The History of Karate

Put a good striker in a fight with someone who isn't a good striker. The skilled fighter would evade most of what the unskilled fighter threw at them. There isn't even much need for blocking and covering if most of what is coming at you isn't making significant contact in the first place. Now take out the rules. If the unskilled fighter couldn't land a punch on the skilled fighter before, why would you expect them to suddenly be able to land an extremely precise strike to a vulnerable area now? And why wouldn't the skilled fighter also be able to do the same but better since they still have more power and accuracy and the unskilled fighter still has weaker defence?

It's the same with grappling. It's true that a joint lock can be devastating and that's why we usually disallow most of them in combat sports, but to be applied reliably you need some control over the area around the joint. Put a good grappler in a fight with someone who isn't a good grappler. The good grappler is going to control the position better. Now take out the rules. If the unskilled fighter couldn't get a good position to control the skilled fighter before, why would you expect them to suddenly be able to apply an effective joint lock now? And why wouldn't the skilled fighter also be able to do the same but better since they still have a better position to work from and the unskilled fighter still has weaker defence?

MMA is a sport and an MMA match isn't like a "real" fight for all kinds of reasons but simple, efficient, effective techniques such as you see in MMA matches are a good foundation for "real" fighting too, even if you might choose to add other types of training as well for use outside the controlled environment.

Martials arts is great for all that. So are other sports and activities. I've studied martial arts for 20 years of my life - never did I have a goal during that time of learning to fight, but I loved practicing, and loved the community of people I spent time with in those years.

I practiced karate for years, and I still would if I hadn't moved far away. My teacher was a fan of exchanges with other schools, which is how we ended up visiting a Jujitsu school to learn some grappling moves. The instructor was a police officer that worked at the local prison.

During our first break, the instructor excitedly told my teacher that he recently found a second-hand book with techniques that his Jujitsu line had banned years ago for being too brutal. He was starting to bring them back. Later on that day he showed us such a technique that could, in theory, paralyze a man for life. He seemed very proud of that one, and was looking forward to try some of his new knowledge in his next prison riot (his words, not mine).

I shudder to think of the type of BS macho mentality that one would get from training under this guy for years - I've met plenty of karate instructors from all over the world, and they were all great teachers and great human beings. Given that I personally know of three people who had to use their karate skills for self defense (two robberies and one home invasion at night), that seems to me good enough: you learn how to defend yourself in a realistic situation, but also respect, self-improvement, and a healthy general distaste for violence.

Every time someone suggests that karate doesn't work because it wouldn't be as effective in a modern war zone, I remember that guy.