Donald Lee Wilkey;203740 said:
Ryan,
see thats what sucks about MMA, they wanna call it ultimate fighting, but they won't allow for joint manipulation. I find that very disturbing and discriminating inside a ring or cagematch. One can beat the other person to a bloody-pulp, but one can't manipulate a tendon, ligament, and joint to the 'point of tapping out', whats up with that?
Donald,
I completely understand them not allowing small joint manipulation. It's a sport, and as such it has to have rules to make it competitive and less "brutal". The reason they instituted weight classes and so many rules is because MMA was essentially banned because of the brutality. They couldn't even get on PPV at one point in time I believe.
It is far easier to apply a technique on a larger joint (elbow, knee or shoulder) and induce the other competitor to "tap out" without doing permanent damage. Applying a wrist-lock or a finger-lock is far more likely to result in a break because the joints are so small and there is less leeway.
Take the arm-bar (Juji-Gatame in Judo) that is so common in MMA for example. If the technique is applied quickly with full force it is not likely to result in a break. A break is possible, but more than likely the worst injury that will occur before the recipient can tap-out is a hyper-extension of the elbow joint.
In contrast, applying a "small-joint" lock quickly and with force can easily cause a break that could result in the recipient being unable to compete for a great deal of time. I know someone who was the unfortunate recipient of a wrist-lock from an a-hole who had no business instructing. His wrist was broken in two places and required surgery and metal pins to reconstruct. To this day he has issues receiving any techniques on that wrist.
The rules instituted in MMA are designed to allow freedom of technique, but without risking permanent damage to the fighters.
However, I do have to say I disagree with the notion that Aikido is completely worthless in the ring. There are numerous techniques that I think would compliment a fighter's skill-set and not violate any rules. Distancing, entering (irimi) and receiving skills (think uke-nagashi) would be quite useful in my opinion.
One thing you have to keep in mind is that there are Aikido techniques that are similarly practiced in other arts like Judo and BJJ, which are popular "bases" for MMA competitors. I lived in Japan for 15 years and attended numerous Pride events and witnessed Judo fighters use techniques almost identical to Aikido's ikkyo, hiji-otoshi, etc.
While I agree that the fancy throws Aikido is famous for (think uke-nagashi tenkan to a big kotegaeshi) will never be seen in a ring, I think it's short-sighted to say that Aikido training would have no benefit.
With the talent Anderson Silva has, if he dedicated a couple years to Aikido training I think we would see some very interesting things happen in the ring. At this point I wouldn't be shocked to see a nice, hard Shuto make an appearance when he fights Chael Sonen...
P.S. - Apologies if my Aikido terminology is a bit off. I practice Hakko-Ryu Aikijujutsu (also a Daito Ryu derivative) and there are some differences in the names of techniques. For example, we say shodan, nidan, and sandan instead of ikkyo, nikyo, and sankyo.