thats because Seagals been talking **** about VD for 20 years, hes a dick. Theres alot of reasons (one being these are 50 year old men and VD was probably drunklol) why he didnt accept but the man (Seagal) can fight
It depends. My hands are small and could not effectively use akido or hopkido because my grip would break on guys with big hands. However, I think if it was that affective, you would see it in mma. It's been tested in early UFC and was washed out with many other styles.
I hate to say this but its somewhat true, for example, Seagals hands are ****in mitts. But also how tight someone grips. My teacher, Jim Berkley (hes in the upper west side) had normal size hands but this mofo punches the wall for a hobby so his finger bones are so heavy he can literally tear your throat out. Also there are no MMA worthy strikes in Aikido. If you have Karate, Kenpo, TKD practioners getting slammed down, guess what happens to Aikidokas wishing his opponents to fall down from a chi strike
I also believe this is because of what seems to me to be Aikido's deficiency in competitive practice. Shodokan/Tomiki Aikido does have a more competitive format than traditional Aikido schools. While I feel that is a step in the right direction, it is still very limited from what I've seen. The videos I posted in this thread's opening appear to be way more open than the Shodokan style tournament footage I've witnessed, and the footage I posted has some obvious rule limitations. Since the emergence of Fedor, I began looking at Combat Sambo. I haven't had any personal experience. I was more impressed with the competition format. Here is a glance at the rules: http://www.tournament.info/madoc/rules/Sambo_Combat_Rules.pdf This is a great format. The bouts are 6 minutes, a far cry from mma's 15+. Striking is limited, but not enough to prevent a knock out. You can still go upside someone's head. Throws get the most points, and you can win by submission. This is a tournament style people can use as a spring board to mma, or the pinnacle of their martial art success. I am not trying to claim to be some big expert here. I'm just a drunk with opinions. sugarngold and jimmie are both bjj blue belts if I am correct. Those credentials trump any of mine.
I also love the rules for combat sambo; it's the perfect way to create people like Fedor. You learn your standup grappling, then your ground game, and then you learn to do it in an environment with punches so you learn how to set up the grappling with your strikes and avoiding the opponents. The headgear and points for throws/subs makes sure the fighter always remembers his roots: his sambo. A similar phenomenon happened with the original RAW team / Team Quest guys in Lindland, Henderson, Couture, and to a lesser extent Trigg. The TQ guys all had extensive wrestling, especially Greco; they take that and start working together with gloves and light standup sparring involving using punches in conjuncture with their great wrestling. Henderson developed the same overhand right into bodylock into throw that Fedor did, while Couture and Lindland developed a more hold and hit and keep holding and hitting style. Essentially they were recreating the effect of Combat Sambo by teaching themselves how to combine their wrestling in a world of punches, but without ever abandoning their wrestling, except for Hendo when he just wants to throw
Right on. :good I would like to say from my own experience that I found Aikido most useful in empty hand defense against weapons - which is why I wanted to study it. Not to say I've ever actually had to defend against a weapon or anything because I don't want to any time soon - but IF that happened it's better to know and not need it than not know how and need it if you know what I mean.