State of Martial Arts in America today
Joe Rogan, commentator for the UFC said that Martial Arts has evolved more in the ten years since UFC 1 than in the 700 years previous to it. I must agree with this comment. In the past 15 years, and more so in the past 5 years the martial arts community of the United States and much of the world has drastically changed. When I was in high school if a kid had a black belt, they were a dangerous, dangerous human being. Those days are now gone and anyone with a black belt is under a lot of scrutiny to actually prove that the belt that they have means something. 10 years ago, a dojo was a place where Martial Artists were made. Individuals strong in mind and body. Nowadays most dojos are merely after school day cares for small children. Most of the neighborhood martial arts schools are now referred to as “McDojos” for their fast food approach to Martial Arts. Want a black belt in 1 year with no skills to show for it? Head over to your local McDojo shell out a bunch of money and there you go, impress your friends and be a total fraud of a person not willing to put in the hard work that is required to truly be a competent fighter and Martial Artist.
The American martial arts scene, is (generally) split up into two camps. Combat sport gyms and traditional martial arts gyms. Combat sport gym train fighters, giving individuals useful techniques that can be applied in practical situations but without any guidance on when to use such techniques. Traditional Martial Arts gyms teach the guidelines in which techniques should be used along with general character development but do not teach any techniques of any use.
Traditional Martial Arts and Combat Sports have distanced themselves greatly in recent years with combat sports calling traditional martial arts “useless” and traditional martial artists considering Combat Sports practitioners “things and meat heads.” Unfortunately both of these terms have some element of truth to them. Traditional Martial Arts schools have no evidence that the techniques taught in their schools are actually effective and MMA schools aren’t showing any evidence that they inspiring a better human being. Once this divide is bridged, a new type of warrior similar to current UFC light heavy weight champion Lyoto Machida will emerge.
This is my vision for Mixed Martial Pakistan. A new Martial Arts culture within the country that not only is producing some of the worlds best fighters but some of the worlds best people. Not only will the new Martial Artist know how to defend himself and others in times of need but he will be a role model to his community regarding what is an honorable person. A person who speaks only the truth, keeps himself in a dignified manner, is humble with self restraint, strives towards continuous self improvement and goes out of his way to be involved in helping the community around him and the world at large regardless of race, religion or background. To become a new definition of strength and honor.