Four martial artists walk into bar...

Two questions I often get asked as a martial artist are: 1. What is THE BEST martial art. And 2, if 'such and such martial art' is so good, why do we never see it in the UFC? 

Okay, so let me start by saying that the is no 'best' martial art. No single discipline that trumps all other disciplines. If there was, we would all just be doing that, wouldn't we? All martial arts have their strengths, and they all have their flaws. What can be seen as a strong point in one style, can be the chink in the armour of another. Let's use this analogy...

Four martial artists walk into a bar. One does MMA, one does Karate, one does Aikido and one does BJJ. The MMA guy says his martial arts style is the best, because MMA have taken all the best bits from all of the martial arts and combined them into one discipline, that includes striking, kicking,  grappling, takedowns and groundwork. 

The Karate guy, paraphrasing the old Bruce Lee quote as best he can remember it says "Fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 techniques, but fear the man who has practiced ONE technique 10,000 times. Whilst you are dividing your training sessions into various areas, spending a little time on each, us Karate guys have been spending our training sessions focusing on one area, repetitively training to develop maximum explosive power." 

The Aikido guy says "Explosive power? Great. Given that we train to neutralise attacks by taking an opponent's force and momentum, and using that in our favour, then the more explosive power you come with, the quicker you'll end up on the floor."

"Bring it on" says the BJJ guy, "On the floor isn't a threat to us BJJ guys, on the floor is our arena. It's where we fight best!"

"This is all well and good," says the MMA guy, "but we do ALL of what you guys just said, all rolled into one!

It all boils down to your reasons for practicing martial arts, and quite often, the reason you start doing a martial art is not necessarily the reason you continue. I once trained with a young lad who was bullied for being overweight and being a bit of a loner whilst in high school. He took up combat Jiu Jitsu so he could fight back and give the bullies a pasting. By the time he'd got to green belt he had lost several pounds in weight and muscle was now forming where there was once fat. He made friends at the club and he felt accepted there. He was no longer interested in fighting bullies at school, he channeled his frustration into developing his skills on the mats instead. I know another fellow who only started Karate because his son wanted to do Karate, but lacked the confidence to go on his own. He bought a Gi and tagged along for the sake of his son. Six months down the line the son lost interest and quit. The dad had grown to like doing Karate and kept on, he's now a second dan black belt. 

There are a number of different elements that draw people into the different martial arts. For some, it's the thrill of competition, for others it's to learn some practical self defence skills. Some people have an interest in the history and philosophy of traditional martial arts. Some like the self discipline, for others, spirituality. Some like the social aspect of training with friends they have made over the years of practicing martial arts. For others it's simply a matter of keeping fit and flexible, and prefer the dojo environment to the commercial gym environment. For many, it's a mix of different elements, and these too can be transient. Some martial artists love the competitive side when they are young and full of vim, then slowly phase out competitive fighting as they get older, in favour of the more traditional side of things. For some, they start out wishing to learn some practical self defence techniques, but then wish to test their skills in a competitive arena. Even some of those people who take part in combat sports such as Jiu Jitsu or Muay Thai have no desire to participate in competition. Just like not everyone who slings a leg over a push bike has the desire to race in the Tour De France.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship is a relatively new tournament. It started in 1993 but didn't really become a widespread, televised global phenomenon until around 2005. Despite it's late arrival to the martial arts history books, it quickly became the 'armchair expert' benchmark for how effective a martial art is. To the uninitiated, watching MMA fighters slug it out in cages from the comfort of their living rooms, if they don't see it in the Octagon, then it's chopped liver, right? Well, no. Just because a martial arts discipline isn't seen in the UFC doesn't mean it isn't effective, there are different disciplines for different scenarios. A Ferrari F50 is a fast car, but we don't see them in the Dakar rally. 

For centuries, Kendo practitioners have crossed swords against Kendo practitioners, Pugilists have been pitted against Pugilists and Wrestlers have wrangled Wrestlers, all in the name of sport. Some martial arts were developed to be practiced against others playing by the same rule set. The UFC is no different. MMA has become it's own discipline, developed to to be practiced against others playing by the same rule set. Why don't we see Kung Fu in UFC? Why don't we see Taekwondo in the UFC? Well, we don't really see any stand alone martial art used in UFC. MMA has taken the elements from different martial arts that can be used within their rule set; rules that allows competitors to fight safely, and each be given a sporting chance. Do we see Aikido in UFC? Well, we see the hip toss used to take an opponent from the clinch to a ground position, which is within the parameters of sport, but a Kote Gaeshi (wrist throw) would not be sportsmanlike. Same with Karate, we all like a good roundhouse kick, but a Shuto (Karate chop) to the throat could cause some serious damage. Krav Maga is very effective in a self defence situation, where there is no consideration given to the safety and wellbeing of an attacker, but it wasn't developed for safe use in competition. Some martial arts, such as Karate, Aikido and Taekwondo have different styles, developed independently, for either self defence or sport. I'm sure that if you look hard enough, you can spot techniques used in UFC that can be traced back to most disciplines. Who can really lay claim to the origins of a straight right punch, a front teep kick or a leg sweep? 

If you want to learn a new martial art, and the UFC is your goal, then MMA is probably your best route. (Many of the world's top competitive fighters have long standing backgrounds in separate martial arts disciplines, one striking and one ground based, but the 'Cross training in separate disciplines V's MMA' debate is a discussion for another day.) If you have different motivations for learning a martial art, then do some research first, and ask yourself what you want to get out of your training. Many years ago, when I was looking for a new challenge, I bought a book called 'The Ultimate Book of Martial Arts' by Fay Goodman. The book covered about 20 different disciplines and sub disciplines, a brief history of each, what equipment you might need to get started, the grading systems, what you could expect from a typical class, and what you could gain from training in each discipline. It's far from a comprehensive list, but a great starting point for those looking to start a new martial art, or just an interesting read for anyone with an interest in different martial arts. I'm sure you'll be able to find similar source material online.

So, what is the BEST martial art? There is no best martial art, only what is BEST FOR YOU!