Here is a topic that comes up alot in Threads on various martial arts Website Boards. “my (enter art) does not do well against (enter art). How do I use “My art” to defeat the other art?” Well I think there is a huge problem with this way of thinking as all “arts” are simply training methodologies defined by a set of training parameters that someone or some group established and identify with to teach us how to do the same thing “fight”. Why would you limit yourselff to the constraints of that methodology,? Lets hope you have a good match of methodology to the situation presented!
I think when this comes up mostly is when someone who has studied a particular system decides to test his skills and abilities against someone of another system. For example, and Aikidoka versus a Boxer.
(click here for “Got pwned by a boxer thread on aikiweb)”
What mostly goes wrong is that they are constrained by the paradigm of the system or methodology that they are studying and it does not work or match the conditions of the fight they are fighting. It can be tacit or explicit, The guy with the fight plan or strategy that is better or more adaptable to the conditions or rules will win.
The other fighter will be left in a utter state of confusion about what just happened and usually experience a fair amount of Cognitive Dissonance (see this post on the topic) and in many cases will irrationally come to the conclusion that his fight strategy was okay, he simply didn’t apply it right. Hence the question ‘how to I beat X-DO with Y-DO! They essentially focus on the wrong things and attempt to “beat a square peg into a round hole”.
Or, the fighter has an Aha! moment and he learns quickly that he needs to study the situation and adapt his strategy to beat the other’s fighters strategy. That is, he needs to change his martial paradigm!
The video below is a good example when you put two fighters in the ring and each fight based on the set of conditioned responses. Before you even watch the video, predict who you think will win. Here is what you know going into the fight. Boxer vs Kickboxer and you are playing by kickboxing rules.
Interesting to watch huh? The boxer was probably a very good boxer, probably better at boxing than the kickboxer, it could have been Mike Tyson and the Kickboxer could have been Average. The point is this: the kickboxer did not need to box, he simply needed a fight strategy that was a little better than his opponent. In this case he simply needed to avoid being punched. Keeping distance from the boxer, out of punch range and essentially using a right low kick to the boxers leg is all the skill that was really necessary to win the fight. At one point you see the boxer actually try and close distance to the clinch, and almost gets thai clinched and a knee in the face.
Now, watch this example Tae Kwon Do versus Kick Boxing. Who do you predict will win? Here is what you know. Two systems that both allow for punching and kicking. Might be a little harder to predict.
What is different between the two fights? Well now you have two fighters that have a little more parity in their strategies. That is, they both punch and kick. The fighter that can close distance, is quicker, and has better kicking skills is the fighter that won this fight. TKD fighters typically fight at a different range than Thai fighters. The TKD guy could close distance fast and extend some powerful kicks avoiding the range and fight plan of the Muay Thai fighter. The Thai fighter probably would have faired well against another Thai fighter fighting in the same fight. Unfortunately for him, the TKD fighter set the conditions for the fight and the thai fighter simply could not use his Thai Strategy. Does that mean that TKD is a much better art to learn the Thai Fighitng? No, it simply means that this fighter might want to adapt a new strategy for fighting if he faces this guy again!
We must be careful when we begin to evaluate ourselves and our ability to fight. A step in the right direction is to ask yourself “under what conditions do I see myself fighting?” ”Are the things I am doing addressing those situations?”, “What is the best way to replicate those conditions to provide useful feedback?”, and “Can I adapt my methodology and training plan to correct my identified gaps?”
Finally, one more video to check out. I couldn’t resist this one. Don’t be “THAT GUY!”
Posted By: DAVID JOHNSON
Sunday, December 12th 2010 at 7:05PM
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