Comments on: MMA in High School

By: MadeInTaiwan

MadeInTaiwan — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 03:32:36 +0000

I agree. The wrestling coaches that I trained with just stopped trying to teach self-control by my senior year, because it’s easy to learn it by just looking at how everyone is around you. Little kids can’t learn like that, hence the world of difference between them and high school.
I never knew John McCain was an active regulator of the UFC. That makes me a little nervous also. Speaking of stupidity, think of all the letters Bush received versus the letters that had effect. 0_0

By: jaehwan

jaehwan — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 18:39:54 +0000

Yes, there’s a world of difference between high school “kids” and really young kids.
Thinking about wrestlers, I agree that it’s pretty safe for high school kids to learn MMA, as long as the sensei has the right attitude. Teaching it to young kids is just irresponsible. It’ll result in dangerous fights, and even within the classes, it’s not safe on the joints or brains (from chokes) of young children.

I’m actually thinking of sending a letter to John McCain, who was quite active in regulating the UFC. But as I mentioned on my own blog, it’s hard to legislate against stupidity.

By: MadeInTaiwan

MadeInTaiwan — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 02:06:32 +0000

O wow. These kids in the video are WAY younger than high school kids. You were right in that article,

“Little kids don’t have adequate self-control to use dangerous techniques responsibly”

Self control is definitely a quality that is beyond the grasp of most children younger than high-school level. My Sifu would always emphasize on self-control in order to help us learn the core principal of Martial Arts. I would expect high-school coaches to be as prominent about self control as my Sifu. Little kids, primarily, run on support. I am worried about little kids such as those being supported to lear wind-pipe chokes, armbars, and leg locks. If there’s anything close to serious injuries in the UFC, those are some of the causes. Watching those kids strike at each other is nerve-wracking as well. I still hold to my opinion that High-School students are not too young to learn MMA, but anywhere below that is/can be very dangerous.

By: jaehwan

jaehwan — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 20:54:15 +0000

MIT, coincidence that you just posted on this! I just posted on (almost) the same topic on my own site just a few minutes ago. See here: http://www.bigwowo.com/2008/12/mma-and-really-young-kids/. The video is a bit slow to load, but…man, it’s disturbing.

By: MadeInTaiwan

MadeInTaiwan — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 19:58:59 +0000

I don’t think that MMA is too violent in High school, and kids are not too young to be practicing Mixed Martial Arts. The initiative training alone will act as placement to see where certain kids are in terms of skill level and potential. I have a friend named Mike, and he has been in the MMA industry throughout his senior year. I had another friend in High School named Hector who signed up for UFC during his sophomore year because of his boxing/wrestling background. Just because wrestling is safer than MMA, doesn’t mean that kids won’t go off on their own to learn MMA somewhere else. Therefore, as long as the MMA club has proper coaches and routines, MMA is definitely as safe as Hockey, Wrestling, etc. President of the UFC, Dana White stated that in the history that the UFC has been around, there has never been any deaths or serious injuries, and not even a sport such as Lacrosse can say that.

By: jaehwan

jaehwan — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 15:14:12 +0000

It would be great to see Machida get a shot at the LHW title. After all, he is undefeated.

I agree about the karate/taekwondo thing: I enjoy watching Machida just because his style is different. It gets tiring to see the same old roundhouse kicks over and over.

Remember the early UFC’s? I think there were a number of really good sidekicks during the early days. I haven’t seen any sidekicks recently, not even attempts.

By: kimtae

kimtae — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 04:04:56 +0000

I think Rogan was talking about really great kickers, guys who have a full arsenal. The sidekick is extrememly underutilized and the Muay Thai roundhouse kick is overutilized. If Dana White ever stops playing his games he might give Machida a shot at the LHW title. Machida would give a larger profile to guys with Karate and Tae Kwon Do backgrounds and help get more of them into MMA.

By: jaehwan

jaehwan — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 02:01:18 +0000

I think it’s a pay scale thing too. Boxers, for example, are tough people and great strikers, but there’s no way you can pay a guy like Pacquiao to get in the ring. He makes like 40 times the highest paid MMA star.

By: kimtae

kimtae — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 00:25:32 +0000

Joe Rogan, whom I consider to be remarkably astute as a color commentator, has said many times that a truly complete stand up fighter has yet to emerge and that is the part of MMA that needs the most development (though I’d argue Cung Le is pretty damn close). I can’t wait to see where we are twenty years from now.
And that guy in the pic definitely looks like Asef Manvi.

By: jaehwan

jaehwan — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 07:09:27 +0000

I said the exact same thing when I saw Kimo fight. TKD? I don’t think so!

I’m really glad it survived too. You know, it put the whole martial arts thing into perspective. Actually, I think it improved the standing of traditional martial arts, as people could see the roots of the MMA training.

It’s amazing how far the sport has come. I think it’ll just continue to get better. Honestly, it’s pushed the excitement level so high that I have trouble watching boxing these days.