Congratulations to Lyoto Machida in UFC 98

Wow, what a display of amazing technique and grace by Lyoto Machida... a very traditional martial artist who grew up with a karate master father who taught him traditional values and concepts. Congratulations to the new Light Heavyweight Champion. The real question is what this means to the sport of mixed martial arts or MMA as it's now called?

Machida set a new standard for the MMA community which actually started with Georges St Pierre and Anderson Silva - both traditional martial artists as well. We now have 3 title holders in the US that come from a traditional martial arts background - not a thug who just wants to get in a ring and brawl or take some one's head off. Unfortunately, the UFC and growth of MMA as a whole has given us way too much of that. Not that the concept of "MMA' is bad- it's the attitude that it has seemingly attracted as a whole.

If you look at the typical MMA gym - you see the same inhabitants: 18-34 year old male, lots of tattoos and shaved heads wearing affliction shirts and thinking they are invincible. Not quite the role models for our children! Nor are they the places where I want my children learning martial arts.

With Machida (and St Pierre and Silva) that has now been brought full circle. Those of us who have been training many years know that "MMA" did not start with the UFC- it began with the birth of martial arts in general. If you look far enoiugh back in the history of most martial arts, you will see that almost all of them had every distance covered in the training. It wasn't until the arts branched and various practitioners started teaching in other places that some of them lost one or more of the combative distances.

I know at Mile High Karate (www.MileHighKarate.com) we have been teaching weapons, grappling, wrestling, kali/escrima, BJJ and so many other peices of the "MMA" puzzle since 1983. The piece of the puzzle that we teach even more is the character development aspects of the martial arts and that's what's missing with the new breed of "MMA" practioners... until now!

Congratulations Lyoto, Georges and Anderson... keep it up and continue to be the role models that we are looking for without the attitudes.