Is Karate an affective Martial Art?

Like who? :think Machida perhaps?

Even if they have.. theyre not using karate-like skills in mma.

I'd say its better than nothing. A big problem with karate (other than the obvious, ie techniques that are not all that effective), is that they dont spar (or even compete) with any intensity at all. Thats the only way you get rally good at something in a practical sense - do it.

 

Its not the worst thing in the world, but a sport that doesn't allow punches to the face isn't the best training for one that does.

 

I took karate for 4+ years.

Some of the self-defense techniques are pretty solid and certainly better than not knowing anything. The discipline, history and spirtual aspect of karate is pretty cool.

As far as fighting goes though, 90% of it is absolutely useless. Blocking punches doesn't work in real life like they teach you. Their punching techniques are weak at best. Most of the kicks are plain dangerous to try in a fight. Unless your name is Chuck Norris, and the people in front of you are getting paid $10,000 to get spin kicked in the face, it just isn't going to work.

 

Chuck Liddell has a karate background, Cung Le has a karate background. A lot of these fighters have a karate background. There is point competition and full contact. Any time you square off in front of another opponent it helps your strategy timing whatever. I have an extensive karate background and I also was a fairly good wrestler in high school. I am over 50 and I spar in jujitsu and mixed martial arts and my stand up game is as good as anyones my reflexes are not as good but I have experiance to not get hit hard. However, I have only seen a few guys throw spinning kicks in a MMA fight. You have to be a great kicker in order to throw and land kicks in a ring type of situation. I try to keep myself out of positon for the other person to hit me. They really haven,t caught on to the angles that I take which I learned from a boxing trainer. I donot know why I do this at this age I guess I am just bored or stupid.

 

Karate has a whole lot of pluses to it.

I'm not super familiar with it, but I know the TKD classes I took when I was like 7 (yes, TKD isn't the same but it is also widely considered a worthless martial art) helped me with a few things. It taught me to throw straight punches, and the basic sort of round kick isn't bad when thrown to the legs.

Sparring is good for developing a sense of timing and distance, even though the lack of clinch and ground games make it largely irrelevant.

Kyokushin spar 100% just no head strikes, as far as I know. This isn't WORTHLESS, it certainly helps to develop good powerful low kicks. The only problem is, if you watch a kyokushin fight, look where they hold their hands. It's got to be bad to not practice holding your hands up.

Either way, it is not all bad, but it is certainly not the best choice to make if you want to be an MMA fighter. Is it IMPOSSIBLE? No, it isn't, and you can learn some good from it, but not nearly as much good as other Martial Arts.

 

If I'm not mistaken, Lyoto Matchida has a karate background.

Obviously Chuck Liddel did as well. Cung Le, even Shonie Carter, one of the most entertaining strikers because of his diverse striking options.

So I'd say as long as a good, tough karate fighter has something else to his arsenal (kickboxing? wrestling? bjj?), it's a fantastic thing to have.

 

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Chuck Norris would **** them both.













Sonny Chiba would ask for more.

 

as Polymath mentioned any martial art lacking intense competition is at a serious disadvantage.

as always, it's hard to debate over something that is not clearly defined. ie; in american karate and Taekwondo are known as many different things by many different people.

the standard karate taught in america (and japan) does not practice hitting other people (let alone people trying to get away), hardly practices kicking targets, uses outdated techniques which can often be detrimental to your hip joints, and is mostly comprised of people who take 2 classes a week casually for 45 mins a piece (this last one often the case for taekwondo)

karate was not developed by people who constantly sparred and held tournaments. it has techniques derrived from their forms or katas which were initially simply patterns of movements and techniques designed to help peasents to understand how to use weapons that they did not yet have. A mistranslation.

Taekwondo on the other hand, in it's current international olympic comittie recognized form had the sparring section of the cirriculum completely designed by fight effectiveness.

I find it interesting that people are knocking taekwondo. consider first that

1. Due to lack of government regulations of what is taught, general american ignorance, and spiced with hollywoods influence most people in america don't know what TKD is, let alone the modern international form of it. Your rating something that is undefined and unknown.

2. Assuming you have a small but correct knowledge of modern Taekwondo sparring and your judging only that, consider that most of what your judging is not competitive in nature. Other parts of taekwondo curriculum include kyuk-pa (breaking), poomsae (forms), mommage (some grabs), along with philosophical and historical input, and in some rare cases full contact sparring (which is not for everyone and can be quite painfull) are all boiled down into a non-intense stew of 2 times a week, 45 min. class curriculum. How good would boxers be if they didn't condition and only came 2x a week for 45 mins? then only spent a minute part of their time training for fighting.

3. Consider further the general athleticism factor. People often look to TKD to help them get in shape due to it's often laid back reputation. unless your a very agressive and intense previously or currently atheletic individual I doubt you'll be willing to start training like a Boxer to get into shape. people so aggressive and atheleticly inclined usually join a sport with the appropriate americanized reputation (boxing, football, and recently MMA)

thats all for now, I need to get to bed. I'll check back later for responces.

 

Nobody is knock TKD's validity as a sport of its own, it certainly meets every possible critieria on that level. I agree with and understand the point that TKD athletes train to become better at the contest of TKD as the rules are written, just as tennis players train to become better at tennis.

While TKD obviously provides more MMA attributes then tennis, the original post was asking people to look at martial arts for their propensity to provide MMA with new talent, or for how they exist as a training mechanism to bring into an MMA camp. Just as the extensive training for the specific rules of olympic style TKD makes it such a competitive sport, it seems to not produce MMA fighters or training.

In the end though, whats wrong with being a seperate sport entirely? I enjoy lots of different sports that have nothing at all to do with MMA. Nobody really needs to be able to fight for self defense, no matter what we would like to think, so basically its just about what sport you would rather be good at.

 

No. Traditional karate is very unpractical