Mixed Martial Arts and the Quest for Integrity

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Like punk rock, mixed martial arts seemingly smashed its way onto the public scene without compromise and upset the current order in a way that hadn’t been seen for decades. As with the petulant bastard child of rock ‘n roll, MMA began as a hard-edged spectacle that outraged the establishment and promptly got itself banned all over the place. Both were considered trends, but few realized just how well they would adapt, survive and thrive.

Today punk rock has become an accepted and successful subgenre of rock music in the form of pop punk and has touched just about every form of art imaginable. As for MMA, its magazines easily outsell publications containing every other form of martial art, besides boxing and professional wrestling, put together. Their athletes are picking up better sponsorship deals all the time. More and more full-time martial arts centres are installing their own cages, and more and more martial arts clubs are offering MMA as part of their syllabus. As a spectator sport MMA is becoming a viable contender to western boxing like no other martial art has ever done. We are in the third decade of mainstream MMA and those who said it was a passing fad are starting to look a little silly now. However, what has persisted in the view that MMA is the opposite of what martial arts is supposed to represent. But perhaps the question needs to be asked, do other martial arts hold a higher moral ground than MMA?

With their rows of disciplined individuals dressed in pristine uniforms and moving in unison, the image of traditional martial arts seems to symbolize order. Prospective parents are impressed by the art’s codes of honour and the snappy way the school’s students refer to their teachers as “sensei”, “sifu” or, just simply, “sir” or “ma’am”. I know my father approved. Every generation fears for the generation that follows them. See the changing world their sons and daughters are growing up in to be colder, more decadent and dangerous the one they knew as children. They look to institutions that somehow reflect the morals and values their parents admired. History is dominated by two institutions that society has typically looked towards for a sense of order and morality: the military and religion. Educational establishments were shaped and run by both these institutions. Businesses modelled themselves on the way armies and churches were run. This paradigm persisted in the developed world until the early part of the 20th century. Today our schools and businesses are quite different places. In fact, the military and the mainstream church have also changed dramatically since those days. However, most traditional martial arts retain the same traditions, ethics and practices that were established during that era. In short, they represent the past and therefore evoke a sense of nostalgia.

A colder and more clinical eye reveals that the “gold old days” weren’t really that great. Many of the most popular traditional martial arts were established under oppressive regimes and often in line with those regimes. The various schools of karate developed, survived and thrived because they represented the vision shared by Imperial Japan as it invaded and occupied its neighbouring countries and eventually entered the Second World War. There are reports of Japanese soldiers practicing their martial arts techniques on prisoners of war and by their side they wore perhaps the most recognizable weapon in traditional martial arts, the samurai’s katana sword. As for the figure of the samurai, his own background is far from the idyllic noble warrior of mythology. All sources reveal the most revered samurai of all time, the great philosopher Myomoto Musashi to have been a bully from his earliest days. The power entrusted to these custodians of law and order in feudal Japan was often misused and exploited.

Staying with Japan and one of the longest traditions in Japanese martial arts, the sport of sumo, has been revealed to have a less than honourable aspect to its institution. “Freakonomics” and several whistle-blowing accounts from sumo wrestlers have revealed that many of the bouts are routinely rigged. Hierarchy in sumo is everything. The higher ranked sumos are waited on hand and foot by the lower ranks and receive a considerably larger salary the year round. Rank is decided by the number of fights are won in a tournament. If a sumo loses more than half of his 15 bouts in a tournament then he is not permitted entry into the higher ranks. Shrewd observers eventually began to note that when wrestlers who had already won more than half their bouts were matched with those who were “on the bubble” often suddenly lost. Crunching the figures, “Freakonomics” showed that it was difficult to believe that these sumo matches weren’t rigged!

Of course, it could be argued that the sporting aspect of martial arts, particularly those in the professional sector, are ripe for corruption and this has little to do with tradition. The traditional Thai sport of muay Thai, for example, which is heavily influenced in its native country by gambling, is an obvious contender at times. Obviously not all matches are rigged and the sport is justifiably considered to be one of the most ferocious in the world. That isn’t in dispute. However, in the wake of celebrity Jack Osborne’s rather dubious “win” over a former champion, many have become more sceptical about the number of wins westerners secure against Thais in matches. These often occur at the end of an intense training camp. Traditional western combat sports are no different. My own cultural heritage of circus and fairground was heavily linked to boxing bouts. These matches saw fighters taking members of the public every night. Smaller circuses often had fights at the end of the show with the artist who had just been performing most of the acts taking on a volunteer. Often boxers had to take on members of their own family. I will you to leave to decide whether all of these bouts were always legitimate.

Actually the sports entertainment spectacle of professional wrestling was born out of the traditional carnival and fairground art of catch-as-catch-can wrestling. Japanese ju jutsu first found notoriety in the United Kingdom when instructors took on all-comers in Music Hall bouts. Wrestlers fought there too and I guess it is little surprising that a great deal of similarities can be seen between ju jutsu and catch. The deeper I dig the more likely it seems that fixing bouts was an older tradition than many of the proud fighters of the past would have us believe.

Alex Gillis’s “A Killing Art” revealed much of the skulduggery involved in the development of taekwondo. Taking nothing away from the legitimate martial arts pioneers involved in the art’s history, this much needed candid report showed how a traditional art can be born and shaped through politics, corruption and a desire for a cult-like following.

So, how does MMA measure up to all this? First of all, it based itself on no established tradition. No one style or system has dominated the sport for long and it has continuously evolved in different directions. The Gracie Brazilian jiu jitsu family should be given due credit for kicking matters off and we can draw a line from Brazilian vale tudo competitions and the Gracie Challenge to the first Ultimate Fighting Championship, but within a remarkably short amount of time following that first event massive changes have been made. The sport took on a life of its own and besides the obvious guidance it has been given by the likes of Dana White it exemplifies a ground-up model as opposed to a top down one. There are respected champions and coaches, but no single authority. No one owns Mixed Martial Arts in any capacity.

The aims of MMA are relatively noble too. To those who bought into the early intentional negative publicity, it is just distilled violence. But isn’t this just reflective of the original intentions of combative systems? MMA looks for honesty. Many have said “There is no where to hide with MMA” and that pretty much sums it up. The sport does not suffer paper tigers or fools lightly. Reputations are forged through testable results not anecdotal data or appeals to antiquity. The history of most martial arts systems are full of examples of warriors who fought other stylists to prove their method was better, to protect their tribe or brand if you like. Many practitioners of these arts still cite these reputations, made many decades ago, as proof their way’s efficiency. MMA began with a so-called battle of styles and then quickly moved on. Now we are seeing more individualistic development. Just as the rational martial artist recognizes the pointlessness of the style versus style debate, MMA has risen above this through a natural progressive process. Not bound by rituals, the MMA coach and athlete seek out methods from activities outside of their discipline. This isn’t the exception. It’s the norm. No one is called a heretic for using exercises from soccer, basket ball, strongman training, yoga, rugby and so on. In fact, everyone is racing to uncover the next training breakthrough. 

Areas like injury prevention, scientific research into athletic performance and sport rehabilitation get a lot of interest as well. Unfortunately this race hasn’t always resulted in the propagation of solid new advancements. Mixed martial arts fighters and coaches have shown they are just as susceptible as the next person at being hoodwinked by nutritional quackery and alternative medicine. However, that is a discussion for another article. At the very least we can say MMA keep an open mind. Whether or not that is always a good thing is another matter.

The main criticism targeted at MMA is that idea it just propagates violence and does not instil any good values. Many other martial arts may have their shady histories, but at least they try to uphold the values of the society of today. I would argue that most still run by an outmoded system and twist it to fit in with what we expect, but that isn’t the way most view your average kwoon, dojo, dojang and so on. MMA has not had to pretend it’s anything more than a sport. It’s had it own fair share of government oppression, much of which it brought on itself, but it hasn’t needed to justify itself by altering its objective much. You don’t see a lot of goalpost changing in an MMA debate. It strives to be a better recognized sport and provides legitimate careers for dedicated individuals. This differs from the pyramid model that often pervades the martial arts scene. Usually the only way you can earn anything from the skills you have acquired is to become an instructor. Often you will be an instructor under another who takes a cut of your students’ class fees. If you want to compete, you pay to enter tournaments. Outside of interclub events, MMA fighters rarely compete without getting paid something even if it is £50. I have even seen interclub events where the club manager makes the firm statement that although any spectators will have to pay “Fighters do not pay to fight!”

Sadly, as is the nature with human beings, MMA has its own sense of tribalism too. It’s less pronounced and the cross-training nature that is still considered to be very important in MMA training means that the “one style” or “one way” argument isn’t an issue. Nevertheless many buy into the “As real it gets” UFC slogan and therefore see it as the final word on self-defence. The truth is that for all its great attributes MMA, taught as a sport, does not automatically translate to great self-defence skills. There is a degree of truth in the fact that MMA fighters have a lot of things going for them in a survival situation. They have good conditioning for starters, which develops the will to survive. They are raised on facing incompliant opponents on a daily basis and this includes striking and grappling from all ranges.

However, this is all geared up for social violence. It makes the assumption that both parties will engage in a consensual fight. If you are fighting out of choice and it is not in an organized bout then you our out of the self-defence equation. It is going to be pretty tough defending yourself in a court of law that you have willingly participated in a fight. Good personal security teaches you to avoid conflict at all costs and if forced to use hard skills you do so in order to escape. This is asocial violence. A self-defence situation is a response to an assault. You can pre-empt the assault if avoidance or escape are not immediate options. Controlling distance at the interview stage is not a skill required for an MMA bout and neither is setting up a pre-emptive strike. Understanding verbalizations and feed-lines as precursors to attacks are also not an area typically covered for someone preparing for a cage fight. Running away as part of a drill is not typically taught in sport MMA. Such a tactic becomes more evident when you fight more than one person at a time, if weapons are involved and as justification that you were not interested in fighting just trying to escape an assault. The fight to flee tactic alters a lot of the way a person fights another. You don’t set people up for certain moves that, if successful, will prolong your fight. Furthermore, we know from cases where people have handed back knives to people they have disarmed and caused unnecessary delays in gun fights due to picking up ejected brasses that people fight how they train. The results can be fatal. Assuming that you will fight to flee in a real life situation when you have never done it in a pressurized situation undermines the whole pressure-testing ethic of MMA.

A cliché often made those who put down combat sports is that “Real fights don’t have rules”. Many love to tout this line as they return to their compliant drills with “moves too dangerous to test under pressure”. However, I don’t think this is the defining characteristic of a “real fight”. The counter-assault has no to and fro motion like a consensual fight does. It’s one person acting like a predator and another doing whatever is necessary to escape. This is the asymmetrical nature I mentioned before.

Having said all that, I would definitely recommend MMA to any reasonably fit and able-bodied individual interested in developing attributes for self-defence. Once they have the relevant soft skills of pre and post-fight down pat alongside some low maintenance hard skills tactics they have pressure-tested in suitable scenarios then they can only benefit from the hardening an MMA environment can provide.

Because its representatives appear to be aggressive alpha males and females accompanied by the glitz and glamour of showbusiness it is easy to MMA as being an art with lower morals compared to its more conservative traditional cousins. Playing up to the press in order to hype a fight, discussions of drug abuse and occasional bad sportsmanship don’t help matters either. The fact that the cage has finally become the main place to compete also still evokes the responses intended in the early days. However, this arena has proven to be safer than a typical roped ring with less chance of fighters falling our or becoming entangled in ropes. Much to the chagrin of those in the boxing community who look down on this cocky new kid on the block, MMA’s less restrictive rules make it safer than striking only full-contact sports. With more targets and the allowance of grappling the head becomes far less prone to repetitive impact.

My conclusion is that MMA has its flaws, as everything does, but its reputation of having lower morals than any other combat activity is unfounded. It strives to provide a genuine professional goal for its students outside of just becoming another retailer. It is open-minded not only to other fighting disciplines but also other sports and the study of science. It has honest simple goals and does not hide behind an artificial hierarchy. There areas for debate with the way it is sometimes portrayed, but on the whole MMA’s quest for integrity is as virtuous any other form of martial art or combat sport.  

A fully revised and annotated version of this article appears in my book "Mordred's Victory and Other Martial Mutterings" (click here to order your copy). Available in Kindle and PDF formats. 

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