The Problem with the BJJ and MMA argument

So I still think Jui-jitsu is cool and I would like to learn it. But really, Jiu jitsu, Japanese, Brazilian or otherwise, first of all it's all the same. The difference is more in training and culture of the school than anything else. But it's all Kung Fu in the end. And it's also all traditional martial arts in the end. Even Krav Maga or some street self defense or anything is ALL a martial art training method. It's all the same. Except the training is a little different and the scenarios are a little different. The Biggest difference is fighting experience.

It was really weird to me to see that everything the BJJ guys accuse all the other martial arts of doing... they do the same thing.

And the guy who was sort of the most heroic, Rickson, his training regiment included Yoga and stretching and going into water falls... basically real traditional spiritual stuff. In other words, what's the difference between him and the traditional warriors of old? Except that instead of fighting with weapons it's just hand to hand.

So then you get people who learned from him and then people who learned from those people and they aren't as good so they rely on the knowledge passed down instead of first hand experience.. and you get all the same problems of the so called stagnant martial art.

And don't think this is a new problem of course even back n the day there was stagnancy in people who trained. That's why some people were really good and others, either not that good... or simply dead.  

So nowadays you could argue, "Oh with modern weaponry it's all useless anyway." And then you can bull out a ton of stories from any martial art of a guy stopping someone with a gun etc. I can tell you this though, the martial art helped... but even with out it, they could have found a way to fight too.

And also, at the beginning of the Qin dynasty. Qin shi Huang used a 200 year olf technology the cross bow, and mass produced it and used it to conquer the whole country... because they weren't expecting his attack.. even though the technology was 200 years old.

I definitely want to learn and incorporate new things in my training. Whether it is jiu-hitsu, or Kendo, or Capoeira or Hip hop or Volleyball or even rap. What if you did the form and someone rapped what you were performing about?

And to tell the truth  even fi I do this I am not even close to being the first one. I've seen videos of performances from Hong Kong that have Lion Dance, African Drums and Taiko drums altogether.
But to say you shouldn't do it because it's been done, is like saying you shouldn't draw pictures because that's been done.

MMA is really nothing new. Kung Fu is MMA. You got a bunch of martial artists together in Shaolin Temple and they spend all day micing their martial art and developing crazy techniques. Because it is good for warfare? No. It's mainly to pass the time. The techniques work of course but there are so many other factors.

I would like to do Mongolian wrestling and archery too, and even falconing and hunting and shooting guns and horse riding.. why not? If you have the time (though first on the list of all of these things should be the most useful thing.. which is to learn to drive.... or learn to drive safely I should say. Of course nobody will die from my martial arts.... but people could die from my bad driving.

You think about the Mongolians... their wrestling, I mean you can get hurt, but it is so simple in terms of rules. Whoever hits the ground. And then they don't worry about after that because the real war was about archery.

BJJ focused on the ground because that's where Helio spent most of his time. And for better or worse, he sounds like a great founding master... but he also sounds like all the other founding masters. And it's weird that his students and family pretend almost like Sakuraba doesn't exist, or that he used Gracie Jiu-jitsu as opposed to, I don't know the same Jiu -Jitsu that was already in Japan and was around the whole time? They only talk about the last fight that he lost. It's weird. But I guess Martial Artists in general are weird.

I try to put my weirdness in check. Like when I bring the foam weapons to the playground. Suddenly I make it really un fun for the kids when I make them do it my way. Why can't they just swing at each other and play their way? They won't get THAT hurt right? Well actually they could get pretty hurt, and they will hurt people not playing, and the parents will them come to me. So to make it fun I had to basically play with them. One kids I had to keep telling to stop swinging so wild. In a real fight it's ineffective.. but mostly it's because he will hit his friends on the same team as him. So even with foam the game has to be "fake" or at least controlled.

I mean you could have a group where everyone just fights full force. But then the weakest just die and maybe the strongest starve to death because they probably aren't the type to plan ahead.

So a lot of the stuff that is stagnant in the martial arts, is actually about controlling a large population of people and getting them to follow orders or follow directions.