Aikido vs MMA | ft. Ray Butcher • Aikido of the Future • EP02

Join us in the second episode of Aikido of the Future where I talk to Ray Butcher Sensei a BJJ and Aikido black belt / MMA coach, about whether Aikido can be effective in MMA, it's strong and weak parts and where it can move as a discipline in the world of modern martial arts.
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[@dorjedriftwood2731]

Aikido and wing chun both fall into the trap of limb hunting. Realistically the speed of people's strikes means if you try to grab or trap limbs you will most often be a step behind and be left empty handed with your hands out of position to defend. If your not sparing at full speed or if you lose your form at full speed your art is not working.

[@intellectualninjamonkey2496]

Brilliant comment...I have made extensive criticism against both of these arts but never thought about the fallacy of limb hunting per ce. Indeed, if you think about it boxing , a proven combat sport, is not preoccupied so much with hunting the limbs but just avoiding them.

[@MrVolodus]

Aikido si like Yoga ... good exercise, good for spiritual balance and fitnesses. It's not self defense.

[@H4I2I2EE]

DorjeDriftwood I've only seen wing chun in videos. Aikido operates 360 degrees around the opponent, not just in front of them. It's not the strategy of Aikido to catch punches out of the air any more than it is to catch a sword blade being struck at you from out of the air and I am pretty sure a sword strike is faster. It's about repositioning yourself and not being where they were expecting when the attack started and taking advantage of their imbalance. Aikido works strictly off the attack. If no one attacks there is nothing to do. It's about finding a weakness and exploiting it as opposed to fighting their power strength vs strength and going directily against resistence. Your Taisabaki movement has to affect their balance before you can do techniques cuz you clearly can't walk up to someone and just force a lock on them. You are hunting their balance(body as whole), not just particalar limbs. Limb hunting couldn't be farther from the truth.

[@basdejong9054]

Interesting observation about the trap of limb hunting, which may be true for many aikido practitioners. However, this reflects a superficial understanding of the art. Remember the sayings of the masters about 70-90% atemi and 30-10% throwing in a real fight. Read Shioda sensei's book on aikido shugyo and check out sensei Ledyard's videos.

[@IronicSanity]

This shows a lack of understanding of Aikido and Wing Chun. While Aikido is practiced at reduced speed to help build muscle memory, once confident with the techniques, you can step up the speed over time to full speed. In a flurry of punches and kicks, most are just to confuse in hopes the real strike will hit it's mark. When concentrating on remaining non aggressive those real strikes become quite apparent and taking the balance at that moment is easy and the muscle memory of techniques kicks in for a throw and/or a pin. "Limb hunting" is the mistake of novices.

[@adamtoredas1786]

It seems to me like you're going through the exact same thing Bruce Lee went througth which ended up with the creation of Jeet Kune Do.

[@THIS---GUY]

that would be an awesome path for this kid. Keep some of Aikido but ditch the bulk of it, adapt some wrestling, BJJ and kickboxing and he'll be miles aheead of where Aikido only will get him

[@VideoGamesRecon]

It strikes me that Aikido was designed as an (effective martial art) for combat with armored opponents where punches and kicks are a largely irrelevant means to stop your opponent, and has since evolved into a means to deter combat altogether in the hopes that a fight wont start at all. That said it would be interesting to see in terms of a combat sport what an all out Aikido bout with faux Armour on (like Kendo) would be like, and how effective that synthetic scenario (like many combat sports) would be with Aikido as the main fighting style, in that scenario it would probably be superior (at least in this competition to many other martial arts styles), perhaps could be the birth of a new MMA combat sport?

[@Anthropomorphic]

Video Games Recon Aikido isn't that old, is it? Didn't the founder die in the late 60s? Also, hasn't its target audience mainly been civilians?

[@VideoGamesRecon]

Lifragen When exactly Aikido was created seems to be open to interpretation, but was actively created anywhere from the early 1920's to 1930's. However it is claimed to be a derivative of Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu that may have a linage of 900 + years, so from what I gather many of the techniques where created for combat with armor but the philosophy of modern Aikido was created more recently as a means to deter conflict or minimize damage in such a conflict. F.Y.I. Not an expert just did a bit of googling as it is interesting, if anyone knows better feel free to educate us ;D

[@VideoGamesRecon]

Jiyukan I just presumed everyone in a sport like this would be wearing armor as it would be an advantage? (and possibly unsafe otherwise in case you both land funny in a grapple). As sure it might make grabs and throws more efficient to use akin to a gi but your opponent would be able to use strikes where as your strikes wouldn't be anywhere near as effective, I would think that advantage would easily outweigh the advantage of handholds for throws and a little bit of extra mobility?

[@Anthropomorphic]

Video Games Recon As far as I know, you're right about its lineage, but I think the same could be said about Japanese jujitsu, judo, and even BJJ. They're all ultimately derived from techniques meant to be used against armored opponents. As I recall, the adaptation from armored to unarmored took place long before aikido was conceived, although I suppose it's possible that aikido was still derived mainly from armored techniques. That would suggest that Ueshiba failed to recognize the techniques for what they were and neglected to adapt them, though. Given that even the military had stopped wearing armor by the time he started working on aikido, it just seems odd to me that it would still be technically oriented towards fighting people in heavy armor. Wouldn't be the first time it was suggested that aikido went astray in its developmental phase, though.

[@WolfKenneth]

Jiyukan no sory thats the myth I have quite weak body but even me don't slow down in armour don't know about japanese but did train in both XIIIth and early XVth century armours. Some types of armour like great helmets from XIIIth century (you know those crusaders are often depicted) have medicore visibility and are very air restrictive (they were meant for cavalry use primarily so no big deal), but others have either large enough face openngs or have visors that you open - some even have degrees you can open. And Video Games Recon no, for armour fights it looks more like wrestling where you try to put a tip of your dagger, sword or other weapon in any opening you can find. Ju-jitsu that is closer to armoured fight but if you look at medieval european manuals there is whole lot of more to it all the half swording techniques...

[@Kamadev888]

What a bunch of stupad excuses. If Aikido can't fight against other martial arts, then how can an aikido learner defend himself on the streets?

[@wgjung1]

Track and field is the best self defense skill, also, if you are near a lake or a river, swimming can save your life. I don't see Michael Phelps getting punch by a bunch of guys even if they are rowing in a boat.

[@Freejason33]

Let's say you need "self defense skill" while you're out with your wife, daughter, and elderly mother. You just gonna bounce and let them deal with the attacker? Or, let's say you are out alone, but you're surrounded by walls.

[@gingercore69]

dynamic1 if im alone and there are walls arround, buildering and parkour is the best self defense Jokes aside, im a boxer with some experience in subakdo, and ive used wristlock throws in street situations... ( haymakers are easy to catch that way, and ive done it a few times against straight jolts... Ive used against karate punches and other punches that are long and with alot of weight on them) it never looked as fancy as aikido, but having in mind i found those techniques useful it is useful to learn them... I want to learn hapkido someday... Most bouncers arround town practice hapkido, and the police and armed forces too... Altho they do practice other stuff too...

[@YukioHinterland]

I really enjoy your project,

[@MartialArtsJourney]

Thanks!

[@SteigerMiller]

First of all, I really respect what you're doing. I'm a TKD black belt and have been looking to crosstrain, having learned some hapkido and some tai chi. The more research I do, the more I appreciate that there is no such thing as "pure" art. Every master it seems puts their stamp on their art. Bruce Lee creating JKD is an example, where he took elements from Wing Chun and added other things he liked, like Korean kicks and Filipino nunchucks. But there are other examples - the tai chi style I was learning was a derivative of the Yang style - which itself is a derivative of the Chen style. Aikido was not developed for cage fighting. But it was developed out of aikijiujutsu. So even then, someone changed the intention. ITF TKD was started by a second-degree karate black belt. There can be criticisms for arts itself and their origins, but that's not to say that all disciples of that art are wrong. I think the question for you would be what could your aikido be?

[@pipokatz]

Damn, I disliked this video a lot, this guy is defensive and does not answer directly any of the questions and his points are really confusing and contradicting himself every other sentence. But kudos for trying

[@adankseason]

Alvaro Wang Hella back peddling and trying to justify the time he wasted all these years.

[@BboyHyperion]

I would suggest train H.E.M.A. you will see that aikido strengths is most noticible when fighting with weapons.

[@silafuyang8675]

Absolutely!

[@christophergonzales2984]

I second that aikido definitely helps with weapons fighting

[@Devilofthering]

It could work against Katana. After doing some Katana work, I can definitely see why Aikido could theoretically work against it. As for longsword, fencing, etc. That I don't see it working as well.

[@WeAreSoPredictable]

I think his point (which I agree with) is that Aikido's strengths - its fluidity and dynamic footwork, etc - translate well into H.E.M.A. practice. I don't think he was talking about Aikido Vs any sword art. Of all the martial arts, Aikido is probably one of those better suited to dealing with swords, and the katana is probably one of the easier to deal with, but I guess that elevates it to the _'slim'_ chance of victory odds, up from the _'slim to none'_ odds. Swords are nasty. :)

[@shrekas2966]

Devilofthering Katanas have really long handles to compensate for heavy blade. This is why its so easy to apply aikido techniques as there is a lot of space between the hands for leverage. Europeans used shorter handles at civilian context and long ones for war. Early longswords had very short handle, being able to accomodate only 2 hands tightly. Could aikido work against longswords (asuming that aikido will be applied when people are in grappling distance)? Yes. Its because longswords and katanas have no differences in basic techniques.

[@crndg15607]

I don't fully get this guy's point. He's saying that it doesn't work because it isn't meant for a sport. But the sport is fighting, I get that Aikido is supposed to be about preventing harm, but shouldn't that also extend to preventing someone else from harming you? I don't see how MMA or combat sports in general are invalid for testing that principle. He makes some weird arguments too, like there being outside factors in the real world, like noise and other people, and distractions. Well when it comes to there being multiple people, I'd love to see a school that trains a multiple person situation in a realistic full contact way, because 9/10 it would look like two guys beating another guy up. And as for noise and distraction, try and have conversation with someone standing next to you at an MMA event. It's loud. Very loud. With bright flashing lights all over the place. To each their own I guess.

[@justintonation29]

Fighting is different from self defence. Fighting presumes that both parties want to damage each other and prevent the other from damaging them. Aikido is about resolving conflict. Think about a good counter striker like Anderson Silva. He would invite attacks just so he could blend with them and dodge them. Imagine he did that for a whole fight (which he sort of did on a few occasions (getting many boos in the process)). This is using Aikido principles. Aikido is not a curriculum of techniques, it is about blending with your attackers energy. O sensei said that the aikido of the future would be nothing like the aikido of his time! Most people will not understand this at all.

[@adankseason]

When you realize that all you've been doing is slow dancing with dudes for 14 years..

[@wadoryujujutsukempo6289]

Why would you try to do aikido in mma , what is your point, aikido today has made an error, at the time aikido was working it was pre war, usheba would never stress this love and harmony with your attacker, if it did japans military would never of got usheba teach to it. Now days aikido is based on usheba's old man aikido, relaxed and love your partner, in most other martial arts you start with strength, effort and sometimes aggression towards your opponent, do it long enough it should turn into relaxed effortless looking martial art (karate, judo, kung Fu). If you don't get there the hard way, it will never work. Even bjj fails in mma now, it is needed, but without other stuff it will loose. A few years ago kicking martial arts were said to not work in mms, now they have been returning, karate has worked, Taekwondo as well, but not without other bits being added. If your aim is will aikido work in self defence, then why would you spar against an mms fighter. Sparring is not fighting, and fighting is not self defence. Self defence will be when you least expect it, dark, raining, hot sunny, drunk, eaten to much, the list could go on. Fighting is normally something you have agreed to do and are a little more ready, come outside and we'll sort it out, or could be an arranged event. Sparring has rules and is controlled more. So what is your goal, be clear do you want to prove it works in the street or in a ring against other styles, krav maga works on self defence, no one moans it doesn't work in mama. So where do you want it to work.

[@hechamgeorge8474]

Tips if u don't follow Aikido will never work with u : 1) Practice punches and kicks those are actually the atemi in aikido . 2) No atemi no Aikido no matter what . ( timing is important ) 3) Practice ground techniques its also a part of Aikido . With atemi it will look like an mma fight . 4) Sparr to build experience . It's a martial arts not a dance .. wish all good luck ❤

[@deanwinter4849]

I use Aikido body movements in bjj all the time. I push with my hand and then push with my elbow, moving around a point of centre. This always works. In terms of Aikido technique I've used sankyo but when you can't get your hip into the movement then it's hard to use. In terms of fighting on the street I've used ikkyo and sankyo and kotegaesh. The main problem with aikido is wrist grabbing. As soon as you walk into a dojo and people are grabbing wrists - leave!

[@DiegoMaeoka]

is this really matter? In my point of view, none of aikidoka wants to fight in MMA. This is not the point of Aikido. Why this needs to be such a big deal? You people should make a video about Kendo vs MMA or Fencing vs MMA or Firegun vs MMA. I'm such tired of this kind of debate.

[@alexcorsair9339]

Diego Maeoka Yes it does. It is a big deal to us not only as a Martial Artist but as a competitive fighter. As an Aikidoka myself i would say that Aikido can work in any MMA tournaments, provided that you train it in a realistic combative kind of way.

[@Momsspaghetti777]

Aikido is practiced as a self-defense unarmed martial art, before MMA became a sport that was the whole POINT of MMA, determining what the best unarmed martial art is for self-defense, even after it became a sport people who study MMA have shown competence in self-defense and often times defend themselves from lethal encounters FENCING is SWORDS and shit, swords are banned in MMA, some fucking finger twisting is not Guns are GUNS, guns are banned, some fancy wrist manipulating is not Kendo is SWORDS, same deal as fencing If people want to carry a gun to kill whoever wants to kill them first then that's good for them If someone wants a sword for the fun of it and the home defense aspects good for them But Aikido needs to be put in MMA in order for it to work

[@Kamadev888]

Cos you can't defend yourself with aikido.

[@HECTORARTUROA]

Some Black Dude Aikido is a discipline... like for example: Capoeira... there are another benefits about practice both...

[@Momsspaghetti777]

Capoeira is not banned in MMA and many practitioners have actually become very successful. AIkido does not have that same status You tried to argue that aikido can't work for MMA because that's not the point of aikido. But MMA will make it better. It's NOT like a gun, or a sword, or whatever. Because it's an unarmed form of combat.

[@TRA25]

I think an important aspect of aikido is it's focus on harmony. The problem is that without conflict the harmony is meaningless, likewise going to an aikido dojo and training with perfect harmony ruins the purpose of training for it. It doesn't teach you how to absolve conflict into harmony, it just teaches you to move in harmony. I think the best way to employ aikido would be to attempt to make the opponent 'run' away as it will take their mind off of possible techniques. If they don't run away you should attack the body and head in order to drop them. So using iriminage if they don't move and using kote gaeshi if they do move. We need more practitioners to put on head gear and 'spar' you could make it safe by limiting which techniques the tori/shite can use to just a handful of techniques. We should also aim to find pitfalls of techniques and possible transitions to give aikidoka a better plan than trying the same technique and praying it'll work.

[@HECTORARTUROA]

Jack-tyga Nash great point

[@thanksmercidanke]

أَفَحَسِبْتُمْ أَنَّمَا خَلَقْنَاكُمْ عَبَثًا وَأَنَّكُمْ إِلَيْنَا لَا تُرْجَعُونَ Then did you think that We created you uselessly and that to Us you would not be returned?" فَتَعَالَى اللَّهُ الْمَلِكُ الْحَقُّ ۖ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ رَبُّ الْعَرْشِ الْكَرِيمِ So exalted is Allah, the Sovereign, the Truth; there is no deity except Him, Lord of the Noble Throne. The holy Quran. -Sura Al-Mu'minun, Ayah 115/116

[@rommelcruzsager]

I think it is a matter of awareness. You have to be aware of other arts and exploit their weaknesses. Your training in aikido failed you because it didn't teach to be aware of other types of attacks. So you were looking for attacks that weren't there in striking. Not to say that aikido doesn't work, it just that you didn't see how it can be applicable against strikers. You seem to be scared of punches too in the video, so you couldn't utilize your irimi. Put on a helmet and gloves and spar with someone. I'm sure you will find ways to utilize your aikido. Good luck 😊

[@LightsOnMultiMediaMindArts]

There's nothing wrong with practicing Aikido for its own sake. I studied Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido for five years without any expectation that it would be a martial art. I’d studied a bit of karate in the past and decaded of T’ai Chi Ch’uan before Aikido. In my one street fight I felt confident and relaxed and successfully defeated a (supposedly) black belt in Taekwondo without even breathing hard. I give credit to my karate training to know what to expect from the black belt, but it was my T’ai Chi training that taught me to relax and reflexively respond to attacks. That was long before my Aikido training. If I were going to try to bring something of Aikido into MMA I’d start not with trying to use wrist locks and throws, but with moving on ki. That I would imagine would give you an edge. You need boxing and kicking techniques, but knowing and _feeling_ when your opponent is about to attack would be very valuable.In the dojo where I trained we spent many hours practicing moving on ki.

[@DarkStar666]

I'll echo some of the thoughts below -- don't "try to grab" someone's arm/wrist over and over -- that's not the Aikido I learned. irimi - get right in their face and out of the position they want you in atemi - knock the SHIT of their face with an elbow or drop into the side of their knee hard enough to break it THEN apply appropriate technique to disempower attacker Aikido training is necessarily theatric to avoid harming each other but in a real fight you have to go all the way. Proper Aikido is completely inappropriate for a jousting sport as the intention of every move is to break/dislocate joints extremely violently. The Aikido technique isn't what throws someone over by their wrist, the technique is intended to nearly rip their arm/wrist off in a manner where the human body is naturally weak -- the Uke must flip over to PREVENT that. When done in a real fight it must be executed at full force and if the opponent doesn't flip their arm is wrecked, they aren't going to go flying. Highly experienced Uke/Naga might be able to practice at full force and speed but even still they have to know what is being practiced or they will seriously injure one another if one even slightly slips up. I've seen serious injuries at practice speeds. But you are never going to win anything grabbing at someone's wrist -- that's the exact opposite of Aikido which is mean to use THEIR power, their own force against them by being in the wrong place (for them) at the right time. I don't think Aikido will ever be viable in MMA because too many of the techniques are impossible (gloves) or against the rules and it just takes a lifetime to tune oneself to the level necessary in the reality and chaos of combat. But maybe practice more irimi/atemi with your Uke and at least see how that goes?

[@ankushsinghchauhan8552]

Most important thing is scene of programing is how our mind works, if you want to learn reality self defense which always works remember these key points: 1. Don't plan, planing will confuse you keep your self calm and focused try to keep you breathing in control. 2. Work on adronline dumb, learn how to control your adronline while a real threat hits you. 3. Never preasume, always remember once you start a fight it can go anywhere be confident but not over confident. 4. Keep calm and keep account of your surroundings and number of potential attacker's around you. 5. Always ready to run 6. Hit first 7. OODA (observe, orietate, decide and act) 8. Workout making real attack senerios which you seems you can encounter most likely. (Well in my case it's armed robbery in night after 8 PM which is most common in our area) Note- first try to escalate, in 10 secs you can make a clear picture, either a fight is required or not if yes try to grab anything as a weapen. HIT FIRST HIT HARD AND NOW IT'S TIME TO RUN. Stay blessed, Stay safe. Love from India🇮🇳

[@daiguma]

The vast majority of Aikido practitioners today do what Osensei did at the end of his life. The Aikikai method of the art. Not very practical. If you back track the art to the "hell dojo" practitioners you have a much more practical and applicable version of the art. If you follow it to is roots you'll find a very combat efficient version for it's time in history. Follow the path of doing, yawara/jujutsu - aikijujutsu - aikijutsu, then live aikido. It's impossible to get to the end with out the entire journey. There is no easy path. Right now MMA/BJJ is a teenager, ignorant, arrogant and doesn't believe anyone older then them knows what is right for now. To bad Bruce Lee died at 33. He might have evolved into a truly historic martial artist and not left us with half finished ideas.

[@diegorocklomas]

i am diego from Rosario Argentina, i practice aikido, i not a dan yet, left maibe 3 years... ¿what you school aikido are?? aikikai? indepence school?? or what??

[@antoniolonigro5105]

@AikidoSiauliai I am really appreciating what you're doing and it's very good that you're exploring martial arts in this way... however I totally agree with Ray: Aikido is not meant for competition or professional fighting and you're never gonna win any match with a professional with the way Aikido is taught normally. And that's perfectly fine! Aikido forms people, not fighters, it's a tool for personal growth, and its principles and training are very helpful for self-defense, but it's not meant to be used that way, and that's the Founder's will. I will keep following you to see where you arrive, but really, if you think that practising Aikido will make you Batman... well, that's not what it's meant for. However, as Ray said, you can cross-train and apply Aikido principles to actual fighting and sort of become, well, an MMA fighter of your own. There's no shame in that, if that's what you want, just know that what happened to you would happen to anyone: if a boxer steps in a MMA ring he loses, if an MMA fighter steps in a boxing competition he loses, if a tennis player steps in a volleyball tournament he loses... they're different worlds and there's nothing wrong with that.

[@fgsf9]

He is completely right bull u talking to ....ur problem is u keep blaming that art cuz no offense but u have no confidence in ur akido ....you should just learn another art

[@antalantal2366]

Video Games Recon is right and what Ray Butcher said also is: Aikijutsu was not designed for an MMA context but for the battlefields of Japan during the Samurai era. The effectiveness of Aikido should be tested for what it was designed for. For a context where warriors had to grab each other wrist to prevent an attack from a sword and where people were dressed as Japanese warriors were.

[@ebrake.5889]

9:22 Cat appears. 9:31 cat vanishes lol

[@MartialArtsJourney]

Yeah, I noticed the cat as well. We were hoping it's not a sign of a Cafe having 'interest' in cats

[@rickdmon1dancing769]

Here's an interesting topic for Aikido. Why do we teach Aikido to Policy Enforcers (The Police)?

[@robertloughran6740]

I can see where ray is coming from on the issue of finding solutions to individual problems by looking outside aikido .A lot of responsibility ultimately falls on the individual to understand their own physical psychological and emotional shortcomings and issues and the barriers these present to achieving high levels in aikido and many other endeavours .If for example a aikidoist is terrified of getting punched and has no experience in this area then he or she will have great difficulty entering in a decisive confident manner and may benefit from a few months boxing lessons bringing this new ability back to their original practice .likewise a grounding in such disciplines as bjj can accustome them to the psychological and physical challenge of being grabbed by a powerful grappler yoga meditation strength training and many other disciplines can also be used to help deal with various issues with fear of getting hit composure under fire improving posture and balance .getting used to close intense grappling and so on.High level Aikido demands the highest levels of honest self appraisal the acceptance of personal responsibility and the shaping away of delusion and ego.Sounds a lot like a true Martial art to me.

[@Alkis05]

I think it is even worse to the aikido teacher than the student. The student can go learn other things with other teachers. But what do will an aikido teacher do diferently to modernize and still preserve the essense of the art. The art is not just the technique, but if the only thing "useful" in aikido is the philosophy or mindset, then it will lose a lot of it's identity. To be fair, when bjj could only be developed because it got halfworld away from traditional masters that would not allow for it to florish scorning it as a bastardization of their art. At some point, for martial arts to evolve, you got to break with tradition.

[@princejeff3210]

Lets get real about it. If you want to look graceful throwing people that flow with the moves and is not very effective in a real life situation, study Aikido!!

[@ezekielgarza1150]

aikido can be used in mma, all other japannese martial arts are used in mma. My opinion is, aikido is a collection of all japannese martial arts.

[@arthessrico5127]

learn the other arts kick boxing judo and boxing and combine with aikido ull see that it works

[@bretlynn]

listen to the last guy from episode 1. this guy is too much of an apologist for aikido. he's still got one foot stuck in the fantasy

[@kenokurose]

Pressure to do not train other martial arts? Well, people who says that kind of stuff doesn't know any Aikido history. Tohei was an amazing judoca before Aikido, Tada sensei studied even the bow.

[@MartialArtsJourney]

I agree. Even O'Sensei was a cross-trainer

[@kenokurose]

AikidoSiauliai in fact, he was one of the first to do that kind of stuff, right? My sensei is 71 years old brazilian-japanese and he is also an acupuncturist. I got healed by him so many times... He studied karate and judo before, but he has chosen aikido because he likes helping people instead of beating people.

[@MartialArtsJourney]

You have a point. I'm also choosing to continue train and present Aikido mainly because I feel it can really change lives in a positive way if it is presented in the right way

[@Gwolf888]

The martial art known as Aikido they should combine it with Krav Maga and every other martial art form

[@Gwolf888]

You can learn any martial art form and combined it Bruce Lee Chi quando Do martial art is one the best martial art forms and Bruce Lee a legend and the World of Martial Arts and television in movies what is the dominant martial art form it would be Brazilian Jiu Jitsu because the UFC is the number one sport promoting jujitsu / MMA martial art can be combined with it is not matter which one it is

[@intellectualninjamonkey2496]

He wonders if aikido can work in MMA. Then he just uses a click bait image of Conor and Diaz, two proven athletes and legitimate tough guys....who practice mainly boxing and bjj... Get over it, aikido will never be trusted from guys who actually have to fight someone who truly fights back... Proven systems do not need rationalizations like "what if you apply it in a different way.." "if maybe you change it...", "the benefits of aikido is not fighting it self.." or lengthy discussions and theoretical bubbling. Just admit that you enjoy what you do for whatever other reasons but you do not except to learn how to fight with it....This is honesty both with your self and others.

[@FreestyleTaeKwonDoFederation]

Every single martial art has to change once it gets involved with MMA. Every single martial art goes through "changes". If your martial art isnt evolving it will get left behind. It does not mean the art doesnt work.

[@intellectualninjamonkey2496]

Aikido has to change so much that in the end it will not be aikido any more.

[@intellectualninjamonkey2496]

And how exactly it will change? Only COMPETITION brings change. Why change if you do not need to?

[@FreestyleTaeKwonDoFederation]

Did you delete my comment? Anyway that is not true. Not true. Aikido already shares so many techniques with other martial arts. Aikido has rear naked choke, arm bars, kimura, key lock, baseball choke, guillotine choke, pretty much all the takedowns from judo and wrestling, and even strikes. By default Aikido has been doing much of what BJJ does and was doing it first. We have already seen Aikido in MMA but people cant open their eyes to see it. I have some videos showing some examples on my channel, you should check them out. You should check out catch wrestling too, in many ways its superior to BJJ and has many Aikido style techniques as well.

[@FreestyleTaeKwonDoFederation]

Competition is not the ONLY thing to make a martial art change. People can simply look at their martial art and want to make it better.

[@FreestyleTaeKwonDoFederation]

This was an interesting discussion. I couldn't help but notice where at 2:09 he says Aikido isn't designed for MMA but later he says some of the principles can work and how Aikido can makes some changes without losing its identity.

[@MartialArtsJourney]

I guess it would be right to say that Aikido can be redesigned, which I feel many people are inspired about

[@newchapter6840]

But this guy's aikido is extremely weak.

[@BigBangPinapple]

omg try thinking about what aiki means... its not that hard

[@thejoojoo9999]

So many Batman clothes. I like your tastes !

[@יגאלאדרי-ל3ש]

Wing chun and aikido best toghedor.

[@Momsspaghetti777]

Yes it can, but it needs to be heavily adapted Aikido guys are too passive, they need to instigate with more of a wrestling stance and when someone counter grabs you then you can employ aikido Hands are too low. Due to the heavy emphasis on standing grappling hands should be high by the head and be ready to grab Footwork is slept on Not enough sparring either I’ve seen some GOOD aikido guys but most are shut because they stand around and let you get punched in the face

[@Momsspaghetti777]

As for the “aikido won’t work in MMA it’s for the str33ts” bs, neither are any styles of karate. Greco Roman wrestling was for the battle ground and even when it was made Olympic people did it naked and damn near killed each other with it so it was basically the real thing How can you make something ready for the ring/octagon? You DONT. Because in an MMA bout anything goes besides eye pokes and groin grabs and stuff which aikido doesn’t have anyway. What you notice though is the things you think are “made for da ring, not str33t r8dy” like boxing and wrestling, you see LOTS of street fights where trained grapplers and strikers beat the fuck out of people talking shit This is because hey spar, and when you spar you know how to handle someone who grabs your arm, or someone who throws a punch, or puts you in a choke. When you SIMULATE sparring and don’t actually do it, you basically are shadow boxing never knowing how someone will react

[@alexcorsair9339]

Agree with this.

[@IronicSanity]

The purpose of Aikido is to avoid harm. MMA is focused on causing harm in competition, these are 2 dimetricly opposed goals.

[@WeAreSoPredictable]

_"The purpose of Aikido is to avoid harm."_ Sure. _"MMA is focused on causing harm in competition, these are 2 dimetricly opposed goals."_ Rubbish. Yes, some meat-heads train MMA and embrace the image of ripped muscles, tattoos, and the whole tough-guy/violence image. But that's not what MMA as a whole is about. Boxing, kickboxing, and Muay Thai also attracts a small cohort of such meat-heads and thugs, too, but each is a legitimate, sometimes beautiful and masterful, art in its own right if trained as a martial art and not as a path to thuggery and reputation. MMA is nothing more than a stripped-down set of the more efficient techniques, and those easy to master fairly quickly, including (generally) low-risk techniques. It takes some core techniques and principles from boxing, Muay Thai, wrestling, and Jiu Jitsu, and combined them into a well-rounded style. A style designed to achieve victory in a sustained fight over time, against opponents from virtually any martial arts background. Yes - designed to achieve *victory* rather than *cause harm*. By being well-rounded, ant MMA fighter can feel safe and secure dealing with opponents by damage and attrition, by disabling them through leg-kicks, through take-down and submission, or a plain old knock-out. Is it the best self defence style? I don't think so at all. Is it a legitimate martial art in its own right, worthy of respect as such? Certainly. Could the MMA fighters I know defend themselves by smashing their opponents to pieces in a street fight? Sure. Could, and would, almost all of them *actually* use their skills to take their opponents down with the minimum of damage, and most likely through domination and then submission? Yes. I suggest you go and check out a diverse range of martial arts schools that train MMA, and overcome your apparent bias. Perhaps it's ignorance, or perhaps it's just the all-too-common dismissal of MMA by practitioners of traditional martial arts. Regardless, I hope you can see that the goal of MMA is not to cause harm. It is simply to win through a diverse range of simple offensive and defensive tools.

[@MartialArtsJourney]

Yes, Biases are mind killers

[@pissedhulk7794]

IronicSanity thank you👏🏾

[@Maxime_L91]

A lot of locks and techniques in aiki are extremely painful and will cause harm. That is not arguable. MMA principles are, in my point of view, made to get any loosing competitor physically able to do anything after the fight (well he may be exhausted). I'm not saying a punch to the face or 56 leg kicks in a row never harmed anyone tho.

[@WeAreSoPredictable]

The only concern with MMA in terms of long-term harm is any knockout blows, as an opponent who's knocked out in a street setting is likely to suffer significant head or facial injury in the process. So, practically, knockout blows never qualify as harm-avoiding methods of self defence, and some of the higher/slammier (made-up word ftw!) take-downs are also very risky. A careful, low double-leg take-down is unlikely to do lasting harm, but an aggressive, explosive, high double-leg that ends in a slam has high odds of causing lasting damage if the opponent lands on concrete or such. The 'harm' of most other moves, though, is somewhat subjective. But I'd rather send an opponent packing with a broken nose and his will broken by black-and-blue , throbbing quadriceps from leg-kicks than accidentally overdo a wrist-lock and send them home via a surgeon and weeks off work. The 'harm' of those superficial injuries that will heal in time is not significant in my opinion, as long as I was defending myself (or others).

[@m.clayton79]

Cheers Ray

[@rickdmon1dancing769]

Now I have to say that this was the most enjoyable videos/interviews you made for myself. Ray said all the things I talk about in Aikido and other Martial Arts. That's why I've always asked "Why do we have to put on gear, get into a ring and PROVE on youTube if it works or not"? As I've stated before, there are many things about traditional Aikido I make adjustments to still, but it's what you have to do, practice and make the adjustments. It's not necessary to prove anything to anyone. Great video, Thanks

[@ZarMariano]

Excellent!

[@MrThesin]

In my personal experience Aikido will be all you need for 90% of all real life situations. I have found that as my opponents skill increases I begin leaning more and more on jujitsu.

[@hiyah6818]

Keep it up.

[@TheTitian69]

Your guest has lost his mind. It is not about if Aikido works in MMA or the cage it is rather does it work or is it effective in fighting or as a MARTIAL art.

[@TheTitian69]

"Depends on what you want out of your art" its called Martial arts knuckle head it is literally defined as self defense and attack techniques by definition . If I wanted to learn how to dance it would be called dance class. Im going out on a limb here and say when some one studies a martial art it is to learn self defense and fighting for sport or safety or any other reason but the root in which an art should be judged is OBVIOUSLY how effective it is in these two categories . Call me a silly sally but that is the rational truth. I mean really I wanted to learn anything other than self defense and attack techniques so I took kung fu,,, does that even sound rational to any one else??

[@TheTitian69]

why do think MMA guys incorporate jui jitsu and not Aikido? any one know the answer? effectiveness maybe?

[@bidibum]

Nice video, your path is really honest, humble and interesting.

[@TRA25]

I'd like to see how you progress. If you uploaded sparring every few months it'd be great to watch.

[@MartialArtsJourney]

Actually I am planning to do something similar. After "Aikido of the Future" ends, I will start uploading "Modernize Aikido" where I will share my exploration with various fighters of how to practically adapt Aikido techniques and then will continue on to spar again with Tadas if he accepts

[@TRA25]

AikidoSiauliai That'd be good because we'd see firsthand a transition from aikido being ill-suited for sparring to being at least viable. Whether or not a traditional stance is more or less useful would be nice to see. It would also answer a lot of questions for aikidoka struggling to apply techniques against certain opponents. Thanks for continuing in this adaptation.

[@alexcorsair9339]

This i agree.

[@romeviharo601]

Excellent. This guy Ray Butcher gets it :) Thank you Ray!

[@mako2534]

Honest question, why try Aikido rather than BJJ?

[@MartialArtsJourney]

Aikido has a big philosophical background. Some people are interested in it's concepts. There is also a strong sense of Japanese culture - clothing, bows, etiquette, tradition, sword, etc. Not to say that I am very inspired by the latter, yet Aikido's philosophy is very unique if you dive deep enough into it. Yet the problem is that the martial aspect of it is far behind it. Plus, a lot of people simply don't want to compete (roll). Personally for me, rolling is amazing, yet some people come to Aikido without any interest in the martial aspect and so they have a safe environment to get a sense of a very "light" 'martial art'

[@mako2534]

Jiyukan it wasnt an argument. I guess trying to be open minded gets you attacked these days.

[@propositionjohnston]

Nice ideas guys, thanks for the conversation.

[@Kaysar777]

Such a beautiful place! :D Where is it?

[@MartialArtsJourney]

It is a very beautiful place. In my country Lithuania as small town called Trakai. You can see some pictures here: goo.gl/P6vSQa . Of course we were sitting in a cafe :) Yet they are all like this there

[@Kaysar777]

Wow! Pictures are like of a fairy tale. I already want to visit Lithuania! Thank you.

[@MartialArtsJourney]

It is amazing :)

[@PolarBearon]

Cool. Keep it up.

[@boringguyzz]

Great information shared in this session!

[@MartialArtsJourney]

Thanks

[@seyeretmaglan2126]

Aikido was designed to work against the angry average guys, not against pro-fighters. If you want to defend yourself against normal people, Aikido is great. If you want a career and money, MMA is great (you can even make money from Aikido,later on, not that much but still) If you want to defend yourself from normal people and you are into MMA you are wasting time.(the effort is just too big) If you want to be a pro-fighter and you want a lot of money and you train into Aikido you are wasting time.

[@Freejason33]

_"Aikido was designed to work against the angry average guys. If you want to defend yourself against normal people, Aikido is great."_ Ukes do not represent untrained attackers. They walk into each attack with sword fighting footwork. They give the Nage tons of energy to "use against them". _"If you want to defend yourself from normal people and you are into MMA you are wasting time.(the effort is just too big)"_ If self defense is your goal, Aikido takes a long time to learn, while MMA rudiments are easy to learn by comparison, and will be effective against guys tougher than "angry average guys".

[@Freejason33]

Jiyukan yeah, there are some good self defense schools out there, and a lot of really gimmicky ones too.

[@cocopufer5667]

i say keep it traditional, the modern martial arts world stinks IMHO

[@alexcorsair9339]

thewayofpeace andharmony I disagree. Aikido must evolve to fit into this 21st century era of fighting for Self Defense or Combatitive Sports.

[@Corey91666]

mma is a sport i think that is what people should get... i train kendo for almost a decade now and in kendo the matter of competing and doing more clean kendo always occurs.... infact if you are able to compete with clean kendo you most likely will be the better fighter... what i am realising though is that, in order to win easier and with less training time involved (as it takes many many years to combine form and effectiveness) people will fight a bit more unusual as what you would actually learn in order to achieve victory... the further you get though the cleaner your kendo becomes and the better your results will be in competition... but you cannot start your career like that when i look at mma i see relatively young fighters picking techniques and things from different combat systems... however like this you will not master any of these systems but build a "mixed martial art" that you cannot perfect the same way as an established system/art at least thats my opinion... being in your 20s you cannot be a master but a great competitor

[@PercyLeMat]

I agree to an extent. As far as I know, MMA fighters typically don't start off by personally handpicking techniques from different styles, but rather by learning what their instructors have found to be effective. In this sense, there's room for MMA instructors to "perfect" the curriculum they teach at their school, and for students to "perfect" their knowledge of it. That's not to say that most MMA practitioners actually think of it that way, however, and I would guess that most don't. It also seems to be pretty common to "outsource" different components of the skill set taught at a school to instructors who specialize in that particular field. Finally, there's the fact that the MMA world has yet to really settle down enough for anyone to be able to put together a system that won't need to be overhauled within a decade. One of MMA's greatest strength and weaknesses is that it's a product of its time.

[@mpclair]

Congratulations on a great video, Rokas! It is a wonderful initiative on your part to engage in a discussion about the future of Aikido -- what a great concept! The interview is interesting and relevant to me, and the quality of the video itself is first-rate. Keep up the good work! Mike Clair, Yondan Fudoshin Aikikai St. John's, Newfoundland (Canada)

[@MartialArtsJourney]

Thank you!

[@greggregory1744]

here ill save 14 minutes of your life, akido would not work in mma neither will it work in conjunction to practising other artforms.

[@MartialArtsJourney]

Actually the first part of your sentence is said in the video in the first two minutes :) The second part, subscribe and we'll see if it's true. I'm working on it right now

[@asteriskcolon]

Greg Gregory CatchJitsu has footage of him successfully performing Kotegaeshi in a sanctioned mma match, and I get nikkyo submissions rolling in BJJ. yes, it's hard but it's always been possible to do what you just said was impossible considering that was never part of the goals of Aikido in the first place, I'd call it good enough

[@MartialArtsJourney]

Kevin, I'm still looking forward to pull of a Nikyo or Sankyo during a BJJ roll, yet I know it can be done :)

[@asteriskcolon]

The only place I can find sankyo rolling is if you pre-empt a rear naked choke just right... and you have to have some good posture going into it too Nikkyo from guard however, is surprisingly easy if your opponent doesn't see it coming... it actually doesn't matter if you're in your opponents guard or if they're in yours.

[@MartialArtsJourney]

Check Ray Butcher doing Sankyo: kzbin.info/www/bejne/r4exp6OHrNNsnrc . He's very good at it. I'll release a video about it with him in a couple of months. Yet I am sure it is hard to pull off nevertheless :)