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Everyone has an opinion about what "morals" should be and where they should be taught but that is just an opinion nothing more. An interesting fact is that MMA is 100% from traditional martial arts. Some one who practices MMA and bad mouths TMA is making quite a contradiction without realizing it. However another answer here points out the problem in ALL of martial arts today. Just what is legit, what really works, and just who is teaching it. I bet that 90% of schools today are a waste of time for sport, defense, and even physical fitness. The teaching of a system that covers all ranges of fighting with weapons is hard to find, even harder to find such a thing taught well by a competent teacher. MMA or TMA there is no monopoly on bad instruction or morals.

I respect MMA for what it is and that it has a place.

Keep in mind that respect is a two way street. If a person has a bad attitude and no respect for others they do not deserve respect either if they are a traditionalist, MMA or neither. MMA encourages more of a 'bad@$$' attitude which I think hurts the image but I also have met very nice MMA practitioners. The same goes for traditionalists. Some are quite full of themselves and ridden by their egos and I think this too hurts the image of traditional martial arts, while some are very nice down to earth guys.

I think your instructor hates more the image of MMA rather than the art itself considering that the techniques of MMA do have their origin in the traditional martial arts. Traditional martial arts trained for self defense and not for sports are extremely lethal and brutal and I don't think MMA has anything on them in that respect. That's why sports fighting has rules and refs.

Some traditionalists have a problem with MMA for a variety of reasons including the one you mention while others don't have a problem with it. However there are allot of people out there with a lot of misconceptions about both MMA as well as traditional martial arts and that tends to taint their views in either camp I think really.

While there are some things that carry over from MMA and can be used in a street situation there are indeed things that don't carry over so well. There was just a question the other day about pulling guard and I have never pulled guard in a street situation for several good reasons. There are other things on the table that can be employed and be more effective while not exposing you to getting hurt by your assailant or his friends rather than pull guard.

TMA is not immune to shortcomings either. One only has to look at the poor quality of many black-belts out there and their inability to deal with someone in a street situation effectively.

For me its not about one being better than the other or those in it something less because they are in something that I might not totally agree with or proscribe to. Instead it has been about whatever it takes to make me the best and most knowledgeable and most capable martial artist in TMA and coach in competitive fighting like kickboxing, Muay Thai, and MMA. The rest of all that like what you ask is just excess baggage and I leave that at the door.

It's more of a personal thing. I've seen TMA practitioners who respect MMA as a form of self defense and others who badmouth it and have a very low view of it. The sad fact is that neither TMA nor MMA will really teach you self defense. Both of them give you good tools, but unless you're actually being attacked randomly like you would be in the street then you aren't getting real self defense practice. That being said there are both TMA and MMA places that will help you and give you a good basis off of which to protect yourself.

I personally view MMA as being better for self defense as a whole because it is a combat sport so you'll have consistent sparring that is a little harder to find in TMA due to all the varying styles under the umbrella and that each has their thing about sparring or not sparring.

Sparring is easily one of if not the best tool for self defense, you learn to protect yourself by constantly submitting yourself to situations where you can get hurt, sparring will still lack, but it's probably the best safe way to learn.

Unfortunately there is too much "clowning around" in MMA, so I can see why a traditional martial arts instructor would have little respect for "some" fighters or MMA promotions. All of the ridiculous, criminal, or unsportsman-like antics by the Diaz brothers, Chael Sonnen, and Jason "Mayhem" Miller made the UFC look like the WWE. That being said, it's a broad condemnation to say that "all" MMA fighters are the same. They aren't. Lyoto Machida and Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson are two very good examples of traditional martial artists who exemplify honor and respect in MMA.

No, not really. It isn't that I don't respect the style or the practitioners, and it isn't that I respect the traditionalists any more. I don't trust much of anything being taught these days, so much is being improperly taught, and without discipline, proper practice, and goals.

If your style is not teaching multiple opponents, multiple "friends", concepts in weapons, self-defense, and law, then you really aren't training for self-defense. If your style teaches you techniques that you cannot possibly pull off unless you are at the height of your fitness, what good will that do you when you are sick, injured, or too old to do them? Martial arts is a way of life - your whole life. If what you are training for can only be done for a small part of your life, it's not going to be very useful, I think.

Take what your teacher says with a grain of salt. If he expects you to become a little carbon copy of him he is deluding himself. Nobody becomes exactly like their teacher, everyone makes their own little modifications to what they've learned and everyone should form their own opinion. In my opinion I think a lot of 'traditionalists' don't realise that in its truest translation Martial Arts means military technique and spend their time defending it as some kind of peaceful form of self expression, usually the same crackpots are the ones who make claims about anything they can't handle as 'just a sport' and 'nothing but violence' while having no idea what a fight is.

A fight is violence.

As AKBAN so truly put it 'violence is to be met with better violence' and the guy who trains for and puts themselves in competitions like MMA, Kickboxing, Boxing, Wrestling, Submission tournamnets and Full Contact Karate tournaments is training for and putting themselves in violent situations, getting punched in the face hurts like crazy and the sooner you learn to wear it and ignore the pain the better your chances of staying in charge of yourself during a fight and putting what you've learned to use.

I'm not a huge fan of professional MMA these days because it's become as some have put it 'a sport' not because of rubbish like 'rules' and 'multiple aggressor training' (facing mutliple people doesn't require much training, just the sense to find somewhere they have to face you on your terms and the ability to beat the snot out of one person multiple times) but Pro MMA has become a sport in the fact that everyone trains for it the same way. But the amature ranks are just like MMA was in the early to late 90s, a fighter doesn't just face the people who have been trained for the job, that fighter is facing anyone who thinks they have what it takes to use their martial art and that is good for you. Facing that many differing training styles, preferences of fighting elements and even the untrained prepares you for training to face anything. I'm of the belief that variety is what makes you a better fighter and the easiest access to that variety is martial competitions. Go to THEIR tournaments, play by THEIR RULES and make yourself able to adapt.

Facing the new and unusual trains you to adapt.

Mixed Marital Arts is a combination of various other martial arts form like Muay Thai, Kickboxing, Karate and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. It is more demanding both physically and mentally so it helps nurture disciple and a non-quitting spirit. It improves concentration and focus and also helps in physical conditioning. In Staten Island Mixed Martial Arts are taught at AmeriKick Martial arts and S.I.Karate.

That is nothing more than the opinion of your instructor.

MMA was not created with self defense in mind. It was created for competing. It is a sport. However, it can be used in self defense even though that is not the objective of the training. Strategies taught in mma are for competing not for life preservation. It is not violent IMO. You are not learning to how to use deadly force or to deal with violence or with those that have weapons or those with the intent to kill.

Those are the thing you face and train to overcome in a real self defense class.

I agree with Liondancer I look at mma for what it is. it is a sport. it is entertaining. I enjoy watching. I even help train those that compete in mma. Like Possum when I'm looking for self defense or life preservation it need to include multiple attacker, weapons, those that are trying to kill or harm me not those that are trying to score points and or just have pretty kata. I even like to talk about the law in regards to self defense even though I do not believe that was included originally in traditional martial arts when they were created.

Do traditional martial artists respect MMA as a form of self defense? My martial arts instructor doesn't have respect for MMA because its more violent and combat related which is the opposite of what Traditional Martial Arts teaches. Is this true?

MMA is TMA modified to be used as a point scoring sport. If you want to learn self defence then learn self defence, but learning MMA for self defence is like taking tennis lessons to learn how to swim. There is nothing wrong with MMA at, but it isn't designed to deal with the realities of civilian violence. The problem only comes when people train for one thing (sport) and think they are training for another (SD)

depends on practitioner's mentality.some says traditional martial arts are not just for fighting, they are art of living.and MMA is clearly for combat sports.where some others says, martial arts are about how good you can fight, so, whatever helps is respectable.some don't like mma, as, they are purely sports.some dont like traditional m.a , saying there are too many rules and hocus pocus kind of things. well, to conclude it, not every TMA practitioner hates mma, NOT every MMA practioner likes TMA.

lol clearly as you see all there ignorant answers calling it just sport but everybody in the ufc will beat them and there masters. tma guys on here make up there own facts. dude said your entitled to opinion but not facts. and like bruce lee said with 1 year of boxing and 1 year of wrestling you can beat most black belts. there just unrealistic ive told hem over and over that when the ufc started it was style vs style mma didnt exist there were 2 rules no biting no eye gouging there arts failed and they cant accept that

mma is not a style

mma is a misnomer

that being what it is "mma"proved that u need to be efficient in three phases of sport combat

or mortal combat choose whatever labels u want in the end all that matters is that your

proficien in striking range ,clinching range and ground range

I dont know but ill tell you this. An mma fighter will destroy any traditional fighter. Bruce Lee introduced the world to mma. He combined the best of what he saw to be useful frim numerous styles into one style. And bruce lee could destroy anyone.

I am traditional and I respect MMA for it's self defense, but it doesn't focus all that much on character growth, leadership and peace, which to MOST people is gay and useless.

well MMA is classed as self defence think about it if an mma fighter gets attacked he/she would use their mma to defend themselves from getting hurt hence SELF DEFENCE :)

Different instructors will tell you different things. It is up to you to decide.

Karate is in the heart and mind.

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