MMA as a MARTIAL ART is crap IMO... so many fake ass gym rats claiming they are MMA allstars. I've done 8 martial arts so far and the most useful has been Aikido, the stuff from that is so brutal, you don't need muscle or anything to break bones, its all techniques and learning to manipulate peoples joints. I trained Muay Thai as well and during one altercation I threw a punch and busted my hand so bad that bones were sticking out from different sides. You absolutely DO NOT WANT to hit someone with your hand if you can avoid it. I had a little run in here at a gym recently, I was showing a guy how to punch the bag correctly and from out of nowhere this buff little dude walked up and said "NO thats of NO USE!!! I AM MMA I KNOW PUNCH, U WATCH" in broken English.. then he hit the bag in a very Hollywood way. He turned to me and said "Your techniques would never work on me, you want try?"... I should have said no. I said I'd go really slow just to show him but as I was doing a VERY light arm bar, the dude resisted and came at me with a gut punch which forced me to finish the technique full power, knee him in the stomach and then grab his neck. Within about 3 seconds he was on the floor... I said to him "Listen guy, relax ok or we are gonna get kicked out". Anyway, I'm glad I didn't get kicked out of the gym because apparently he is a trainer and works for them. He was actually just trying to show off in front of my wife to prove a Chinaman could kick a white man's ass... but I've even trained my wife so she knows real martial arts from BS. Anyway do Aikido brother, its absolutely the most practical martial art you will ever use. I haven't seen that guy around since that, I hope that he got fired, I hate people like that.
Last year a dude broke my neck kind of accidentally while doing long sword training, luckily the Chinese chiropractors are good at their jobs or I would have been permanently disabled... anyway if you want a tough as nails 'martial art' that will actually beef you up and teach you amazing ****, go with long sword and short sword fighting. You can get a really sweet WASTER from COLD STEEL that is good to learn techniques with and let me tell you, I would NOT want to go toe to toe with a guy who knows old world techniques. Jesus christ, even if you have a bat or a stick, you can fvck somebody's day up, and the amount of sh1t you learn is incredible. Those knights man, they fvking meant business.. one hit kills. I was not into it prior to meeting the guy who taught me and sort of thought it was bullsh1t but I fell in love with the art, once we started training, it is NOT for the faint of heart. Just knowing that most people were sliced and diced within 2 moves made me really appreciate what our ancestors sacrificed to get where we are today.
Wrestling, Grappling, Punching and Kicking are all overrated and likely of little use on the street. Aikido has stuff that if you do it a little wrong, you'll bust peoples bones, highly recommended. If you are just looking for fitness and sport though keep doing Muay Thai and MMA. One thing that martial arts is SUPPOSED to teach you is respect for your fellow man and that you shouldn't go around thinking you can 'kick someone's ass' because half of the real stuff can permanently disable you. Even in my case last year, he accidentally hit me too hard and the strike cracked my C1 and C2 vertebrae plus gave me a concussion, that is some life changing sh1t right there man. It doesn't take much to fvck someone up permanently. A small concussion can kill a man and the less harmful one can fck up both sight and hearing... I had to lay down in a dark room for a month with no light and no sound and walk around in a neck brace. Unless you fully intend to kill or maim someone, never willingly enter into a fight. IMO MMA is the stupidest thing in the world and those guys are playing with their lives.
