Martial Arts before the UFC

Q&A with the coach
What were martial arts like in the old days before UFC1 in 1993?

[@MG-bi6mq]

When I was a young man...everyone where I grew up trained traditional martial arts, boxing, wrestling. I never heard about MMA until about 2012. I have one friend who’s seen every UFC but he would only ever talk about Georges St-Pierre all the time. I thought he had a crush on some French dude.

[@judosailor610]

I also have a crush on GSP. 😂. I used to call him a "real life Jean Claude van damme." 😂

[@oneshadowdragon]

He is very good looking.

[@TomTom-sm7il]

I thought everyone had a crush on gsp

[@sincityinfinity6255]

I have a man crush on GSP

[@FirstnameLastname-le9hq]

I think it's a unifying trait amongst all early UFC fans to have a crush on GSP

[@MustardSkaven]

I did Indonesian kung fu since age 6 and then Togakure Ryu since age 14. At age 16 people used to throw punches at me as a joke to see how I would deflect them. Mainly rom the kung fu stuff. The Togakure Ryu would make me kick them or do some grapple hold. But at the end of the day in high school I was known as "that weird martial arts guy". Cause I never used it to fight. People never challenged me. But during a soccer match I got thrown off balance and I did a "ninja roll" out of instinct. The crowd cheered. The "ninja guy" did a "ninja thing".

[@callumbiasnow4825]

Over all the years I’ve subscribed whether I agree or disagree with something Ramsey’s said, he is one of the few KZbinrs who genuinely answers and is willing to discuss something. MASSIVE RESPECT to Ramsey for that👊

[@sweetchildofnine6677]

I remember a Chael Sonnen video where he was talking about how he thought wrestling wasnt effective. How he wanted his dad to take him to karate and aikido what he thought the really dangerous stuff that works. He tried asking his friends to show him the "super secret deadly moves" karate did and how his friends were sworn to secrecy.

[@simonyu8838]

Dealing with invasive nose hairs is a sure sign you're old enough to answer this question. Early UFC coinciding with the rise of the world wide web and therefore easy to use places to discuss martial arts in a way that used to not be possible was such a huge change pre-teenage me never could have imagined.

[@The_Prenna]

I was also born in 1978 but in the UK. We didn't have wrestling in school but there was a few TMAs available at local community centres. I did Shotokan Karate up until 1993 and there was a Japanese Jiu Jitsu club that were part of the same governing body so every six months or so we'd have a joint class where we taught Shotokan to the Jiu Jitsu folk and vice versa. Martial arts magazines were full of TMAs, some kickboxing, and secret ninja powers, which was the style at the time.

[@corazondelince]

I went to high school from 1981 to 1985 in San Francisco, California. What I found interesting was that a karate school in my neighborhood renamed itself something along the lines of the San Francisco Ninja Society. Whenever I walked by the school, I thought the people there had some secret deadly fighting skills. We didn't know much about how effective traditional martial arts were. Most of us probably thought that traditional martial arts were more effective than boxing or wrestling. I do remember guys on the wrestling team in my school. They looked tough and muscular. There were a couple of guys who were competitive boxers as well, and they looked very capable of handling their own. However, there was still the movie-created myth that some guy with a black belt in karate could beat a trained boxer or wrestler. I did get in a fight with a guy who took karate and I just wrestled him to the ground and won. I didn't know any wrestling. It was just my instinctive fighting style. After the fight, I thought, "I'm glad that guy doesn't know enough karate yet."

[@derrick_smitty]

The 70s kung fu flicks and early 80s ninja craze did a lot of harm to self-defense training that worked. Everyone was looking for some special technique or style that was invincible instead of simply going to a boxing gym, doing roadwork training and conditioning. Bill Wallace style full contact karate would have been a good choice but for some reason it never took off in america. Until the ufc most martial arts enthusiasts lived in a fantasy world. Judo and boxing were taught during ww2 to soldiers and the techniques were sound . Bruce Lee was aware of the fantasy and useless aspects of martial arts and pursued the actuals and factuals of what was useful. After his death the kung fu movies inspired a pursuit of the mystical, and not the real.

[@corazondelince]

@derrick_smitty I used to enjoy the cheesy and over-the-top kung fu movies of the seventies and early eighties. I loved the cheesy dubbing and the jumps to the roof. I was skeptical of the realism of such movies but I still believed one could learn to fight multiple opponents no matter how big and strong my opponents were. Nice memories and fantasies.

[@6tiple6ix6afia]

It really is crazy to me since I am 30 years old, but I started watching MMA in 1998, so from an extremely young age I have had the privilege of watching the sport slowly gain traction and then suddenly EXPLODE into the mainstream zeitgeist. All i know is the fact that I became a fan at such a formative age, I believe I propelled me into a life long love of training in martial arts myself.

[@KentPetersonmoney]

UFC did rise in the 90's but it wasn't popular until the 2000's came around.

[@darrylkemp3253]

Pressure points , death touches and having to register your hands as deadly weapons martial arts was crazy before the UFC lol

[@RamseyDewey]

Totally man! The sheer number of people dying of death touches by people with their hands registered as lethal weapons in dojos across America was insane in the 80’s and 90’s! 😁

[@darrylkemp3253]

@@RamseyDewey I've still got my old tae kwon do licence somewhere..just incase it kicks off you have to show the police that bad boy and they'll let you off 🤣

[@MrByaeger]

I'm 57 , wrestled in junior high but even before then as a kid I read any martial art /combat book I could get a hold of . All of them dealt with grappling . In the 80's I trained in Hapkido which had throws, locks and ground fighting , and watched every video i could find , many of which also dealt with grappling . Larry Hartsel, Gene Lebell , etc. So for a lot of us , it was no mystery that grappling was critical well before UFC and the Gracies in general. I mean Bolo was using armbars in Enter The Dragon . So at least in my experience it didn't suddenly appear out of nowhere . But for many of my peers I would say it kind of did.

[@cuzz63]

" Bolo was using armbars in Enter The Dragon " This doesnt help your argument...lol

[@ajshiro3957]

My grandpa wrestled, but it was through military training. However, everyone in my family learned a little wrestling. It was probably seen as just a game back then, which is probably why a lot of kids did it

[@mmurmurjohnson2368]

The popularity of boxing and movies drained alot of grappling out of the TMA's in the 80s and 90s also. UFC woke them up. I'd say back then after wrestling and then Judo, I considered Aikido primarily grappling and sword and tanto work before it became super popularized

[@sincityinfinity6255]

Wrestling is the first sport as well as the most important for fighting

[@wolfo11]

I did wrestling at a youth club when I was in high school. After more than a year of it, no one could drag me down at school. It was fun to see their reactions 😂

[@ishwar5936]

Yesterday I realized the guy who lost to the Gracie guy in the finals of UFC1 has a karate dojo 20 min from where I live...I almost wanted to train there some years ago

[@jedijudoka]

I’d wager his stuff is legit

[@EvilWeiRamirez]

Gerard Gordeau has a school by you? If you don't decide to train, you should at least check it out.

[@fireeaglefitnessmartialart935]

Ken shamrock? He's not a karate guy. He was a wrestler and striker.

[@jedijudoka]

@@fireeaglefitnessmartialart935 Keith hackney, no?

[@fireeaglefitnessmartialart935]

@jedijudoka in ufc 1, the last fight was Ken shamrock vs roice gracie.

[@robertpetersen7701]

You should do radio or podcasts with that voice

[@MrParadim]

When I was younger Ramsey was old, wise man, that's why i love listen him giving speech.

[@LeeSurber]

Excellent video as usual..!! Great questions too..!! I'm an old wrestler from the 80's on the #1 ranked team in NYS on Penn border..!! Coach was a national champ and we crushed team points..!! Paul Keysaw (NCAA D1 Hall of Famer) lived right over the border a few miles away..!! I stood on the podium with him at the Junior Olympics,, so I guess I was pretty good..!! At the time I knew I could fight pretty well but didn't understand just how special that would be against all comers..!! It wasn't until years later when King of the Cage, Pride, Bushido, and UFC came out that it showcased just how valued wrestling as a base actually was..!! I took a few months of Karate just for some striking and kicks, I only throw front kicks, for my style that's the best..!! Striking seemed pretty easy to pick up compared to wrestling..!! It wasn't until I went to college for criminal justice that I had to take 2 semesters of Judo mandatory..!! That was the icing on the cake..!! I cannot stress enough the value of Judo to wrestlers wanting to up their game..!! The throws, chokes, bars, and joint manipulation is pretty sick..!! Once again, great video..!!

[@hyperfluous]

hey ramsey, would love to see a video where you compare / contrast the americana and kimura.. thanks!

[@billyohara239]

Thanks for the video

[@DouglasGomesBueno-jw9lh]

In Brazil 50s happened a lot of Style vs Style Matchs we have Kimura Judo moping the floor with Helio Gracie Jiu Jitsu.

[@BeamMonsterZeus]

0:55 I'm timestamping this for context, as it pertains to a long comment I made on your "A true martial artist is..." video(newer). 2:00 No local MA school 2:54 Psychological power of poses/the unknown 5:54 pro-wrestling mentioned, very relevant to western perception of combat sports 7:31 Grappling to the US was just wrestling until BJJ's debut in UFC; Greco-Roman wrestling/pankration comes to mind, as historical example Great video and question

[@unifedgongfu]

in Enter the Dragon was a Roper vs Bolo scene where bolo almost submitted Roper with an armbar so, yes, submission was in the back of the heads of all mainstream martial artists, and on the big screen. However, it might have been forgotten in the 80s XD

[@fireeaglefitnessmartialart935]

And funny thing, looking back at that scene, it was a shitty armbar. Lol.

[@ninjasolarteam]

Depending on which style you like to start first You can pick taekwondo, kung fu(wushu or bajiquan), boxing, kenpo, judo, aikido, shotokan/goju ryu and wrestling. Then you can freely go to a different styles you like to pick on after you have kickstart your own style then go forward to compete in mma tourney

[@sincityinfinity6255]

Wrestling clubs for the youth, I started wrestling in ‘05 and graduated HS in ‘13. Before HS I wrestled for a club team.

[@DenshaOtoko2]

Yes in the US where I was Judo was popular since the early 1900's.

[@Docinaplane]

Yes, wrestling was not considered a martial art when I wrestled a little in college. However, many years later I took my wrestling experience and added submissions which has worked very well for me.

[@xpallodoc1147]

I don’t know if I saw shootfighter but I did see the quest with Jean Claude vandam. I was a backyard wrestler and actual wrestler back in the day I also trained in karate a black belt came to the school and would teach us

[@harlemdeni]

Hey there Coach! Please do a video on your current strength and conditioning workout and how is it changed from the one that you did six years ago, and what did you learn about S&C in the meantime! Thank You!

[@ElDrHouse2010]

back then more people would have said that Bruce Lee could have won UFC1 and that Jeet Kune Do was a top 5 martial art. I know because when you ask normal people what they think about martial art all their impressions on the best ones are all movie related: IP-man's Wing Chun, Shaolin Kung Fu, Bruce Lee's style, sometimes they say Karate (if they grew up doing it because they don't want their black belt to mean less), etc. Of all the martial arts nobody expected Wrestling to be so damn useful. TV made us ignorant of actual human history where some sort of Folk Wrestling has always been in the spotlight in any culture.

[@soonahero]

“People didn’t think about grappling much” Meanwhile WWE

[@perceivedvelocity9914]

Haha. I'm 46 and my Mom explained to me during the 80s that WWF wasn't real. She told me that it was a TV show and I would get hurt if I copied what they did on TV. I don't know when it became public knowledge that wrestling was "predetermined" but it must have been a very long time ago.

[@GuitarsRockForever]

WWF, use the proper name of the time.

[@soonahero]

@@GuitarsRockForever 🤓

[@SirCaIIum]

Growing up in the 90s & 00s WWE was just seen as fake, dangerous and ‘muscle heads’ who focused too much on strength rather than ’real’ techniques. What’s more, martial arts were ‘so much more hardcore in the east’, they had ‘secret techniques’ and could ‘rip your guts out with their bare hands’, ‘trust me, my uncle’s best friend saw it once’. On a genuine note, with just word of mouth to go by and WWE being just thought of as staged, wrestling wasn’t even seen in the same league as ‘proper martial arts’.

[@mikehrt]

Back before UFC Mempis was a rough town. We fought. Karate guys would try to brag their way out of fights. TKD black belt kicked me and it didn't hurt. I swarmed him and his black belt did him no good when I was on his chest. I didn't call it BJJ, but I grabbed his leg from a kick, took him down, and passed his guard. At which point the fight was over and he was scared and gave up.

[@6tiple6ix6afia]

What a tough guy you must be.

[@mikehrt]

@@6tiple6ix6afia not for my neighborhood.

[@RTPJu]

Can you watch (and comment, if possible) Sérgio Batarelli vs Rei Zulu? It was one of the first MMA fights broadcasted in Brazil, in early 80s. Sergio is a six time world full contact champion, maybe the guy to first organize MMA around the country (later he created the IVC) and sponsor of a lot of fighters worldwide (as Wanderlei Silva, Pedro Rizzo, Mark Kerr and Chuck Liddell) and Rei Zulu is one of the early BJJ heroes (anti-hero lol) around. Cheers!

[@mrderp93]

Hey Ramsey, i've been doing freestyle wrestling, muay thai and shotokan karate ever since i was a kid and im now doing MMA, which i started in when i was 12. My grappling and striking have always been good and even won me 2 fights, but i began to think about some of my karate training. I was thinking of using some karate techniques in the clinch, i'd change a sidekick to look like more like a stomp, or use the "karate chops" to hit within the clinch with my forearms. Usually when i clinch or grapple i try to do a throw, takedown or a sweep since that is what im good at. But i think if i experiment a little more with striking from the clinch i could be on to something, i'd like to hear you're opinion. Note i do of course use my knees or elbows.

[@SteveJuszczak-dx3gz]

My first instructor was master John Tsai

[@eyalmagen663]

Hey Ramsey. i would like to ask what is your take on succses and goal settings. what is a good strategy to follow? many thanks

[@artyombychkov2134]

3:38 Everybody jumped on karate guys 😂

[@mirelnocic4013]

I have a question, coach! I have been training in different sports since I'm 9 years old consistently, and with 18 years, I started with american style of kickboxing, then later I switched to thaiboxing, I'm now 34 next month i become 35 and in all those time I nearly never stopped with practice, but sometimes I feel like I should stop because I become so tired that I get even depressed from it and then I fall into a trainings deep, I stop for some time, and it goes again, cause I actually missing the practice. Now I want you to ask how you are dealing with this and what should I do when I get again into a traings low 😓 You have often very good solutions for the troubles of the listeners, so I was thinking i ask also Thank you for your time, and I hope my question is not too silly. 🙏

[@RealGunSlingers]

Ramsey how do you ask a question?? 😂

[@iskandergarciagarcia5029]

Ramsey, would you do a small research on a widely popular TMA in Japan called Shorinji Kempo? Thanks!

[@stojancvetanovic3541]

Hey Ramsey! Since I learned how to ask a question, let me ask one! I am bjj practitioner, that trains 3 times per week (tuesday,thursday and friday), and I recently started competing and I intend to continue with competitions for as long as possible. Due to busy life schedule, family,child, work etc this is the only time that I can afford for my bjj training. For the last 7-8 months, I have been training almost everyday at home with some weights (I have 2 adjustable dumbbells that can go up to 30kg per each, and an adjustable Kettlebell that can go up to 20kg). I usually do circuit trainings (because they consume less time) for strength, power or endurance, and I am now thinking about implementing isometric training. So, my questions are, how should I balance all of this with different types of training, should I prioritize one thing over an another? what is the best weight training that I can do at home to improve my Bjj ? How can I split my training during a week, so that I get the most of my trainings? Can you recommend some types of exercises, plans, examples of circuit trainings? Gym is at the moment a difficult option because It doesnt match with my working hours and other obligations that I have, and it also consumes more time...I have been following your channel for quite some time and I found it very educational, refreshing and enjoyable to watch. I apologize if the question is silly, it all comes from lack of knowledge since I am a beginner in these weight trainings. Thank you in advance!

[@noblestsavage1742]

id love to get your take on xing yi chuan.

[@LittleJimmy835]

It’s hard to overstate just how naive our understanding of martial arts used to be, and how much UFC upset the apple cart when it came along. Back in the day, martial arts were very insular. Boxers would only train with and fight other boxers, karate guys only other karate guys, kung fu guys only other king fu guys, and so on. Cross training was unheard of. Every gym would claim that their style was the most deadly, and because there was no system in place to pit them against one another, you kind of just had to pick one gym and take their word for it that their style actually worked. Schools would teach completely unrealistic, woo-woo, magical techniques, but because there was no way to really test any of them, nobody knew any better. We just kind of believed it. Boxing and wrestling, while the most popular combat sports, were also similarly dismissed as being “just sports” and therefore not conducive to “real fighting”. TMA schools, shrouded in oriental mysticism, would sell themselves as having the secret techniques needed to be a deadly warrior. “Do boxing if you want a mere game, lean kung fu to be a KILLER”. We honestly believed when someone like Frank Dux said we walked off into the forest to win an underground kumete competition, because who were we to say otherwise? And there was this strange emphasis on striking, I guess because that’s the stuff that looks the most flashy and is what you saw in the movies, so it appealed to more people. All these places would only teach punching and kicking, usually just in the form of static katas. Outside of school wrestling and the occasional aikido place (lol), grappling pretty much didn’t exist. So to a large degree, we just didn’t know just how much we _didn’t know_. And the along comes UFC. It wasn’t overnight, but as MMA got more popular, along with it came this growing realisation that, “Oh, fighting looks nothing like what my ninjutsu class was selling me. In fact, it actually looks a bit more like what those “just sports” boxers and wrestlers were doing the whole time”.

[@cuzz63]

Not sure how old you are but there were Judo schools in every decent size town by the 80's.

[@LittleJimmy835]

I dunno, aside from other anecdotes I’ve heard and my general knowledge of the era, my post was drawing from my experience being a kid growing up in Australia in the 90s. While UFC existed by this time, as far as I was aware nobody had heard of it. It wouldn’t be until the mid 2000s until I would hear it be popularly discussed. While I didn’t live in a big capital city, it was a decently sized town. Yet we only had four options for fighting classes: there were about three boxing gyms, a karate dojo (shotokan if I remember?) , a TKD dojo, and an Aikido place. The Aikido was exactly what you’d expect. The Karate and TKD were both of the “stand in a line and do kata, then break boards with karate chops” McDojo’s. We don’t have high school wrestling in Oz, so that wasn’t an option either. The boxing places were legit, yes, but learning boxing and nothing else isn’t going to make you a rounded fighter. Nobody cross trained, instead everyone just loyaly (blindly?) stuck to their gym, and you heard constant arguments about how, “My style is better than yours”. But even if you did cross train all four, how good could you really get? At best you would be a less a kickboxer and more a boxer who knows a little about kicking but hasn’t sparred with his kicks the same way he has his punches. Yet at the time, they all thought they were just the toughest guys ever, flaunting their Gi’s and black belts, some even would even get up in your face, “Don’t mess with me mate I know Karate!” And being a naive kid I was genuinely intimidated by them, which is hilarious in retrospect, because I know know that even with their “training” they probably knew no more about fighting than my untrained arse. And funnily enough, the boxers, who actually did know how to fight, tended to be more chill with much less of an ego.

[@chrismathers8223]

We learned pat O'Neil's system in the army and that was in the 80s

[@perceivedvelocity9914]

I was a boy during the 80s and a teenager during the 90s. I remember people saying that amateur wrestling was a sport and not a dangerous martial art. My grandfather warned me to watch out for guys with cauliflower ears though. He claimed that Karate was overrated and a real wrestler would tie people into knots. History has proven him right.

[@Dr.PlatoZorba]

I had a self-defense teacher in 1983. He had made a name for himself (Charles Nelson). He was in his sixties or seventies back then or older. He said that a wrestling coach wanted to teach him wrestling, but that he wasn't interested because it was a sport. I think he meant that since the moves had rules and weren't designed to harm people, that he was worried that if he tried them on someone in a fight, he would be limited and less effective by not using the stuff he knew.

[@perceivedvelocity9914]

@@Dr.PlatoZorba haha. Well in your teacher's defense, kicking people in the face is very effective. Wrestling by itself does not dominate modern MMA. It's a good base for a well rounded fighter.

[@quach8quach907]

In the phone books, "martial arts" were listed under "karate", before "kennels".

[@nathanielfarrugia]

Coach, would you recommend choosing an MMA gym or developing wrestling/grappling, striking and submission skills in seperate dedicated gyms? Would you focus on learning one skill at a time or try to learn systems that allows for striking to grappling to submission as a whole? I understand that it depends on your goal and it depends on what gyms you have access to and the quality of coaching etc but in general which approach is best if you want to achieve best overall capabilities?

[@jaynemoon5659]

@RamseyDewey Question . I’ve been reading jack dempsey book and it’s helped my punching power so much. My question is should I study a Far Eastern martial art such as wing chun or karate as they might have a different technique to creating a powerful punch . There’s apparently a Japanese term for a karate strike called ikken hissatsu meaning one strike one kill . Is there anything I’m missing out on just by using Dempsey method ? I’m an mma fighter . My name is ares from England . Hope you can respond and explain on KZbin as I watch your channel a lot . Thank you

[@ironmikehallowween]

I can’t speak for Ramsey, but I would just study western style boxing for punching power. There is simply no comparison to the punching power, positioning, foot work, efficiency, and effectiveness achieved by western boxing as described by Dempsey.

[@jaydlytning]

I'll go Jack Dempsey over Ikken Hisatu.

[@cuzz63]

Wing Chun is fun but if your looking to fight its useless.

[@emmanuelzozobrado5981]

martial arts before the ufc were individual styles and were isolated. it is heavily based on self promotion rather than if it is really effective in a fight, that is why striking martial arts like karate and taekwondo are believed to be the most badass martial arts because they are heavily promoted in the media. thanks to the ufc and mma in general, we got to know what martial art styles are actually effective for fighting thanks to actual pressured competitions

[@bestgirl3380]

I agree. In many of the shaolin kung fu movies I watch, almost everyone knows kung fu. But whats important is who's is good and who's isn't. some are just better than others, they get polished a bit, by a master, and save the day!

[@emmanuelzozobrado5981]

@@bestgirl3380 yes but please don't use kung fu as an example

[@fireeaglefitnessmartialart935]

As far as grappling, id imagine wrestling was also relatively easy to understand: get the guy on the ground and hold him down for a bit and you win. Pretty strait forward. I wrestled in high school but didn't really understand how good of a "martial art" it was nor did i consider it such. But a friend of mine got into a scrap with another guy and used his wrestling to hold the guy down. The other guy couldn't really do anything. Ik some people even dont consider boxing as a martial art, cuz that would imply its similar to karate, etc. But nowadays, i think people are understanding the general basis of martial arts better.

[@MartialArtUK]

Good content but you forgot jkd . Bruce Lees style crossed trained striking and wrestling. Alot of martial arts guys where doing kung fu and boxing, karate and Judo . Its only because ufc was the first to put all disciplines together with rule s to favour the grappler that bjj become famous and the gracies was involved in deciding the rules and match ups . A genius marketing move .

[@cuzz63]

There was very little wresting in JKD and the grappling they had wasnt trained live. The UFC wasnt the 1st and the rules didnt favor grapplers.....the lack of rules seems to favor grapplers.

[@IamCorgi2u]

Ramsey Dewey I have a question. Ok so for about a week I couldn't go to training, but when I came back I had gotten better, do you happen to know why this is? All I did at home were some basic movements required to do the art, some stretching and a little weight training. Thank you and love you videos.

[@soonahero]

It’s called a deload, you dropped fatigue. Take every 4th week off training if you’re big, 6th week off if you’re pretty small

[@IamCorgi2u]

​@@soonahero I haven't heard of that. I'm gonna look into it thanks!

[@soonahero]

@@IamCorgi2u try fatigue management, Renaissance periodization training principles lecture 4

[@IamCorgi2u]

​@@soonaherothanksjust what I was looking for

[@DenshaOtoko2]

I first heard about the UFC in 2005. Before it was Karate, Taekwondo, Boxing and Wrestling and Jeet Kune Do.

[@holdenmuganda97]

Back in the day people thought of wrestling and boxing strictly as sports since they didn’t purport to teach anything outside the scope of a match. Martial arts to compete for customer dollars and absent of competitive scenes early on had to lean on the self defense void left by wrestling and boxing. This is why today martial arts still use that argument. But today most people know the effective of wrestling and boxing more now too. And understand combat sports are still very effective.

[@Sbv-25]

Just yesterday i had a really itchy nose from working out. Dunno if my hairs had anything to do about it but it was really annoying to focus deadlifts

[@robertvondarth1730]

Way back In Seattle it was all about various “modernised” Wing Chun interpretations. Wrestling was “just a sport” Or Tracy’s Kung Fu (Hapkido) There was some Tiger Crane around…

[@gigolokano1917]

Hi Ramsey, here's my question: Who do you think, if time travel existed today, would be the smallest modern MMA fighter that would be able to go back in time and win UFC 1? Has fighting knowledge and ability progressed so much that a modern MMA featherweight for instance would stand a good chance of beating all those guys, Bruce Lee style? Would even a modern pure grappler like Mikey Musumecci, or a modern muay thai fighter like Rodtang be able to win?

[@RamseyDewey]

There are a ton of guys today who could do it. Royce Gracie was a 3 degree jiu-jitsu black belt in 1993, but his wrestling sucked. Send a guy like Demetrius Johnson back in time and he'd embarrass everyone there including Royce.

[@Scott_Terry]

I don't know nothing from nothing but that recent Self-Defense Championship seemed to prove that none of these combat techniques matter. Just being big, strong, and having plenty of stamina seems like all you really need. Plus a good helping of common sense. Anything beyond that, all the ducking, diving, blocking, kicking, controlling space, etc., seemed to go right out the door in a flash.

[@RamseyDewey]

Plenty of stamina? None of the light sparring sessions we did lasted longer than 20 seconds. What stamina? That’s barely enough time to close the distance, let alone fight.

[@cranerigging3604]

Gowing up in the late 1970's / early 80's in middle America it was either Wrestling or Football ... And when the football fellers found themselves on the ground eating grass they were done .. LOL !😁

[@ninjasolarteam]

Train Martial arts to compete mma tourney is a good thing

[@jswets5007]

I grew up in 80s -90s Indiana, and there were karate, taekwondo, and jujutsu schools in almost every town. That was jujutsu, because Brazilian jiujitsu wasn't really widely known in North America yet. 😂

[@mrsenkur613]

Hello Ramsey, I just wanna ask have you ever had like a bad crisis in the gym, like all is going well and suddenly nothing is going well and nothing you do works. I have this and it happened after I got sick, I currently have some health issues nothing serious but enough to stop me from doing certain things and to piss me off and now I am stuck in this crisis where I guess you could say I "suck" at everything, like my technique is more sluggish, I get punched more, I cannot land a punch etc. any advice how to overcome this?

[@skullsnguns22]

0:53 Is that the same Mark Schultz played by Channing Tatum in _Foxcatcher?_

[@RamseyDewey]

Yes.

[@yysmer]

Hi Ramsey, do you still teach MMA in Shanghai? Id love to sign up for your class, but havent received your email reply. Which gym do you teach at now?

[@RamseyDewey]

Here’s a current schedule of public group classes I’m teaching: Gym locations and schedule Mordor Fight Club: Monday, Wednesday, Friday 7pm (Jiu-Jitsu, No-Gi) Address: 上海市青浦区沪青平公路1568号B栋511室 -- EFL Gym: Tuesday 7:30pm-9pm MMA Address: 1000 Hongquan Rd 虹泉路1000号 井亭大厦A601

[@Jerry-uc1pn]

Hey Ramsey, what would a boxing match where the fighters could not throw jabs and crosses be like?

[@RamseyDewey]

weird

[@christophervelez1561]

How do I ask you a question?

[@RamseyDewey]

You have no idea how many people have asked me this in all earnestness!

[@Mailed-Knight]

Hello Ramsey, have you ever seen the UFC movies? And if so, what do you think about them please?

[@Mailed-Knight]

I'm disappointed no one answered the nose-hair question.

[@RamseyDewey]

What UFC movies?

[@Mailed-Knight]

@@RamseyDewey Sorry, I meant Undisputed, the Undisputed movies. I have a video game called UFC: Undisputed and I got confused.

[@RamseyDewey]

I have not.

[@jpacampara21]

coach if I have a good wrestling and boxing base what other martial art should i incorporate if I want to take mma seriously? add muay thai or jiu jitsu?

[@RamseyDewey]

Yes. Also, consider training specifically for the sport of MMA. Mixed Martial Arts is it’s own unique sport.

[@jpacampara21]

@@RamseyDewey Thank you for the reply coach. Mostly I've competed in amateur wrestling and boxing here in the ph winning medals. I have to find a great MMA gym to train near me now. Thank you for your kindness and response

[@ramqi6239]

There is a misconception that people before UFC don't know much about practical Martial but the truth is anybody who knows a little about fighting back then knows that boxing and judo wrestling who are the real deal even Bruce lee himself acknowledge that

[@RamseyDewey]

Close to 100% of Bruce Lee worshipers are TMA nerds who don't wrestle, box, or know anything about judo.

[@ramqi6239]

@@RamseyDewey yeah I don't know why even you mentioned in your video batman vs Bruce lee how lee talk shit about TMC

[@RamseyDewey]

Yep. That was Bruce Lee’s whole thing: talking smack about TMA’s and telling those guys they could do better.

[@cahallo5964]

I don't know, here where I lived the internet wasn't commonplace until like 2010 and nobody watched sports from the US, so martial arts still kinda have that "mystical orient" type of stuff is still pretty much alive, although BJJ and regular boxing are pretty big and that mindset is dying. What I know is that crosstraining has always been a thing, but caring about competition that much seems to be new, like, my dad practiced like 4 martial arts in his younger years and no one in his team competed like ever on anything (valetudo/kickboxing existed). Also, the "grappling is very effective against karate" I KNOW THAT KARATEKAS KNEW THAT because most of the karate guys that took it very seriously also cross trained judo.

[@Supermomo2007]

before ufc: dont mess with judo guys!!!

[@tomdewyn5689]

Growing up in the 90's with movies like bloodsport and best of the best,i didn't care for grappling arts,i wanted to kick like Van Damme and the Rhee brothers

[@sincityinfinity6255]

I started growing nose hair when I first hit puberty, there’s clippers for that.

[@BMO_Creative]

LOL... DUDE! You crack me up! LOL... just use small scissors before or after you shave every week... LOL

[@tommyakesson8858]

Speaking about "back in the day.", I have a question. Its very hypothetical, but more a way to discuss the evolution of martial arts, and in particular MMA. The tl;dr is how would you have done in the early days of MMA? These days martial arts have evolved a ton, but the leaps and bounds have gone to increments. If what I gather is correct, in your fighting days you were a competent fighter, but never reached the top. So competent, but not a GOAT. However. Lets assume a mad scientist helps us out. You will retain all your present day knowledge and skills in martial arts and fitness, but you are put into the body of you in your prime. Also removing any injuries. Then (after a good fight camp) You can travel back in time. How far back do you think you would have to travel to be confident in your ability to grab the UFC or Pride belt?* Im just assuming you would win UFC 1, but how about around UFC 50*? 100? 200? *Assuming they had your weightclass (if they used weightclasses). This is more about comparing eras than nitty details

[@stefankeeney8462]

Yknow it’s funny because I was in my high school senior year in 2013, and I feel like even back then mma was still kinda of obacure. I live in westchester county NY and being a UFC fan was a niche interest and if a kid trained at an mma school people would say they did “cage fighting”. I believe it’s much different than nowadays where in 2024 I’m sure 9/10 kids understand who Conor mcgregor is, and what MMA is and that the UFC is like the NFL of it the most biggest league

[@JoeK-qd5dl]

Coach Ramsey, if they put you in charge of a show meant to be a competitor with the ultimate self defense championship, what would it be like?

[@RamseyDewey]

I wouldn’t do it. I only agreed to participate in the USDC because Rokas is a personal friend. The self defense industry does more harm than good, and I want nothing to do with it.

[@JoeK-qd5dl]

@@RamseyDewey I agree! The spirit of the question was to make another martial arts focused challenge tournament competing for the USDC’s audience, not do USDC but better. I don’t think anybody would want to watch a *reality* focused self-defense reality show 😂

[@monkpato]

The nose hair diversion was unexpected!

[@fattonyd232]

Even more respect to honest Abe Lincoln!

[@Jafar-dr6to]

Pre ufc strikers that all I need after ufc oh I need to learn to grapple 😂

[@anthonypena4447]

A electronic nose trimmer is your best bet, you can purchase them online.

[@DenshaOtoko2]

George Washington was an expert in an American martial art called Rough and Tumble.

[@GuitarsRockForever]

But coach, you grow up in USA, particularly in rural area, I would say people in rural areas practice very effective martial arts from young age. Using firearm, wrestling, they are martial arts.

[@RamseyDewey]

Dude, we were poor. We barely had food, let alone money for firearms.

[@tamamalosi]

In the 80's and 90's my brother and I trained combat sports. Him kick boxing and me boxing. There was virtually no idea about ground fighting or grappling in ANY form. Only options were karate, tkd, aikido, judo, boxing and kickboxing. Not even Muay Thai. Even judo was not really considered a martial art because there was no striking.

[@tamamalosi]

There were also a LOT of secret squirrel fighting arts, that we know now are utter crap. Weird branches of kung fu or some unknown form of eastern ninja art, where people punched through heavy bags. Nowadays...they're long gone. Boxing. Kick boxing. Muay Thai. Savate. All Wrestling. Judo. Karate. Sambo. These are basically what UFC or NHB has shown us what actually works.

[@annoyed707]

I am old enough to remember when a dog-eared Tegner karate book was taken seriously as a source of martial wisdom. And mastodons made for plenty of leftovers...

[@DouglasGomesBueno-jw9lh]

Wrestling, Boxing, Muay Thai are old Styles the only new thing UFC brings are the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, The Thing Style vs Style always happened but UFC brings marketing and TV for this.

[@rayh.1745]

holy crap, I just realized Im a year OLDER than you Ram.... (do you ever go by Ram?) Senior HS was 1995 for me. Age-dust-depression....😎😎

[@DouglasGomesBueno-jw9lh]

Look in my opinion Marketing it's Everything doesn’t matter what you do if the world doesn’t see it, UFC doesn’t do nothing new but bring Marketing for Style vs Style matchs.

[@ZovcDrafts]

Regarding nose hairs, if yours can grow long enough to poke out, try trimming them just enough rather than plucking them or trimming them really short. Supposedly they're important in preventing sickness, among other things so it's generally recommended to leave them alone if you can. If you keep them as long as possible, they shouldn't be able to itch the inside of your nose too badly. And you joke about the sponsorships, but Manscaped seems to sponsor a lot of channels, so they might throw money at you if you asked. 😂

[@RamseyDewey]

Screw manscaped. I will never trust them again. They violated the terms of a contract for a sponsorship deal I did for them.

[@ZovcDrafts]

@@RamseyDewey oh dang, I didn't know that had happened. I never did consider any of their stuff, but will actively avoid it if that's the case.

[@Trinacaria]

I don't know about other countries but wrestling was never a thing in Australia . I only know via movies that it was a thing in America so pre-UFC might have been different depnding on the country.

[@Teller580]

Got into many fights in school last 1 being in high school where against a bigger guy, I learned even when I win, the other guy's punches leave a mark...Fought a Karate kid in grade school he kicked, I took it, slammed him against wall, fight over. Karate lost that day

[@adamlane8238]

I got a nose hair trimmer like a year ago cuz my hairs where starting to tickle. Problem solved.

[@williamfeliciano8980]

Hold on you forgot to give the code for the NoseHairTrimmer 3000!!

[@LukeStonePharmD]

My nose hairs grumble in old.

[@Jezus42]

The number of youtubers that dont read or respond to comments is crazy Ramsey.

[@RamseyDewey]

Yep.

[@SteveJuszczak-dx3gz]

If your super old, I must be super ancient, I'm 65

[@leodouskyron5671]

President Lincoln was said to be a wrestler in his youth. (That is what we had been taught but I don’t know) Between Bruce Lee movies, wrestling and Pro wrestling the idea of submission was very much a thing and where I was wrestlers knew it was able to hurt people. The only thing is that at the time it was not seen as “manly” because you are hugging a guy. 🙄 (I will leave it at have because Google bots hate me talking about the past. But yes it is what you are thinking because we are talking 70’s and 80’s and our society had not grown up in that way yet.)

[@user-ng9gd4vl9s]

Ramsey, I sent you an email about a month ago titled "once upon a time in a dojo". I hope you read it.

[@RamseyDewey]

I never received it, sorry. I just searched through my email (including the spam filter) and nothing with that title shows up.

[@user-ng9gd4vl9s]

@RamseyDewey ok I'll send it again. Is it the email that is on your website?

[@RamseyDewey]

[e-mail]

[@user-ng9gd4vl9s]

@@RamseyDewey many thanks, its just a bit of fan mail

[@user-ng9gd4vl9s]

"Once upon a kung-fu class" sorry! Lol

[@firstname4337]

the tv series Kung Fu made chinese martial arts appear to be the best

[@unifedgongfu]

here a link to great interview with Bob Wall (O'hara), and a perspective of an erlier generation about martial arts: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iGbNZpece7aYgM0si=ZOw9nZ8Ah7K3StWS