However, I will also concede it is not a perfect martial art. Whilst it is practical, it doesn’t teach weapon or weapon defenses – those wishing to learn knife fighting or other improvised weapons must learn elsewhere. It also doesn’t teach fighting multiple opponents, nor other pressure point strikes (throat punches, eye gouges)

MMA isn’t perfect. Neither is any martial art. Personally, I would like to, at some stage, train in a reality-based martial art, but at the moment, I’m learning plenty from MMA.

Knife fighting is one of many diverse traditions in the world of martial arts. If “TMA” actually existed as a monolith (does not), and if MMA was its evolution (under consideration, just for fun), then we might ask why they dropped the knife work.

What is your answer to that question Jack?

WTF??? What has that to do with TMA?? If I actually believed you I would want that school shut down and the instructors prosecuted. If I believed you…

And:
“I suggest that TMA people learn to not only get along, but train with MMA people. We can learn a lot from each other, besides it sucks to be taken out by a move you could have countered if you were more familiar with working against it.”

You’re a man after my own heart, Josh. Cheers, and happy training!

However in the states these types of training are little known. Several instructors who I think highly of have striking training but do not hit trees or bags. Others who I think highly of have very little striking training.

My teacher reported meeting two people he asked to do push hands with where the person asked my teacher to strike them as hard as he could. After being convinced that is what they wanted he gave it a try and hurt his hand on them! My teacher has no training at striking though.

One man I know online commented on a video of tree training saying that it is well known in Taiwan and was nothing special or unique.

I have been training on striking things, testing out taiji moves. It is not easy to apply single whips palm strike easily and properly this way, indeed it takes some training. I don’t know if I have any skill this way, I have never been willing to do to a person what I can do to a tree or a streetlight.

My opinion is that it is all about the person. TMA or MMA, big deal, only those who obsess and practice will obtain true skill. There is always someone better, bigger, faster or stronger. There is no such thing as a superior art, only people who have shown more dedication and so have recieved more benefits.

You can find bad examples in TMA and MMA and some very good ones too. Both of those categories and pretty vague anyway. As a primarily traditional taiji enthusiast I have found friends trained in MMA have been supportive and after training intensely for 3 years they have nothing but praise for the skill I have gained.

I suggest that TMA people learn to not only get along, but train with MMA people. We can learn a lot from each other, besides it sucks to be taken out by a move you could have countered if you were more familiar with working against it. There are a lot of cocky over confident people in both MMA and TMA, they love to berate each other but have more to gain from friendly competition that bickering and backbiting.

Josh Young, I do not know of any internal martial artists who hit stuff. All the teachers my friends or I have met have insisted that hitting bags or trees or whatnot does more harm than good. But that could simply be because we’ve met a special (not necessarily better or more authentic) subset of the IMA population.

A comparison of TMA and MMA is inevitable because the fans and, in less obnoxious fashion, the practitioners of both claim supremacy on the same stage, and each group accuses the other of missing the point. And then we have a third group who seem reasonable and enlightened because they stand above the conflict and declare a mix of both the best approach, but they’re really just as partisan as the ones they criticize, if you see what I mean.

Basically, we all have opinions about what is right and what is wrong, and having an opinion makes us necessarily disagree with the opposite point of view. We may choose not throw them in anyone’s face and we may be willing to change them when motivated by new evidence, but opinions are still opinions.

Likewise, internal martial artists do *not* hit sandbags
Some certainly do. But not in the same way as external styles. Many “internal” artists I have met have never hit anything hard in their life. There are some things to learn from applications practice of energy transmission.

Tree training is a well known part of some internal styles. It is not the same as hitting a bag, a bag is so much more forgiving of error.

I think comparing TMA to MMA is like comparing apples to outhouses. The contexts are so different, what can be gained through such a comparison?

Likewise, BJJ, judo, wrestling, and other grappling arts prohibit striking while on the ground. MMA, as far as I know, is the only competitive sport which allows such tactics, fundamentally altering the ground game. The saying goes, “Punch a BJJ black belt in the face once and he’s a brown belt. Do it again, he’s a purple, again, and he’s a blue.” Frank Mir, one of the top submission artists around, was just shut down by Brock Lesnar, whom he beat before with a submission, but this time was pounded out with hammer fists while on his back.

The most successful mixed martial artists continue to evolve the sport by mixing and adapting styles to work best for them. Georges St. Pierre’s pinpoint striking allows him to execute his smooth takedowns, which set him up for great top control and submission opportunities. Likewise, Rich Franklin’s excellent escapes and takedown defense allow him to stay on his feet and outlast most of his competition. Then you take a fighter like Fedor who overwhelms his opponent at all phases, constantly threatening them with powerful punches both standing and on the ground.

As for the original intention of the article, I would consider MMA to be less an organism than the ecosystem itself. Traditional martial arts like Muay Boran lived in the ecosystem of the battlefield and duels to the death. MMA represents a new ecosystem for unarmed combat, and will only become unpopular when a new cultural combat sport rises to take its place. Similar to how folk wrestling was replaced by boxing, and how boxing is losing the race to MMA, there will eventually be a new form of entertainment that will be socially acceptable to take its place in the future. Perhaps when headbutts, eye gouging, groin shots, and other techniques become socially acceptable for entertainment will a new MMA or combat sport emerge. Until then, however, I don’t think it’s going anywhere soon.