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Wow, what a display of...
exactly what martial arts is not and exactly what I don't want my kids to grow up with as an example. Read more: http://ping.fm/uYh8K
exactly what martial arts is not and exactly what I don't want my kids to grow up with as an example. Read more: http://ping.fm/uYh8K
Wow, what a display of...
...exactly what martial arts is not and exactly what I don't want my kids to grow up with as an example. I'm talking about UFC 100 and Brock Lesnar, the heavyweight "champion."
On Saturday night the billing for UFC 100 was to be the ultimate UFC experience of mixed martial arts. What it turned out to be was phenomenal displays of martial arts ability up until the heavyweight championship match. That turned out to be a disgrace for the UFC and potentially ruin almost everyone's image of the UFC thanks to one individual: Brock Lesnar.
I don't know about you, but when I started the martial arts we were always taught respect and character. We are taught to bow when entering the training hall. We are taught to bow to our training partners and opponents. We're taught to always have respect for our training partners, our opponents, our teachers and instructors, our parents, friends and our art. We're taught to say thank you, yes sir and yes ma'am, please and all of those other positive actions.
What I saw on Saturday night was the opposite of all of those teachings.
Mixed martial arts has been around since the beginning of martial arts itself. It's nothing new. We've been doing it in our curriculum since 1983. Myself since I started martial arts, which was in 1972. The only reason that it come into its own is thanks to the UFC and finding a way to monetize mixed martial arts. Don't get me wrong. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. I find the problem in the type of person that the new "mixed martial arts" has drawn to martial arts.
The typical draw for mixed martial arts events is an 18 to 34 year old male, tattoos all over their body, and a grasp of the English language on par with a 7 year old. WOW, that sounds exactly like the WWE. And, isn't that where Brock Lesnar came from?
Now let's put all of this into perspective for a professional martial arts school owner. Who do you want coming into your school? Is it that same UFC or MMA diehard fan? Or is it the professional who is truly looking to gain the same things out of the martial arts that you and I did: respect, Confidence, athleticism and character development for their children?
The truth of the matter is that we're seeing both types of schools in the martial arts community now. We're seeing the MMA school that has that exact clientele and we're also seeing the character development focused martial arts school that has the professionals, the families and the children. The question comes down to what you want to do with your life and what success and impact you want to have on your community.
I am watching MMA school's go out of business every day and struggle to keep the doors open. At the same time I'm watching professional martial arts schools, who's concentration is on character development and respect thrive and grow and have positive impacts on their community.
Those of you who know me have always heard me say, "you are the average of the five people who you spend the most time with." Oh how true that is.
Let me clarify, I think Brock Lesnar is terrific athlete. But so are Terrell Owens and Michael Vick... and I don't ever want my children looking up to them as role models either. Unfortunately it's what you get when you take good athletes and turn them into professional athletes without a quality background and upbringing. I just can't see Dana White and the UFC wanting to turn into the WWE - which is exactly what happened on Saturday night.
The UFC (and MMA) has very positive role models in Georges St Pierre (who also fought and won on Saturday), Lyoto Machida and Anderson Silva (and others). What's the common thread between those fighters? They came up with traditional martial arts backgrounds and were taught respect. I am also impressed with how Frank Mir handled himself after the fight - we acted with dignity and respect - even after Lesnar's WWE antics. How did he start - traditional martial arts!
I just hope that Dana White and the UFC came down hard on Lesnar - becuase what they've done is cause me (and I would guess so many others) to really look at the fight cards prior to buying or watching a UFC event ever again. If Lesnar is on the card, I will never again watch it(from those I've had this conversation with, they are in agreement). If it's GSP or Machida or Silva - we're there. It would be interesting to see how much money Lesnar will cost them in the end...
On Saturday night the billing for UFC 100 was to be the ultimate UFC experience of mixed martial arts. What it turned out to be was phenomenal displays of martial arts ability up until the heavyweight championship match. That turned out to be a disgrace for the UFC and potentially ruin almost everyone's image of the UFC thanks to one individual: Brock Lesnar.
I don't know about you, but when I started the martial arts we were always taught respect and character. We are taught to bow when entering the training hall. We are taught to bow to our training partners and opponents. We're taught to always have respect for our training partners, our opponents, our teachers and instructors, our parents, friends and our art. We're taught to say thank you, yes sir and yes ma'am, please and all of those other positive actions.
What I saw on Saturday night was the opposite of all of those teachings.
Mixed martial arts has been around since the beginning of martial arts itself. It's nothing new. We've been doing it in our curriculum since 1983. Myself since I started martial arts, which was in 1972. The only reason that it come into its own is thanks to the UFC and finding a way to monetize mixed martial arts. Don't get me wrong. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. I find the problem in the type of person that the new "mixed martial arts" has drawn to martial arts.
The typical draw for mixed martial arts events is an 18 to 34 year old male, tattoos all over their body, and a grasp of the English language on par with a 7 year old. WOW, that sounds exactly like the WWE. And, isn't that where Brock Lesnar came from?
Now let's put all of this into perspective for a professional martial arts school owner. Who do you want coming into your school? Is it that same UFC or MMA diehard fan? Or is it the professional who is truly looking to gain the same things out of the martial arts that you and I did: respect, Confidence, athleticism and character development for their children?
The truth of the matter is that we're seeing both types of schools in the martial arts community now. We're seeing the MMA school that has that exact clientele and we're also seeing the character development focused martial arts school that has the professionals, the families and the children. The question comes down to what you want to do with your life and what success and impact you want to have on your community.
I am watching MMA school's go out of business every day and struggle to keep the doors open. At the same time I'm watching professional martial arts schools, who's concentration is on character development and respect thrive and grow and have positive impacts on their community.
Those of you who know me have always heard me say, "you are the average of the five people who you spend the most time with." Oh how true that is.
Let me clarify, I think Brock Lesnar is terrific athlete. But so are Terrell Owens and Michael Vick... and I don't ever want my children looking up to them as role models either. Unfortunately it's what you get when you take good athletes and turn them into professional athletes without a quality background and upbringing. I just can't see Dana White and the UFC wanting to turn into the WWE - which is exactly what happened on Saturday night.
The UFC (and MMA) has very positive role models in Georges St Pierre (who also fought and won on Saturday), Lyoto Machida and Anderson Silva (and others). What's the common thread between those fighters? They came up with traditional martial arts backgrounds and were taught respect. I am also impressed with how Frank Mir handled himself after the fight - we acted with dignity and respect - even after Lesnar's WWE antics. How did he start - traditional martial arts!
I just hope that Dana White and the UFC came down hard on Lesnar - becuase what they've done is cause me (and I would guess so many others) to really look at the fight cards prior to buying or watching a UFC event ever again. If Lesnar is on the card, I will never again watch it(from those I've had this conversation with, they are in agreement). If it's GSP or Machida or Silva - we're there. It would be interesting to see how much money Lesnar will cost them in the end...
Sunday, July 12, 2009
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Monday, July 6, 2009
Saturday, July 4, 2009
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