What do you think? If you took a world class "mma" fighter, and put him in a time machine, warped him back to say... Ming or Qing dynasty china, or feudal japan, put him in a fight under battlefield rules. Or take someone from the past, and put them in a fight with mma rules. What would happen?

And, is there any value to studying older martial arts? Or have they been surpassed? Are there skills you cannot learn from either or art? and vice versa? Is there still a need for ancient styles and history? Or have modern martial arts surpassed them in value?

What is the value to training in a sport art, and training in a martial arts "style"?

I.E Is it necessary for a boxer to learn tai chi? Would it benefit them? And why?

I know from the articles I have read, Mr. Cartmell

you/has studied sport san shou, and styles commonly referred to as "internal" (though i know there is no real difference)

Question being, Why study both arts? And is there any value in what you have learned while studying "internal" arts. as opposed to the san shou and jujitsu/grappling you have studied.

And if you couldve have done it differently, would you have?

Battle field rules? Then unless the mma fighter has trained to fight with weapons he would not do well imo

Umm. Ok no weapons. lol

Personally I think that neijia is more important and valuable than waijia (did i spell that right?)

External sport fghting just looks too stupid and primitive. Mostly unskilled Musclehaed roidragers swinging wildly at each other, and going for armbars.

The only person who can throw a spinning back kick in mma are kung le, and jon jones... Where is the skill?

Robert,

Since there is no way to know how "ancient" martial artists actually fought, or what their level of skill was relative to modern martial artists, I can only comment on modern practitioners of martial arts as they are practiced today.

I'm also not clear on what you mean by "battlefield" rules as compared to MMA rules. If you mean could a modern MMA fighter wearing fight shorts and 4 oz. gloves beat a knight on a horse in full armor with a lance and a sword, probably not. Put the knight in a cage in MMA gloves, and I'd be confident the MMA fighter would prevail.

I believe modern MMA fighters are far and away the best (unarmed) fighters in the world. And since MMA is a combination of "ancient/traditional" martial arts, traditional martial arts training, at least parts of it, obviously have value in my opinion.

People study martial arts for a variety of reasons, so I don't think you can assign any kind of absolute "value" to specific styles. However, if you want to simply learn how to fight, you can't beat the training methodologies and techniques of modern MMA.

I'm not sure why you equate overall martial "skill" with the ability to throw a spinning back kick, but, in my opinion, professional MMA fighters are by far the most skilled fighters on the planet.

Tim, I hate to overpraise but you're awesome. I really respect this place.

I wish someday I can meet you. And learn from you.

You are welcome any time.

About Tim...Second that, Robert!

Robert,
Why do you think Neijia is more important than waijia??

I have a challenge for you. Just do hsing i and so called internal exercises, don't practice ANY judo, and then go spar with your classmates after doing this for a year. How do you think you' fare?

Thanks Tim, backarcher, you guys are the bast...

Um.. Timber.. Youre, uhm.. Not bad...

Judo is neijia IMO. :p

Why not, give you something to come back and argue about.

I debate yo. No arguing here. I can see judo as being internal. Do you consider boxing internal as well?

Boxing is external. Dont you know the game?