I know that over time there have been a few comments made about if Mixed-Martial Arts should be called Martial Arts.  There is very little arguement that MMA has become very popular.  We are seeing it every where, you can't even go on to MA supply website without seeing MMA stuff there.  But my question isn't about the popularity or commercalization of MMA.  My question is, should Martial arts be removed from Mixed Martial Arts?

My 2 cents, while when it started (i was a big fan then) you could see different styles in the ring.  But now it seems that most of it is all similar, a person might be better on his feet or better on the ground, but when was the last time you seen traditional uniforms like they use to have, or even kicks above the waist?  I think that maybe it should be mixed-fighting more the MMA.  What are ya'lls thoughts.

MMA is a pure combat sport, not a martial art. A martial art has philosophies behind it, a combat sport does not. It's more of like street-fighting, or rather, street brawling one-on-one with safety rules to me.

Yes and no. 

Personally, I feel that a much better word for martial art is fighting or combat method. 

To the extent that MMA is heavily geared towards ring fighting, it is a fighting method, but not a fighting method, as in actual fighting, not sport fighting.  Yes, there is a great deal of overlap between the two. 

Combat methods focus on defense and on finishing your opponent quickly, not  to get them to submit.  In the time it takes to force an opponent to submit, his or her friends have knifed you.  Heck, the opponent may knife you while you play ring fighter.

MMA is a lot like olympic taekwondo, boxing or wrestling; it is geared towards performance in the ring.  And while MMA athletes, like olympic taekwondoists, boxers and wrestlers, are certainly capable of hurting an opponent on the street, sport fighting or tournament fighting is really not geared towards that.

Daniel

I hate these "is it or is it not" threads" Baby_Huey but since you asked, I will toss my simple answer is:

MMA is not a martial art it is a system of fighting .  It combines different styles of Martial Arts w/ the goal of training one to be able to w/stand an attack.  The name literally means to combine (mix) martial arts.  Bruce Lee did this did he not?  Is Jeet Kun Do not a system to train and cross train? 

Look at MMA fighters and what do you see?  BB in Karate.  Champion collegiate wrestler.  Gracie/Barra Jujitsu trained.  Greko Roman champion.  Mai Tai Kickboxer and on and on.  So the athletes trained and graded in a style of Martial Art and then cross trained w/ another.  If someone trained in boxing and wrestling would that make them a Mixed Martial Artist?  I don't see why not

you can blame my job for being so quizzical in nature.  But Sarge the reason I ask this is because now at least in the more amatuer ranks I see fighters that train in "MMA" and don't have a speciality at all.  My fiancee's brother is one who never played sports but got into MMA after high school but has no other martial arts background either, he trains only in things that help in the ring there isn't much cross training there. Yes in MMA you combine things but if you train in only those things are you cross training or just training?

Early on, I would have agreed.  But MMA has become a thing in and of itself and when people say 'MMA', it isn't the crosstraining martial artist that they're talking about anymore, but ring fighting, be it UFC, Pride, or whatever other federations are out there. 

Technically, I do 'MMA', but MMA has become like 'coupe', the technical meaning being a car with less than a given amount of room in the rear seat area because the wheelbase has been 'cut' which is what 'coupe' actually means.  Now, coupe just means two door.

Likewise, MMA is like saying WWE.  WWE is not really wrestling, though it is based on wrestling.  Likewise, MMA isn't really martial arts, though it has a martial arts base.

MMA has become a sport.  Like boxing, MMA players can really hurt a real opponent.  But I still see it a sport.

Daniel

So are we saying that you can train MMA just like you can train JKD?  I agree that MMA is a sport in and of itself but has it become an Art?  Many of us on these type of boards have all seen the arguments about whether JKD is an art or a process.  Bruce Lee defined JKD as a process and not an individual art. 

MMA is a sport that combines several arts.  Can a person enter MMA and learn an "art"?  I don't think so.  They can become great at the sport of MMA but they don't have a base Art or combination of Arts.  I think were might be saying the same thing here.  Calling MMA a "sport" or a "process" or "system" I think those terms keep it from being an "Art". 

Every time I see the ufc and wec and all that its just so much disrespect going on!! omg! but maybe its just the people because I know my friend goes to a mma school and he has all these different teachers in one school.. the one thats teaching muay thai tries to treat respect and everything he learned in thailand... but people ended up complaining that they payed to learn how to do some poundin! so the hole are part no from what i can see but every school is different... i hope ... cause i wanna do some mma in my sr year... i really want to ... 

But what makes a certain style an art? I agree that MMA is a sport but I also consider wrestling a sport and some people  tell me it's a western martial art. So what makes the kicks, blocks and punches tht we know an art vs. a sport of something else? (wow, my art professors would be proud and say how Taoist of you)

Now you know why I hate these threads?  LOLz.  This is the question that causes all the fights and bad feelings.  My personal opinion is that once something is used to determine a winner and a loser, has rule sets, it becomes a sport.  My opinion is that any martial practices came about as a response to oppression.  Wrestling, Judo, Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Capoeira, boxing, are Arts because of philosophy associated w/ training.   And here is where I chose to stop digging.  I am not the smartest person and I don't have all the answers.  I don't particularly enjoy philosophical debates because I value everyones personal opinion.  What I consider as an Art, someone may only call it a sport.  What I consider a sport, someone else may not.  Is poker a sport?  Darts?  Tag?  See where these threads can lead?  In short, several Arts/styles have become sports.