Feudal Brazil Wednesday, March 26, 2008 Being around martial arts for a long time allows you to watch trends come and go. In the 80's and 90's Tae Kwon Do was the big rage and while it is still popular it has given way to Brazilian Ju Jitsu and Mixed Martial Arts. It is difficult to sit on the sidelines and watch these awful representations of true martial sciences push their way into the limelight and snare the public into thinking they are traditional, deep, and an accurate representation of the evolution of martial arts.

The truth is they are a product of hype, popularity and the media frenzy that surrounds them. The best analogy I can use is to describe these popular arts or methods as "martial elements". Similar to the relationship between the full version of Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. On the surface they look the same but the true professionals understand the differences in depth and differences between them. Take Brazilian Ju Jitsu for example, when was the last time you remember reading stories or history books about the Samurai fighting arts of feudal Brazil? Never, because it didn't exist! Yet the popularity of it has the public believing this real Jiu Jitsu. The truth is they ripped off some of a handful of effective techniques from an ancient Japanese art, called it Brazilian style and made it popular by winning some fights on TV. Of course the sheeple followed them and fueled their popularity and success that they enjoy today. It makes me cringe when people tell me "Ya man, I am taking Brazilian Ju Jitsu, it is bad ass!"

Please.

More on Mixed Martial Arts next entry!