Posts by Eric Jackson43

ruggedfalcon2 said:Look, a Judas from Judo definitely brings some serious skills to the table because they've got those strikes too, 😉 Eric Jackson43, and I'm talking pure skill here, not just what you see in a ring. 😉

Sure, they have striking—atemi, if my memory serves—but honestly, half the time it probably makes more sense to just go straight for the takedown.

ruggedfalcon2 said:That’s just another misconception, kind of like the whole breaking hands thing... hitting the throat or the eyes isn't the core of an attack, those are just desperate moves for extreme situations... anyone basing their entire fight strategy on poking eyes is just as much of a joke as someone hoping to win by using a lever. 😉

So does that mean the foundation of sparring is basically just whatever moves are legal in the UFC? Because if that's the case, then why would a session like that even be considered sparring if it's not UFC, and wouldn't the guy who wins in the UFC just win that type of sparring anyway?

ruggedfalcon2 said:Listen, anyone who plays a sport is going to get a massive reality check when they end up on a street corner... I'm not really interested in ranking who gets more surprised or less, I just respect the athletes who don't let themselves get caught off guard in a real fight. 😉

It might actually be useful to put together a list of everything traditional martial arts cover that the UFC lacks, so we can really dig into where those fighters fall short. 😉

ruggedfalcon2 said:why on earth do you think UFC is somehow "superior" when it comes to fighting in a ring?? you can't just lump handball and basketball together like that. how can you even compare UFC to some other sport when the rules are completely different... I don't get you. fine, let's play by your logic: if UFC is supposedly the ultimate thing, why doesn't some UFC fighter just go out and challenge for a world championship title in boxing? why wouldn't they? why?.. there's your logic right there, so please, give me an answer. once you actually grasp the difference between a structured sport and actual combat skills, you'll see they aren't even in the same conversation 😉

Maybe calling it "superior" is the wrong way to frame it in terms of sports ranking, but it’s definitely closer to a real fight since it covers way more ground than something like boxing. A Boxer stepping out onto the street is going to be facing a lot more holes in their game than a UFC practitioner. A Boxer only really learns how to defend against punches above the waist, so any situation involving anything else would leave them totally scrambling to improvise.

ruggedfalcon2 Eric Jackson43 said:Look, I’m telling you, you don't win a fight by focusing on breaking someone's arm... in any real combat sport, leverage isn't your primary weapon, it's just extra fluff, and honestly, relying on it is just plain stupid when a solid strike is always the priority. You really think people are only going to scrap strictly by the rulebook and nothing else?

Some kind of Judas might actually agree with you, even if they spend their days practicing atemi, but honestly, that’s a whole other conversation.

ruggedfalcon2 Eric Jackson43 said:The way they design these sparring sessions feels like they're trying way too hard to pretend they're actually hitting something real. Honestly, if you've already completely outclassed someone in a drill, I don't see why you'd need to go out of your way to grab their arm just to make it feel "authentic"... it's kind of obvious you've never actually stepped foot in a real free-flow session. 😕

Actually, when I really sit back and think about it, there’s this one massive thing sparring offers that you just don't get in the UFC. It’s those "demonstration strikes"—you know, where you throw a shot but pull it at the last second just to show your partner exactly what you could have done to them. It’s basically a way to test out the lethal stuff like throat shots, eye gouges, or elbowing someone in the temple without actually sending them to the ER.

ruggedfalcon2 Eric Jackson43 said:Honestly, I feel like traditional combat sports—like Muay Thai matches or Burmese boxing—actually carry way more weight than the UFC does. You're kind of making a logical leap here; just because the UFC allows a massive variety of techniques doesn't mean it’s somehow more "real." It’s like saying a chef who can whip up fifty different dishes is automatically better than one who masters only three; quantity of skills doesn't always equal quality. 😉

I honestly think UFC is just more realistic because letting in all those different techniques covers way more of what actually happens when things go sideways on the street. If a Muay Thai fighter ends up out on the pavement, they’re going to get caught off guard by a takedown way faster than an MMA fighter would. An MMA guy is basically prepared for a wider range of attacks simply because the sport itself allows for them. It's like saying a chef needs a much bigger menu to survive in a real kitchen compared to just cooking in a controlled studio setting.

The whole MMA scene is still such a mess, honestly—it feels like an unfinished project that might never actually get its act together, and let’s be real, the flaws are pretty hard to ignore.
Focusing solely on sport BJJ might work fine inside the cage, but it’s a losing game out in the real world. The thing is, UFC is constantly evolving, and those hyper-specialized fighters are slowly getting phased out by the well-rounded guys who actually know how to handle whatever situation they get thrown into.

One thing we really need to dig into is just how much the ring itself limits the fight, and whether the sheer dominance of UFC strikers actually makes up for all those massive gaps left by not training other disciplines properly.

ruggedfalcon2 said:not every fight has to end in a funeral, 😁and you don't exactly need to snap someone's arm or kill them just to prove how reality works...

But the second you start limiting techniques, you're basically just imposing rules and turning it into a sport, which brings us back to the fact that modern UFC has pretty much proven itself as the gold standard for that kind of thing; sure, it’s got its flaws—like that sudden corner ambush you mentioned—but it makes up for it in so many other ways.

ruggedfalcon2 said:why on earth do you think illegal fights don't exist even today?😉

I'm pretty sure they're out there, I mean, if two neighbors get into a brawl on their front lawn, that's technically an illegal fight too, but the issue is that because they're underground, you can't really "scale" them, whereas when something like UFC goes mainstream, the quality actually climbs because more people bring their own expertise to the table, and honestly, I doubt we would have ever even heard of Fedor Emelianenko if the sport hadn't gone global.

ruggedfalcon2 said:but you're mixing things up again, Jeet Kune Do is a skill set, not a sport, and that's the whole reason you don't see it in a ring.🙂

UFC is a sport, yeah, but it's one that tries its hardest to blur that line between pure athletics and actual combat skill.

ruggedfalcon2 said:sparring doesn't ruin a traditional art... honestly, I have no clue where you even got that idea.😕

I'm not saying sparring ruins things, it's just that an art gets watered down when everything boils down to nothing but sparring and you lose that chance to actually test your skills in a real-world scenario.

ruggedfalcon2 said:UFC isn't exactly the closest thing to what a real fight looks like in terms of street survival... it's really just the most complete version of a competitive sport we have, played under specific rules with a referee stepping in to help out.

What I was getting at is that within the limits of what's legal and socially acceptable today, UFC is about as close as you can get. If you want something that's actually sanctioned and won't land you in prison, this kind of sport is the peak. Sure, back in the day people could organize death matches without rules or refs, but in modern America, that's obviously impossible, so that's where the UFC fills the gap.

ruggedfalcon2 said:UFC doesn't follow Bruce Lee's system or his approach to fighting... and if it did, you'd see Jeet Kune Do masters dominating the UFC octagon.😉

If my memory serves me right:
1. Jeet Kune Do as a formal system is technically unfinished, but that doesn't mean its core principles can't be applied.
2. There's also the question of whether any true Jeet Kune Do master even exists today—or ever existed besides Bruce Lee, though he probably didn't even consider himself a master since he never got to finalize the whole system.

stormycobra812 said:I’m asking again, why does so many people hate on BJJ? Is there something about it that actually bothers you guys? I honestly don't get what's so annoying about it. Is it just because of Helio and how he played his hand? So what?

Well, if I recall correctly, Helio and his crew pulled a lot of shady moves back in the day, so they aren't exactly beloved by a lot of the UFC crowd, even if everyone still treats them like legends.

swiftsurfer80 swiftsurfer80 said:The whole idea that MMA is this wide-open, evolving ecosystem is kind of a joke because everything eventually just settles into these rigid little silos, creating these "21st-century" disciplines that are really just repackaged versions of 20th-century stuff like Shooto, Krav Maga, and Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.

Real UFC practitioners don't care about labels; they'll grab whatever works if it gets the job done. If some Tai Chi move suddenly proves itself effective tomorrow, no serious fighter is going to feel embarrassed about adding it to their arsenal just because it's labeled as Tai Chi.

swiftsurfer80 swiftsurfer80 said:Most of this is just driven by the bottom line, so let's be real—calling Machado Jiu-Jitsu the same thing as Gracie Jiu-Jitsu is a stretch, much like saying Shooto is just full contact plus wrestling. Honestly, if you walk up to some BJJ guy and try to claim the whole thing just evolved from Judo—since Helio learned specifically from Judo practitioners—he’ll probably take your head off.

Honestly, if you're a real practitioner, it doesn't matter whether you're grinding in Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, Machado, or some old-school Aikido style—all that matters is whether the techniques actually work when things get real. It’s the same story with traditional martial arts, too. Unfortunately, you find posers and show-offs everywhere, and they aren't just limited to the UFC scene. If anything, the cage might actually hold those types back since they can't just fake their way through a fight to sell a dream; in the UFC, everyone eventually gets a chance to prove what they're actually made of.

swiftsurfer80 swiftsurfer80 said:Look, you can still grind out some UFC training even when you're feeling completely burnt out.

You can always get back into it later if you want, though obviously, you aren't going to be out there trading blows with some twenty-year-old UFC phenom, but you can still build yourself into someone who actually knows how to handle themselves in a scrap.

swiftsurfer80 said:You see these guys beating the hell out of each other with some gambling site's logo tattooed right on their shaved chests... and then they start lecturing you about reality. The sponsor of reality—McBet sportsbooks.

I’m pretty sure half those logos are just waterproof marker, not actual ink. 😉
At the end of the day, everything costs money, including the growth of UFC, and honestly, I don't really see the corporate side as a flaw since we're all just stuck living in this era anyway. The quality of the fights scales with how mainstream the sport becomes, and in a capitalist system, you can't get reach without deep pockets, which is the same story for almost every other sport out there—even the ones where people actually lose their lives, unlike in the UFC. It’s a sport, sure, but it's also a martial art, probably more of a genuine skill than most things people call "skills" these days.

Robin Palmer3 said:swiftsurfer80, your takes are honestly too naive to even bother responding to... you're just way too obsessed with Japanese martial arts to have a rational conversation with!

The reality is that over the last 500 years, martial arts have stayed much more intact in China and Japan than they did in America or the Middle East. It’s just that the style of warfare in America or the Middle East was constantly shifting, which meant tactics and skills were always being overhauled. I'm not trying to imply that China or Japan are somehow less developed or stuck in the past, it's just that history dealt them a different hand. In America, those old-school combat styles either died out or just morphed into sports because, say, during the Napoleonic Wars, nobody really needed medieval swordplay anymore and close-quarters fighting lost its edge. On the flip side, in places like Japan, hand-to-hand combat was still being practiced with the same frequency, so those skills just managed to stick around much longer.

Well said, though I don't think it's entirely spot on 👍
I honestly feel like a ton of actual skill has just evaporated through history, leaving us with nothing but shadows of what these arts used to be in their prime. Modern life just doesn't provide the right environment to actually test anything, since most "real" fights nowadays are decided by firearms, which basically spells the death knell for traditional martial arts. Without that constant pressure testing, the techniques start to rot because they get tuned specifically for controlled sparring, and you rarely see today's masters facing a legitimate life-or-death struggle. That’s why we see systems like Krav Maga popping up to fit the modern era, but even then, you lose the soul of the original art and the raw essence of the fight.

That's where UFC comes in as the closest thing we have to what actual combat should look like, as much as that's even possible today. Sure, there are plenty of "holes" since it's happening in a cage against an opponent you're staring down who isn't going to sneak up behind you, and obviously, there are no weapons involved, but for most people, it feels way more authentic than those other styles that claim to teach everything but never actually put it to the test. Like I mentioned in another thread, UFC follows Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do philosophy pretty closely—just stripping away the useless fluff and keeping what actually works. Even if it's limited to the cage, that kind of openness is exactly why it stays effective. It isn't some finished, perfect system, and it probably never will be; it's constantly evolving, and if something like Aikido or Pa-qua actually proves its worth one day, you can bet it'll be integrated into the mix immediately.

Christian Rodriguez15 said:it might seem like we’re just playing music to keep things light and breezy during training, but that's not really it, because honestly, the tunes just help us get better results since everyone’s vibing and actually putting in the work.

I hear you, and I totally believe it, especially when you're grinding through those repetitive drills like heavy bag work where having some decent rhythm just makes the whole slog feel a little less soul-crushing.

Christian Rodriguez15 said:it’s just Muay Thai, not some high-level "art" like Wing Chun or whatever else you've got going on.

I mean, if you aren't taking it seriously, then sure, maybe it isn't.

Christian Rodriguez15 said:where you have to be 100% dialed in every single second.

Honestly, I don't think you can really pull that off with any discipline at all, much less stay focused forever. 😉

Music can actually be pretty chill for winding down if you don't crank it up too loud, and while having it blasting might mess with your head when you're trying to learn something new, it definitely helps when you're just running through stuff you already know.

Manowar really knows how to tap into that raw, primal energy with "Power," and honestly, listening to it sometimes feels like the only thing keeping my cynical soul from completely checking out of this chaotic world.
Manowar - Holy War
If you're looking for anything that isn't soft, just put on some Manowar. 😉

happyman said:what on earth is this "iron palm" exercise?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Palm

Armbar said:Is there any chance of finding a tall, curvy Chinese woman around here, or is it just those Japanese girls popping up every now and then?😁

Honestly, I’m pretty sure you'll run into a hot, tall Chinese woman way before you ever spot a Japanese one.

ruggedfalcon2 said:Nah, they're too fragile, and man, they seriously smell like Rice down there—I'm dead serious, some guy I know told me that after he was hooking up with a Chinese woman.

See, I'm convinced Baghdad is a pro at that stuff too, and he could probably teach How a thing or two about it.

wanderingridge said:when it comes to those techniques, poking someone in the neck with your finger can actually hurt quite a bit if you've got rock-hard fingers
I'm not really buying how effective the rest of this stuff is.

Trust me, this guy’s got hands like granite—I’ve felt it myself—so I’m pretty sure he can pull off all these moves without breaking a sweat, assuming he doesn't run into someone just as tough as he is. But honestly, the real question is whether any regular guy with average strength could even make this work.

I’m jumping in here to add my own well wishes to the pile; hopefully he pulls through quickly and gets right back to hitting the gym before anyone can even miss him.

👍 Honestly, every single one of them is just as bad, including this one from the video.