Savate: Kicking It French Style

he decides what time it is

I think you’re thinking of MMA as a specific fighting paradigm. If you’re staring from scratch then it is just as well to adopt it. However, if you are already an expert in something, it would be foolish to abandon it and try to relearn a different way of fighting.

This was Satoshi Ishii’s mistake when he fought Fedor. He abandoned his Judo roots and tried to box. On the other hand, Satoshi roundly defeated Jerome LeBanner, a first-class kickboxer, by grapping the whole fight and making the most of his Judo skills.

In short, you shouldn’t change what you;re good at- instead, augment it with new skills. And even then, always play to your strengths whatever they are. Ronda has been successful because she doesn’t pretend she’s a great striker. She closes the gap, gets you in a clinch and uses her world-class takedown skills to get you where she wants you. She would be a fool to do otherwise.

Similarly, a boxer could do very well in MMA if he doesn’t try to start kicking like a Taekwondo guy, but instead learns a few ancillary skills (some TDD and kicking defense, and what to do on the ground). JDS is another good example of building your game around your core strengths (n his case, boxing) instead of trying to be something you’re not.

gay

I really do think wrestling is redundant- if you study Judo or BJJ. Obviously, people don’t have to agree with my opinion (which is what it was), but I laid out my reasons for believing that very clearly. Of course, when people get emotional and defensive, they can’t be expected to look calmly at your argument, but that’s just human nature and I can’t help it.

I said many times that wrestling was effective. I even said in the same article that in ground control, it has a slight edge over Judo/BJJ because wrestlers train so much in ground control in order to pin their opponent’s shoulders.

However, wrestling doesn’t teach chokes, submissions, locks, etc. That’s a fact. And as for takedowns, Judo/BJJ already teaches 100 different takedowns. Putting aside the contentious issue of whether or not wrestling or Judo takedowns are more efficient, if you already mastered a grappling art that teaches takedowns, submissions and a full range of grappling skills, why do you need another one? It literally becomes redundant. It’s like learning two different ways to boil an egg.

Wrestlers have to learn BJJ because they need submissions. But if you already know BJJ, you don’t need wrestling, because you already know takedowns, grappling, and submissions. That’s the meaning of redundant. It just seems pretty logical to me. Of course people can disagree, but it’s a clear argument.

As for Savate, it speaks for itself. It has been a full-contact kickboxing sport for decades, and teaches a full repertoire of advanced kickboxing techniques (apart from knees and elbows). So it is obviously a credible alternative as a striking art.

I have no emotional investment (for or against) wrestling or Savate. Just calling it as I see it. All the arguments that respond to my positions by attacking me, or my hands-on experience (how many of them have experience in both wrestling and Judo? Pot calling kettle black in that case), etc, etc, etc, are committing the logical fallacy of ad hominem attacks. If they really had a point, they would make it instead of vehemently attacking Motmaitre.

Appreciating what all martial arts have to offer is not the same thing as blind, religious loyalty. In over 30 years in martial arts, I have seen plenty of blind, religious loyalty. This is human, and understandable. But the smart fighter takes what works and discards the rest (ALL martial arts have redundant techniques which don’t work- maybe I should write a post on that), which means you have to be able to look at ALL martial arts with a critical, objective eye.

Even the one that is your base. I too have a base martial art, and the reason I study other arts is because I admit that it isn’t perfect. If other people can’t do the same, then it’s their loss- you can’t learn with a closed mind. So I make no apologies for that.