Has he been sleeping through class?

[Frode Nilsen]

"Firas Zahabi talks development of MMA, finds jiu-jitsu's lack of evolution 'discouraging'" What??? Why don't these guys pay attention to 10P?

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2014/11/3...jitsus-lack-of

[Bryan Gore]

It would be interesting to see a grappling-only sport that is strictly oriented towards creating the best possible grapplers for MMA. It'd have to have points because you need a way to reward things that aren't useful when your only goal is to submit your opponent but would be useful of you could strike him. Standing up after being taken down needs to be worth something. Not as much as a sweep, but it needs to be worth something or people won't learn to do it. With no points and grappling only it's counterproductive for most people to go from having their opponent in their guard to standing. But in MMA for almost everyone it's better to get back up if you can. And even if you're the rare guy whose guard is so good you want your opponent their in an MMA fight, you want to develop a top gained that's trained to keep guys down who are just trying to stand back up.

[Jesse Bell]

Firas Zahabi knows what he is talking about.

[sean applegate]

He makes some great points.

[Brandon Mccaghren]

I agree with pretty much every single thing he said regarding Jiu Jitsu and MMA.

[Aiseop]

Jiu-jitsu is not MMA. It is not supplementary to, complimentary of, or a subordinate of an entirely different combat sport, whose ruleset favors striking, while negating the ability of guard players to kick or do a 12-6 elbow or hell, headbutt (as an exaggeration). MMA is its own combat sport. Jiu-jitsu is also a combat sport, a martial art, and for many, a way of life. Jiu-jitsu does not need MMA. Let them adapt jiu-jitsu for MMA, but please don't come over to our side and tell us what's wrong with our house. We can take care of our own.

[Brandon Mccaghren]

He's a BJJ black belt, so he has certainly earned the right to criticize BJJ.

And his point is regarding BJJ as it relates to MMA. I think he is spot on.

[Aiseop]

I think it's about the frame. I'm more and more hating the subordination of jiu-jitsu to MMA, as if it is its little cousin, or the minor leagues. Is Firas complaining that Muay Thai fighters need to wear MMA gloves?? Personally, BJJ is all I need. Hell, the grand majority of us jiujiteiros will never get in the cage. What do we need MMA for? Self-defense? It has already been proven to the be most effective art for that. I have no interest in another combat sport, especially one that is dominated by one large corporation that favors 1) the standing game; 2) kick-punch; and 3) disproportionately weighs what happens on the ground less than what happens on the feet in terms of judging "dominance." Firas makes the assumption that BJJ is subordinate to MMA. It's not. It's its own thing. It's like a triathlete coach complaining that runners need to change their game for the triathlon. Let them do their triathlon all they want, and let the runners run. If triathletes want to run, let them, but don't start pissing on the other side. Jiu-jitsu does not belong to MMA. It's it's own thing. Most of us aren't getting in a cage. We don't need to change anything about our jiu-jitsu training. I train at American Top Team, one of the top MMA schools in the nation. There, you wanna do MMA? Cool. Do MMA. It's its own program. Jiu-jitsu becomes "jiu-jitsu for MMA class." Sure, take jiu-jitsu, but do jiu-jitsu. When you prep for a fight, you'll gear your training and set up camp for that, but we still wear a gi or our cool spats with no gloves to classes and when we go strke we wear 10-12oz gloves for Muay Thai. Again, is Firas complaining that Muay Thai fighters need to wear MMA gloves? Does Muay Thai need to change because it can be improved for MMA?

My two cents. Thanks for the reply, brother.

[Bryan Gore]

Jiu-jitsu is not MMA. It is not supplementary to, complimentary of, or a subordinate of an entirely different combat sport, whose ruleset favors striking, while negating the ability of guard players to kick or do a 12-6 elbow or hell, headbutt (as an exaggeration). MMA is its own combat sport. Jiu-jitsu is also a combat sport, a martial art, and for many, a way of life. Jiu-jitsu does not need MMA. Let them adapt jiu-jitsu for MMA, but please don't come over to our side and tell us what's wrong with our house. We can take care of our own.

I get where you're coming from. But on the other hand, like Eddie said, I didn't get interested in MMA because of BJJ, I got interested in BJJ because at the beginning it proved itself to be the most dominant art in Vale Tudo. As Vale Tudo turned into MMA, BJJ pulled the shortest straw in what the new rules favored. But unfortunately with Vale Tudo gone, MMA is the most suitable proving ground for a martial art that is available. It's important to me that BJJ doesn't take it's ball and go home to live in its own little bubble like every art except BJJ was doing before the UFC.

[Aiseop]

True.

But, do you train jiu-jitsu to fantasize about what you would do in the cage? Or do you train MMA for the cage? And/or when we do jiu-jitsu, and enjoy it, and love it, don't we do it for it's own sake? What if tomorrow a concussion and brain degeneration study came out that in two years forces fighters to wear larger gloves that make gripping and RNC-ing almost impossible. Remember how Marcelo Garcia couldn't finish the RNC because of the MMA gloves we have now? Marcelo F-ing Garcia! Holy cow. Imagine the death bane if even a slight change like that occurred. Maybe ratings are low (like they were this year for the UFC) and a rule is implemented to stand fighers up more rapidly? Holy shit. Does that mean we need to start "speed submission" across the jiu-jitsu nation?? All of a sudden, we start looking like judo.