93 posts shown.
Justin Adams5 said:Thailand
They aren't bad—they just lack the heavy hitters...😁
Russia produces more champions than anyone else in basically every combat sport—boxing, wrestling, judo, sambo—and they even have the best fighter in the UFC right now. Honestly, the Americans are the only ones even close to them.
Roger Carter71 said:There’s just as much risk of sleeping around and catching something.
Avoiding fights is the smarter move—period.
😕 So, following your logic—we should probably just stop having sex altogether, huh? Heh...👍
mistycrane14 said:... what if you happen to get into a scrap outside your house with someone carrying a bloodborne disease—say, you land a punch that splits both your hand and their face, and somehow catch whatever they have?
Or vice versa—they’re covered in blood and a single drop lands on you?
Basically, catching HIV or something from a physical altercation.
It’s a stupid question, I know—but it’s been rattling around my brain for a while now.
So, here we are... let me hear it. 😁
In that first scenario, you could absolutely catch it... unfortunately. If a drop of their blood hits your skin and you don't have any open wounds, though, there's no risk of HIV or hepatitis.
PLEMENITI_KOREKTOR said:👍 decent, informative piece—though I have some documented data that differs slightly... so I’d like to offer a few corrections and additions:
1) First off, we aren't talking about the 33rd Olympic Games in 648 BCE, but rather the 23rd Olympic Games back in 684 BCE. 👍
2) I should also mention that fighters were allowed breaks during a match—signaled by dropping down to one knee.
3) A fight couldn't just end without a winner... if neither fighter signaled surrender (via a raised thumb) after a long period where dominance wasn't established, the judges would call for a "sudden death" round. In this stage, each fighter was entitled to one alternating strike that the opponent had no right to defend against!
4) Under the rules, a fighter could actually be declared the Olympic victor even if they died in combat—basically, choosing to sacrifice their life rather than surrender in the finals.🙏
5) Generally speaking, hands weren't wrapped at all.
6) Practically anything went—including eye-gouging and finger-pulling—which contradicts what the text above claims was prohibited.
Anyway, those are just a few interesting tidbits pulled from the book *Full Contact Karate* (specifically the section on the origins of martial arts) by Professor Kulesh and Dr. Truntic. 🙂
PS—I'm not entirely convinced we're talking about Socrates regarding Pankration wrestling; I'd lean toward Plato, who was famously an excellent wrestler (Robin Palmer3, you might find that interesting 😉). BTW, "Plato" actually means "broad," which refers to his powerful physique—typical for wrestlers.😉
Look, I didn't write the original post... but thanks for the corrections regardless (assuming they are correct, since everything depends on the source—but if we're talking Kulesh and Truntic, then fine 👍).
Mixed Martial Arts—specifically the style known as Pankration Athletics—was recently accepted into the global FILA federation. This means it'll soon be recognized as an official sport within the Olympic family, which should mean we'll see it integrated here in the States pretty soon too.
Mixed Martial Arts is an ancient combat sport—one that actually made its debut at the 33rd Olympic Games back in 648 B.C.—serving as the direct ancestor to modern UFC. The term itself comes from two Greek words, "pan" (meaning all) and "kratos" (meaning strength or power).
Legend has it that these fighting styles were pioneered by the hero Theseus—son of King Aegeus, the guy who took down the Minotaur—by blending boxing and wrestling. People have been arguing about whether this style is even worth practicing for centuries—much like the endless debates we see in the fight world today! Some viewed it as the absolute peak of combat, while others dismissed it as just sloppy wrestling paired with weak striking. Even the philosopher Socrates was reportedly a two-time champion in this discipline at the Olympics. There were essentially two versions: *kato pankration*, where fighters could go to the ground, and *ano pankration*, where you had to stay on your feet. Almost everything was legal—strikes, chokes, joint locks—except for eye-gouging, biting, or finger-pulling (though I hear the Spartans weren't above breaking those rules). While knockouts happened, most fights ended on the ground—which was terrifying because choking someone out was a legitimate death sentence. If a fighter refused to tap during a choke, they’d sometimes be declared the winner posthumously if they showed enough heart. These guys were elite grapplers—mastering takedowns and submissions long before anyone else. There was zero protective gear; sometimes they’d even wrap their hands in leather straps just to deal more damage. Referees actually carried whips and sticks to keep people from biting or gouging eyes. Not that it really stopped anything when someone was trapped—matches didn't end until someone tapped, passed out, or died.
If no winner emerged by nightfall, the judges would call for a *klimax*. The fighters would stand face-to-face and trade blows without being allowed to block—essentially a slugfest where the last man standing won.
The styles varied wildly, much like Eastern martial arts today, with different schools passing techniques down through families. They even worked on internal energy—similar to *chi* in Chinese arts or *ki* in Japanese traditions—but the Greeks called it *Spirit*. They proved their conditioning by breaking stones with their bare hands and smashing shields with kicks. To toughen up their limbs, they’d strike heavy bags and wooden posts.
This stuff was the backbone of military training across the ancient world. The Spartans were famous for fighting even after losing their weapons, and Alexander the Great’s army certainly utilized these techniques—as did the Sacred Band.
Because of this, there’s a popular theory among historians that Alexander and his troops brought these fighting methods to India, which then trickled down to China and Japan, eventually evolving into Kung Fu, Karate, Jiu-Jitsu, and Muay Thai.
P.S.
I transcribed this from an old MMA forum—the original author was Syntagma.
rustyangler02 said:Nah. Haven't even heard of him...
Look, the guy was a world champion in Muay Thai—some version of it, anyway—about 15 years back. He actually clinched that title in Atlantic City... just go ask some of the local guys in New Jersey who used to train in MT.
rustyangler02 said:At this small gym in a city like Columbus... I doubt you’d recognize it. Most of these guys aren't exactly elite fighters lately. We see an occasional win here and there, but we all know how things work in the States. It’s tough to balance heavy training sessions with a real job. You have to work. Very few people can actually make a living just by fighting. You might know my coach, though. He had some solid runs back in the day—think along the lines of the legends from the old school era.
Are you training over at Kranjčec's place by any chance?
jademarlin26 said:Forget the prices. It’s just bait for Westerners who still brag about practicing a martial art without breaking a sweat. In my dojo, we certainly incorporate strength training and conditioning drills. It's obvious why many Aikidoka skip it—they've convinced themselves that building muscle will somehow ruin their technique. Give me a break. 😵These are just pathological fixations by certain individuals.
IMNSHO, training any martial art without possessing enough strength to even handle your own body is absurd.
I really dig this mindset—especially coming from the TMA crowd! If you actually want to be decent at any martial art, you have to work on your physical conditioning. You can't just train the spirit; you have to build the body to match.
Mark Wilson39 said:I’m actually curious to see what kind of "specialized" work these guys end up doing...
I know this martial arts instructor out in Oakland who's a butcher by trade—he makes his real money doing house calls! His shop sign literally says, "Mobile Butchery."
Justin Watson58 said:...well, wrestlers are tough—their training is brutal—and it's hard for anyone else to stop a wrestler from taking them down... judokas are solid, too, and they're a nightmare to topple...
...it’s like they say, brute force isn't everything—if there's a massive weight gap, all the wrestling or judo in the world won't matter if you don't know how to balance technique against pure strength...
...and the law of leverage—not just limb leverage, mind you—is a nasty little thing...
Look, both Judo and wrestling are incredibly deep disciplines... almost every single move relies on leverage principles, so weight doesn't mean much when a practitioner applies their technique properly—especially against someone who has no clue how either style works.
Technique and raw strength—along with everything else physical—are what actually make a top-tier fighter or master... the second you strip away one of those components, you aren't a master anymore.
Jujigatame said:It’s true... everyone perceives reality differently—some techniques just don't click for certain people, and some folks learn to fight perfectly well using entirely different methods... the only thing that matters is that they don't start peddling nonsense about having the "most effective military combat skills in the world."
There’s no point in being polite... if you think something is garbage, then just say it's garbage!
This is truly difficult crap... just awful!
Daniel Chavez14 said:Haha—though I’m sure Robin Palmer3 is going to come for my head now—but this just proves that all those striking techniques, leverage, and choking maneuvers don't mean much when compared to those cheap, dirty little tricks you don't even have to train hard. I mean, Barnett surrendered because of that. 😛
I'm on the same page here... poking someone in the eye doesn't require much practice, and it's certainly an effective way to end a fight—if you can actually land the shot!👍
George Martin70 said:This isn't a bad suggestion for the topic...
I honestly think it’s one of the biggest ones out there—would love to hear what Robin Palmer3 thinks about it.
Did I lose my mind trying to figure out what that little guy is even training?😲 🤣
ruggedfalcon2 said:By the way—the whole thing about "meaning" and "consolation"... it feels to me like you guys are all just martial artists who couldn't find actual purpose in your own disciplines, so you mashed everything together to invent MMA as some kind of consolation prize because what you were training wasn't enough. Just a random thought since we're talking about meaning and solace. 😁 😉
Look, wrestling is a beautiful sport—really—it offers peak physical and mental development for anyone involved... but after years in that world, I found my calling in MMA. It’s just the next level up from pure wrestling. Honestly, I'm just bummed it wasn't an option back when I was younger—total sporting tragedy, haha. 😬
Actually, there's always the flip side... take Yamamoto Norifumi Kid, that brilliant MMA fighter from Japan. He actually went back to wrestling and temporarily left MMA just to chase Olympic gold in Beijing. Go watch his MMA fights on YouTube—you'll be floored by this 143-pound genius who used to demolish opponents even if they outweighed him by 45 pounds... he took out guys like Royler Gracie and Genki Suda via knockout, and he famously dropped Kazayuki Myata with a flying knee in just four seconds. He's a beast in K1 too, undefeated—and that's coming from a wrestler at heart! 👍
David Lewis7 said:There’s very little debate regarding proving versus fulfilling—most people already touch on that when comparing martial arts to combat sports.
Why are traditional arts the only ones capable of offering inner peace and harmony?😕
Are they really the only disciplines possessing those qualities—the ones that supposedly give life its purpose?
Drop that nonsense...🙄 it's just a consolation prize for people practicing these so-called "martial arts." Once they realize how pointless all this training actually is, they run toward philosophy to find "inner peace" and "harmony"—of what, exactly?—😕 which is conveniently the one thing combat sports supposedly lack, ha...🤣
wanderingridge said:It’s awful. I'm feeling pretty shaky, so I'm just trashing the TMA—plus, I can't even get online. Total idiot here.
Why does it feel like we're in the same boat?😲 It’s honestly pathetic... I'm struggling just to stay connected to the internet myself!🙈
ruggedfalcon2 said:-No, because—let me repeat myself here—combat sports are bound by rules, while the street has none. A UFC fighter isn't training for the most common types of street assaults... I laid out a few examples in another thread already..
Che, look—in the UFC, you train everything that works in a fight, and any UFC fighter is definitely more prepared to react to unexpected situations than some hobbyist practicing so-called "traditional" martial arts.
Che Guerrilla said:A UFC fighter trains in a ring for when the bell rings, raising their guard and circling the cage and so on... none of that exists on the street.😉
That happens to me all the time... the second I hear a buzzer or a bell, I immediately snap into a guard and start circling around—usually while I'm riding the subway!😂 😂 😂
Che Guerrilla said:-The point is once again that one thing is combat sports and another is self-defense on the street... sports and self-defense share no common ground. Sparring in martial arts isn't a game... whereas a sporting competition is a game..
-A round isn't even a constraint... think again about what the actual difference is between a skill and a sporting game...
Che, if you saw me in person, you’d see the scars on my face from everything I've dealt with in life—or as everyone here calls it: "in RL."
Aside from sports, I've had countless fights in real life (🤣 how dangerous those two little letters are), from childhood right up to today (just three months ago, I "put to sleep" some arrogant criminal from my neighborhood). So, when I read the theories in your posts and those from your supporters, I can only tell you that you and your crowd are basically trying to sell ice to an Eskimo.
swiftsurfer80, your arguments are so incredibly naive they don't even merit a response... You're far too obsessed with Japanese martial arts to have a rational conversation with!