I had this discussion with a guy I train yesterday. He's been a student for just over a year & is getting ready to take his second MMA fight. In the process his opponent began to trash talk via internet interviews. He'd asked me how I thought he should respond & was becomming irrate. That's when our discussion began; I personally enjoyed the UFC from 15 years ago; when the athletes were respectful before & after the matches. I feel now that the UFC/ MMA is turning into WWE & the athletes have forgotten (or ignored) the purpose of competition & the virtues of bushido.
I'm not a big follower of UFC/MMA, but I guess the question can be answered by deconstructing the term "Martial Art."
The word "Martial" comes from the root "Mars," god of war. It can refer to any kind of conflict. But the word "Art" seems to imply that there is more than just fighting.
I know lots of people in Eastern arts don't like to include UFC/MMA stuff because it does seem disconnected from Budo. Certainly there doesn't seem to be much Jin (kindness) or Rei (respectfulness) in trash talk.
"Soft words and hard blows." Seems a good motto for either Western or Eastern martial arts.
I love to watch the UFC, Pride, and other gladiator type events. But, my purpose for watching and the reason other people watch is completely different. I will record the event and watch for great moves within the fight. Then you slow the fight down and analyse that move and ask yourself what could the person have done in order to make teh move better, or ask yourself how could the other fighter avoid the move. A good mixed martial arts fight is like watching a very quick and exiting game of chess.
But the question asks if I consider the UFC (and the like) martial arts or fihgting? My answer is no. The UFC is the name of an event. The participants are all extremely well versed martial arts stylist. Most having studied numerous styles.
I read a recent book that told about the old school method of learning martial arts. You studied one art your entire life. The Shaolin monks started by learning and studying one style during their entire stay in the temple. It wasn't until later that they began to intermingle their styles. But even then they only fought with one style at a time. And then it was later they began to incorporate the mixture of the styles. In other words, they we evolving their style to make it more effective. In a sense this is what has happened in teh UFC. It began as one style vs. another style (very little rules). The problem is you won't have a champion for any length of time because of injuries. Now the UFC fighters have evolved. They train in multiple styles and there are alot more rules to follow.
I will have to agree that the Bushido code is not followed before matches. The fighters are rude, arrogant, and obnoxious. But so were some samurai. Not all samurai were well respected. Some were know for being drunken hitmen. For the most part if you watch a UFC or Pride match until the very end you will see that both fighters normally show respect to each other after the fight. Even Tito Ortiz (a very arrogant fighter) showed respect to his long time nemesis Ken Shamrock after their final fight.
So my answer to the question is no but I believe the people fighting are definatly martial artist.
I don't think that the TV show fights are M.A. MMA, UFC, and even muay thai are sports. maybe the moves are practical offstage, but when it's on stage, it is a sport. They are using shows like these to prove some forms of martial art are useless. Now everyone seem to think that mma, jujitsu, shotukan karate, and muay thai are the best M.A.s in the world. But that's no the truth. Yes, fighters are very disrespectful now. seems like they want to kill their opponent, not beat them.
THERE ARE VERY FEW PEOPLE IN THE UFC WITH TALENT, MOST ARE BRAWLERS, BIG UPS TO LYOTO MACHIDA A REAL MARTIAL ARTIST!!! IF THERE WERE MORE LIKE HIM IN THE UFC THEY WOULD CLEAN HOUSE...EVERYTHING THE UFC IS ABOUT GOES AGAINST REAL MARTIAL ARTS, THE UFC FIGHTERS TRAIN FOR SPORT, NOT 4 REAL LIFE...MOST WOULD NEVER HANG N A REAL FIGHT AGAINST A SKILLED MARTIAL ARTIST.....
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