap the benefits later. Indeed, TMA teaches that the hard work we do now is enjoyable. As a graduate student at Virginia Tech in the late 1970s, I researched the social expectations of the traditional martial instructor. I found that the physical skills associated with traditional styles have always varied. To argue that my style has the best skills is folly. Skills are little more than the carrot we wave in front of the student. What the TMA dojang offers the student is a selected and organized peer group. The TMA peer groups have identified certain values as being most important. Hard work, dedication to a goal, honesty, integrity, and indomitable spirit are exemplified by those in the group. Join the TMA peer group and you will adopt the same values. Become part of TMA and you become a leader. Again and again, I found that students who had properly internalized the values of a TMA school learned to set goals and accomplish objectives to ensure the attainment of those goals. What we offer parents is a select peer group that will assist their child in the attainment of self confidence, self regulation, self discipline and an appreciation for authority. But how do we attract the student whose only goal is to shave his head like Chuck Liddell and develop his ground game? In a national survey conducted for my graduate school research, I found that physical skill have always varied even among proponents of the same arts. To limit your choices to the position that we must practice a skill one way and only one way is wrong. The UFC continues to teach us that we must adapt our physical skills to the environment. We can adapt the MMA skills to our TMA programs and have the best of both worlds. Embrace MMA. MMA is not the enemy of TMA. Learn the mount and guard. Discover the most effective clinch position. Discover for yourself how a representative of your art could defend against the MMA fighter. Don’t let stubborn pride allow you to miss the opportunity that MMA offers. At this year’s Karate College, the Brazilian Jujitsu and MMA classes were among the most popular courses offered. Reality-based martial arts classes came in a close second. Traditional martial arts classes ranked third in terms of popularity. To be competitive in today’s market we have to keep up with the trends. It’s easy to add MMA skills to the TMA curriculum. You can teach a basic one leg takedown to a side mount and arm bar submission just like you would teach any other one-step sparring drill. If you haven’t started researching the new directions being taken by martial arts today, get started. MMA and You By Dr. Jerry Beasley taekwondotimes.com / November 2009 69
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Grandmaster Ken MacKenzie - Taekwondo Times

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