Has the Martial gone from Mixed Martial Art?

Watching the MMA scene develop over the last few years I have seen an ugly side of the martial arts that has come from the MMA world!

That sounds like a bad statement to make as I love the world of martial arts and the world of MMA but please hear me out!!

I have talked about the rise of the MMA scene and the rise of the MMA fighter...the by-product of this is the cage fighter! The cage fighter is a strange beast usually spotted in Tesco’s with big carpet carrying stance with cage fighter or a Tapout top strutting like a peacock in the lager aisle telling everyone in earshot how he is training to destroy someone in his next interclub fight.

Many years ago the same thing happened with boxing, boxers started to believe their own hype and an arrogant attitude started to develop. I am not saying all boxers had this but because they could finish a fight with one well placed punch some thought they were better than everyone else (just ask James "tapped out" Toney) I for one love the way James Toney fought in the boxing ring he was a master of the art of boxing, but his confidence developed into arrogance or as the dictionary says "a exaggerated assumption of importance".

Randy Couture helped re-educate Mr Toney in a lesson in life "pride comes before a fall" or in this case a single leg shoot and head and arm choke before Mr Toney had to tap before he truly became James "lights out" Toney.

This has now started to appear on the MMA scene; at a recent event a packed show had to witness a fighter that had been forced to tap-out in an ill-tempered match, rant and rave, and kick the cage. He would not shake the winner's hand. The ref and his corner men could not stem his temper as his dummy was thrown out of the pram and full-on hissy fit carried on backstage like a diva that did not get the right mineral water during the show!

Mixed Martial Arts is just that, a Martial Art were you train in your art with respect and honour whether you win lose or draw. The AFC fight team was given the highest compliment at the same fight show as someone emailed me to say that our fighters conducted themselves in a respectful way weather they had won or lost and I should be proud of their conduct in and out of the cage. To me that was the best thing I could hear as I am training martial artists to fight not cage fighters that fight and have no respect for the martial arts.

George St Pierre has just defended his title from Jake Shields and watching the build up to the fight George said the difference with fighting Jake Shields is that Jake is not a fighter that trains for a fight then has down time, Jake is a Martial Artist that trains everyday in the Arts, so George knew that he had to train every day to beat him. Some cage fighters walk around thinking they are the best in the world while Martial Artists try to get better every day, ultimately never reaching their goals as there is always something you can improve on!!

Thanks for reading my rant this month, have fun with your training and keep a look out for the "Cage fighters"!! lol

To find out more about The Advanced Fighting Centre visit: http://www.advancedfighting.co.uk/ or e-mail John Atkin at johnatkin24@btinternet.com