Nowadays, MMA is becoming more and more popular; many people from different martial arts backgrounds immediately recognize which martial arts are prevailing during an MMA match. For some newbies, it can be more difficult.
The main martial arts used during an MMA match are: judo, muay Thai, boxing, jiu-jitsu, and what about Aikido? Have you ever wonder why Aikido is not used in MMA?
Why Aikido is not used in MMA? The main Reason why Aikido is not used in MMA is that Aikido training is not based on sparring and cannot give to the fighters the sense of what to expect during a real MMA match. Another important reason is that some of the techniques used on Aikido are not allowed in MMA as grabbing the opponent, old hands.
If you are curious to know more about why Aikido is not used in MMA fight, I encourage you to keep reading.
In the meantime if want to know who are mma fighter that use karate take a look now or remember to look later on
3 Main Reasons Why Aikido is Not Used In MMA
In my opinion, there is 3 main reason why almost no one of the MMA fighters present nowdays uses Aikido during a match, and these are:
#1 It is focused on Joint
The Aikido Japanese martial arts is mainly used to defend against attackers, especially in a street fight; one of the strong points of Aikido is the use of technique to neutralize an attack by arms with and without weapons.
First, a view can seem like an advance for an MMA fighter, but it is not true.
During an MMA match, especially during the striking phase of fighting, the fighter can’t utilize the aikido technique to neutralize punch because of its speed and dynamic fight.
#2 Aikido is based on planning
Since Aikido is martial arts that can give some advantage to the MMA fighter because it can neutralize many hits, like punches, kicks, and many different attack, it is based on the planning of attack with the cooperation of the partner.
The base of Aikido is to simulate real-life attack that coming from different parts as punches, kicks, but as mentioned before it stop on simulation, in the real-life speed, it is impossible and especial during an MMA match to use it
#3 Need High Perfection on the execution
The 3rd Reason of why Aikido is not used in mma is that it needs a lot of perfection on the execution of technique, this is one good Reason of why the aikido martial arts has a bad reputation.
Also, the more simple technique Ikkyo, that for the aikido practitioners, seems like the simplest. In reality, the control and execution of that technique require experience and perfection on the movements.
This is not possible in dynamic environments like the mma, where the punches and kicks arrive very fast and frequently.
What about boxing? boxing vs mma wich one is better?
Can Aikido be used in a real fight?
We saw that there are many reasons why Aikido is not used in mma, and now I think you have a clearer idea.
But in your mind can still blow if the Aikido is effective and can be used at least to defend yourself in a street fight.
To answer your question, I can say that Aikido can give you some advantage during the street fight if practiced for many years, at least 7 years.
As Aikido’s strong point is to make from the attack of your opponents your strength, you need to be careful on it during a street fight.
I tell you this because the street fight is a non-rule competition where the dynamic can change dramatically and frequently.
The experienced Master of Aikido can take advantage of it during a street fight because he built a habit of reflex and speed during the passing years, both essential elements to winning on a street fight.
On the other hand, a newbie on Aikido doesn’t have the time to build the reflex and the speed necessary to take advantage of the use of Aikido during a street fight.
Why Aikido has a bad reputation?
During the past years, the Aikido has built a bad reputation due to the numerous videos present on YouTube.
In particular, as you can see in the video below, the teacher seems to have magic hands, and it can make fly everyone is approaching him.
This series of videos made by phantoms guru made Aikido increase the bad reputation.
We have seen that to take advantage of Aikido, you need to master it very well, in the way to use it on street fights and MMA, but how long does it take? Let’s take a look.
How long does it take to master Aikido?
The Aikido Is a long-term martial art, which means that it took time, patience, and Constance to master it.
The time relative depend upon the subject and the passion that a people will put on it.
In general, we can say that to master aikido; you need at least 5 to 7 years.
Why Aikido need many years to master?
I just mentioned this period because many factors involve the mastering of Aikido.
The one and the most important is to build reflex and reactivity on the movements.
The Aikido is not an easy martial art because it is based upon the wrist, elbow control, pressure Point, arms control.
As you can imagine, to master and make this technique effective, you must have impressive control and make it effective in the right time on the precise point.
Is Aikido allowed in MMA?
Aikido as a form of martial arts can be used on mma; there are no restrictions regarding what types of martial arts to use during an MMA match.
The facts start to become more complex if we look more specific on the main technique used on Aikido.
The aikido martial arts focus on grabbing the opponent, old hands, all techniques that cannot be used for the rules of mma.
So as finally, we can say that Aikido is allowed on mma but only under certain circumstances and makes attention to use only the technique allowed for regalements.
Conclusion
The Aikido can be considered a soft martial art, perfect for people that have time to learn and don’t have to rush to become good in a short period, due to this Reason and for the complexity of technique and the precision necessary to be effective, the Aikido is not used in MMA. However, it can still be considered a good option for people who don’t care to move in the future on MMA.