Whenever I think of styles in MMA I am reminded of an endeavor that was once made to breed a domesticated line of Foxes.
In Richard Dawkins Book "The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence of Evolution" he describes that by the time Breeders successfully weeded out the unsavory "wild" mannerism the Fox... what they were left with was an animal nobody wanted. The ears got floppy, the body filled out, the coat color changed and the tail lost its fluff.
Basically, it looked exactly like any other dog... and nobody cared for it. Does this mean that the Fox wasn't there anymore? I don't think so. Just that when you want a Fox to be a Dog... It's going to look like a Dog.
I see martial arts styles a lot in the same way. When we cater any style to the sport of MMA, its going to transform it into something more applicable to that sport. Machida's Karate looks a lot different in the cage than it would in his Karate Dojo. Even the sport of BJJ doesn't get the luxury of as many submissions from the bottom due to strikes.
You can't fit a square peg into a round hole... If you wanna try, your going to have to shave off the sides of the peg to round it out. The RULES of MMA set the standard for what can be done in the cage. You ever see a fighter put his hand or knee down to the mat so he can't get kneed to the head? Take a few minutes to recover from a groin shot? These all alter the martial arts... forcing them to play by THEIR rules.
You take the ability to eye jab away all of the sudden 40% of all of Kung Fu is now rendered nil. Every time you make a "rule" you are shaving off a piece of the square peg... And now what used to be a square, fits easily into the hole.
The Problem with Sport MMA is that its a round hole... Just because a square doesn't quite fit... Doesn't mean its not a shape.
"Everyone is a genius. But if you
judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree,
it will live its whole life believing
that it is stupid." -Matthew Kelly
Mike O'Laskey is a Welterweight Champion MMA fighter and Owner of O'Laskey Martial Arts in Burbank, CA.
1312 W. Magnolia Blvd Burbank Ca
91506
818-480-7810
olaskeyma@gmail.com
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