MMA A Flavour Of The Month?

by Paul Oddi

After years and years of traditional clubs promoting that what they offered and taught was the ultimate in self-defense and fitness. Suddenly, these same clubs seemed to have changed their tune or rather are now singing a slightly different tune.

When we first opened a few years back, at our old location in Oak Ridges, there were only two area clubs offering any kind of MMA Program (Mixed Martial Arts). A club in Newmarket and ourselves with our JKD/MMA class. With the popularity and growth of the UFC and Pride Championships, in just a few short years, dozens of MMA clubs have popped up throughout the area.

This is nothing new. When Bruce Lee hit the scene in the early seventies, martial arts saw a huge surge of interest, and in the 80′s when the Karate Kid movie came out, Karate schools seemed to open up on every corner.

The difference this time around is that it isn’t just new clubs opening up, but it is that long established traditional clubs have suddenly started offering MMA classes and programs.

Despite traditional martial arts clearly coming up short compared to the combat based martial arts in the first few UFCs, these clubs continued to champion their traditional training and dismiss MMA as a fad. Now they are really pushing and advertising the fact that they too offer MMA.

Even the large martial arts industry marketing companies like the EFC and MAIA are all publishing articles on how traditional clubs can capitalize on the growth of MMA by adding it to their clubs. They have even created new programs to certify teachers, especially traditional club instructors, in their specially developed MMA programs. I was recently offered the opportunity, by one of these companies, to become certified as an instructor in one of these programs. Over the course of just a single weekend and for only $3000.00 (2 Instructors) we could be certified as MMA instructors, in their program. As well, for only an additional $300.00 per month, we would be able to use the program name in our advertising material and get additional promotional support.

Quite a change from dismissing MMA as a fad or a ‘flavour of the month’, don’t you think?

It is nice to know that even these traditional clubs are finally starting to realize what we and the other MMA clubs have long known. Traditional martial arts and traditional training methods are not the ultimate self-defense and fitness options that they have long claimed to be. That isn’t to say that MMA is the ultimate solution. MMA is just another step in the evolution of martial arts.

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