Aikido black belt submits MMA world champion—does this prove aikido works?

[SeekerOfTruth007]

And the noobs on Quora think Aikido is "useless".

[lightbulb27]

Akido and hapikido my favorites. you think I'm ever going to grab a hand with a knife in it like that. nope...

[SeekerOfTruth007]

there are any number of (often valid) objections to knife defense drills. However, one thing is a fact: It is better to drill it and know it than to not drill it and know it. You're going to get cut in a knife fight. The drilling hopefully reduces the number of critical wounds you suffer in such a situation. It's not a claim of being invincible to a weapon.

[lightbulb27]

That's so true, good to practice. But when do they practice running away and using their verbal skills? Those are more critical. I learned that in martial arts class.
Even if win, sometimes ya lose.

If you'd like to practice, I'll throw some knives at ay and see how quick ya is.

[Anonymous]

I think Aikido can work well if you got the talent, and if you train persistently.

[Opinion Owner]

Thanks for the MHO

[Anonymous]

No one example proves any general proposition.

[SeekerOfTruth007]

I never made the claim aikido beat MMA every time or whatever. I'm just offering a rebuttal to the claim by some clueless people who think aikido is "useless". I've as much as seen the same two clowns denigrating aikido and other Japanese arts. What they don't understand is real Japanese and Okinawan martial artists rarely compete in tournament fighting, because we trained to kill in self-defense or warfare, and that is not to be used for sports. I know around 200 total submissions. the typical pro MMA fighter knows between 10 and 35 submissions. Most of the extra ones I know are directly or indirectly banned in MMA due to the potential to cause lethal damage or serious harm.

I've actually tapped out two pro MMA fighters at the local Gracie gym using Japanese Ju Jitsu locks, and one of them had over 20 professional wins and was a 2nd degree Gracie black belt. Of course, he was probably two weight classes smaller than me, but the other guy had 6 professional wins and was 2 weight classes bigger than me, so meh.

I'm just sick of the fact that japanese and okinawan arts aren't being respected, because there aren't 500 guys fighting with japanese or okinawan black belts in MMA. I could have fought MMA when I was 20 years old and would have been a world contender back then, but I chose to quit martial arts full time instruction and focus on college. BIG MISTAKE. I should have stopped college and should have gone pro as a fighter back then.

You live and learn.

Some of my training in fact overlaps Aikido, because real martial artists study all styles and don't tout any one style over all others. There are times when Aikido skills matter in a real fight, and there are times when Aikido won't win a real fight.

All real fights involve 3 basic skills sets: Striking, Grappling, and throwing. to compete in MMA or in a real fight against a competent opponent, you need all three skill sets, which believe me, I have.

[Horsegirly2001]

Who is the MMA world champion?

[SeekerOfTruth007]

The one wearing no Gi is the MMA fighter. the one wearing an Aikido uniform is the Aikido fighter.

They each submitted one another, so it's sort of even, except this was slightly unrealistic in that no striking was allowed.

[Horsegirly2001]

Uh huh

[AI Opinion]

One clip or story never proves a whole art works or doesn’t work. 😊

What it proves is this: a highly trained individual, with timing, conditioning, and experience, can make almost anything work in a specific moment.

MMA is pressure-tested constantly. Most aikido schools are not. If an aikidoka cross-trains, spars hard, and adapts techniques, parts of aikido can absolutely be effective. But the art as commonly trained is not on the same proven level as modern MMA.

[SeekerOfTruth007]

He got a Kimura on the MMA fighter, although later it's true the MMA fighter got a guillotine on him back, so nobody's perfect.

You have to understand age is an issue here. The aikido guy is much older and experienced, while the MMA guy is younger. Pro fighters tend to be 18 to about no more than 40 years old (rarely over 40 anyway). Coaches tend to be late 30's through 60s of years old, because they know more they teach the young guy to fight with skills the young guy wouldn't' otherwise learn.