A group of doormen friends of mine were sitting together in a room, all with their own skillsets of various training and ability levels.

The atmosphere was a little tense when one issued a challenge to another asking him out for a fight. A kind of dual to decide which one of them was a better fighter.
The one who was challenged accepted it and stated “Okay I’ll bring the katanas”. Puzzled the challenger quizzed “What do you mean katana?” It wasn’t the kind of fight he had in mind. “So you want a sissy fist fight” was the answer to this question.

It got me thinking about different types of martial arts and their effectiveness and application.

A lot of people compare one art with another and say this is better, or that is better for whatever reason they may have. This may be due to personal experience or the fact that they practise that martial art.

Today none can deny MMA is in fashion. Previously to this it may have been boxing or jiu jitsu. Aikido made fashionable by late 80’s and 90’s movies of Steven Siegel. The same could be said of Bruce Lee’s influence on the world in the 60’s and 70’s.

Today people judge an art by it’s effectiveness in the octagon because as stated this is what is in fashion today. We hear all the time “Is it effective in the octagon?” Not taking anything away from MMA, I do think it is amazing. Anyone who downplays MMA, I would question their martial arts integrity and credibility. This doesn’t mean it is a measure for all martial arts.

Competitors who train for a match train for one purpose, one goal and one aim in mind. They will face their lone opponent within certain rules confined to certain restrictions regulated by a referee. Not all arts will be able to able to conform to that measure. Put someone who just knows boxing in the octagon and they will be out of their depth when faced with an opponent who holds them and takes them to the ground. In that situation boxing won’t be as effective. Again I think boxing as a skill is truly underrated.
Each art was developed for a reason and has it’s history and I do truly believe no art is superior to another. They all bring something to the table.

Aikido has it’s roots in Aikijujitsu, an art which was developed for combat on the battlefield. It’s movements and techniques are designed with that in mind, not 3 minute boxing rounds. Aikido doesn’t fit in an octagon and training for the octagon won’t fit when you have a naginata pointed at you. Each of them have their own history and practicality. To judge one based on the rules of the other I think is highly unreasonable. Even if you put a world class judo champion in the ring with Queensberry rules he wouldn’t even match up against an amateur boxer.

Every art will teach you something and it is up to the teacher to guide and the student to understand what is real and what is for the dojo. What is applicable on the street and what we do for the sake of the art may sometimes be totally different.

Aikido is well at home when in a situation of a mob fight. When outnumbered and no rules,  your main objective is to limit damage to yourself and survive and not necessarily get your hand raised as the winner at the end. Your belt is you got to go home and not the hospital or worse. You go to the ground in that situation; you are likely to get kicked in the head by the person you didn’t see coming at you from behind.

Yes, we Aikidoka don’t like to always go to the ground that’s not what we train for.
As mentioned in my previous blog, it is also essential to train with that mentality too. Too often we see weak attacks in the dojo and we think we are really good when we throw around a compliant uke. This isn’t doing Aikido and us any favours.

As a final point, if you’re going to train in an art then pick one that suits you. Do it well and take your time learning it. Understand it, but don’t always limit yourself to one art. The Samurai trained in multiple arts to become effective on the battlefield because that was the objective in the end. That may not be our objective today.

So if you’re going to do MMA, then do MMA, if you are going to do Karate, then do Karate; if you are going to do Aikido, then do Aikido, If you’re going to do Krav Maga, then go do Jiu Jitsu. Whatever you do, do it well. Learn from it and if it isn’t for you then don’t do it. Learn it for the objective you have for it. All arts have their qualities learn to understand and appreciate them, even though their objective may not be what your aim is.

I am not going to apologise for my art and no i’m not going to judge it by standards it wasn’t designed for. Train well and train hard.