Does Fighting Dirty Discredit Martial Arts

Growing up learning martial arts was a lot of fun but it was rarely ever received well. Typically, when I mentioned my martial arts background to the majority of guys at my former church they acted as if it was an affront to their machismo. Most of the time they would reference little tricks to compensate and make themselves feel superior. The irony of this is we actually teach techniques in self–defense that are categorized as being less honorable ways of fighting.

Martial Arts Isn’t All About Competition

Most of the time there’s an issue because of the misconception that martial arts are all about competition which when you have TaeKwonDo and Judo that push for competition so often it is not a surprising assumption. The problem is, and this could be an article in of itself, many schools do not primarily focus on competition. There are three sects I have noted in the martial arts world the traditionalists who do it as close to the classic way as possible. The competitive school which is trying to create the best athletes to win competitions. And finally, the group that focuses on self–defense, crime prevention and overall safety. This is the group my father and I fall into.

Eye gouges, groin strikes, hair pulling, and numerous other techniques get blacklisted from competition rules for safety of the competitors. Most martial artists teach to use these “dishonorable” fighting tactics in self–defense specifically because it does a lot of damage, has high control or some other benefit that competition fighting does not have. In fact, in the self–defense group it is highly encouraged. It gives even the common man a distinct advantage over their opponents.

However…

In the first 5 UFC’s there were little to no rules. Hair pulling was legal and Royce Gracie actually used it to win a fight. Eye gouges were legal groin strikes were legal yet there was a distinct lack of these techniques succeeding. The reason for this is someone who is trained to fight probably isn’t going to stand still and let you stick your fingers in their eyes. The only reason Royce was even able to effectively use the hair pull was because his opponent had it in a ponytail which was like giving him a handle. So using these 5 competitions as evidence historically fighting dirty alone does not trump someone who trains in combat regularly or really just has any experience fighting. If you really want to defend yourself you should not just practice cheap tricks because on the off chance they fail you may pay for it.