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| My First Toughman Contest (2009) |
I spend a lot of time on martial arts forums.
On some I actually create and reply to posts. On others I simply lurk.
One common topic discussed on these forums is the value of Martial Arts Competitions. Specifically the value of fighting competitions: full contact tournaments, point sparring tournaments, grappling tournaments, and sanctioned event-style fights (boxing, kickboxing and MMA matches). More simply: Combat Sports.
In one corner you've got the camp who feels as though competing in combat sports provides no value to their training. In their minds they have "teh most deadlyz techniques!" and they can't fully utilize those "deadlyz techniques" in any sort of combat sport. This makes competition irrelevant to their training because they're already working on their "deadlyz techniques" in the most effective and humane way possible.
In the other corner you've got the camp who believes that competing in some sort of combat sport is who reason anyone should train martial arts. Further, they believe, if you do well in competition you'll do well in a real fight.
Both camps are wrong and both camps are right.
