Does MMA have the potential to become a true martial art or?

MMA is not a martial art. The debate has gone on and on. but having done martial arts for over four decades, I know the difference between a sport and a martial art. The fact that it uses techniques from traditional martial arts does not change the rules under which it is practiced. It has no base philosophy, no traditions of its own. it is not a style in any sense of the term, since it does not have a quantifiable curriculum. So can it become a true martial art, NO. Can it become a great sport, possibly. That depends on your definition of what a "great sport" is.

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No. It is what it is. It is a sport that uses a combination of martial arts and fighting styles. The individual is allowed to choose which combination and or fighting styles that they want to use in a sporting event contest.

Many mma gyms have several styles to choose from. The athlete picks one or more to practice before they begin competing.

This works well for this type of sport.

Edit:

It is apparent that many today do not have the knowledge and or understanding to know the difference between what is a sport and what is budo. They have been conditioned by the narrow minds of those that promote a sport and call it a martial art. They blindly follow lies used to market a sport in which those people have a vested interest. That is not a negative statement concerning the sport. They have good and bad athletes. Many that they showcase are talented and good fighters. However, there is a difference in being a good fighter and being a good martial artist. A fighter is limited by the rules of the contest. A martial artist is allowed to do anything and everything that the mind can create for the current situation. Therefore, the martial artist mindset is broad and can adapt to changing situation without the narrow-minded that you can do this or that because you will get a warning or disqualification. The mindset of those that participate is a sport is much different than the martial artist that trains to defend ones freedom or life.

Please do no confuse one point sparring with martial arts. That is so far from what a martial art is or what martial arts contain.

MMA is entertaining to me. Some traditional martial artist do not find it entertaining. But to each their own.

The manner in which mma is being taught is very different than how traditional or classical martial arts were developed.

Define a "true" martial art. If it's a sport, that doesn't mean it's not a martial art. The two are not mutually exclusive. Karate can be both a sport and a martial art. Fencing can be both a sport and martial art. Many gyms are straight up "MMA" gyms, teaching all of the various disciplines that work well in MMA matches as a single product. Just like any other martial art, various practitioners will have different strengths and weaknesses. Even two people that train under the same teacher will fight differently. To wit:

"Everyone thinks differently from everyone else, so he behaves differently in combat"

-Joachim Meyer, Kunst des Fechten, 1570

In the end, just go and train. Don't worry about what other people call martial arts or not. I've had people tell me that what I train (German Longsword) isn't a martial art. But I know better. It's the training that changes you, not semantics.

No. I think learning martial arts invites peace. When I first began to want to learn martial arts I wanted to be like Bruce Lee. I wanted to do 5 back flips into some spinning kick then lad on top of the guy and crush his chest until he spits up his own blood. However the more I learned the more I do not wish to harm or ever use what have been taught. I've learned that most fights can be avoided. I've learned that martial arts is not about harming, but it that the same thing that can harm can also be used to heal. Yin/ Yang Pressure points / acupressure Pressure points can be used to cause pain. They also can be used to relive pain. I know this is seen in the movies, but art does imitate life. The Shaolin Monks would spend their entire life learning martial arts (self defense). Then here comes the villain and attacks the monk and destroys the temple and kills the head teacher. The Monks with there training could defend themselves or retaliate, but they choose not to fight. That didn't make sense to me at the time. Now I understand after more than a decade of studying. Al life is valuable. I have no desire to hurt, harm or take a life even though I know how.

It's possible, but if so, it will probably be the first martial art with no single distinct lineage. It will also be difficult to encapsulate all the "basics" from the three phases (range fighting, clinch fighting, ground fighting) into a single syllibus. But if it happens, it will be some time in the future, maybe 100 years from now. At this point, MMA is still at its "evolving" stage, when the pace of the matches and tenor of techniques that are used will change from one year to the next. Just in the past five years, takedown defense has gotten better, boxing has gotten better, guard submissions have gotten more complex, and higher kicks are being thrown with more frequency. I think fights will look different in subtle but important ways for probably the next 10-15 years, at least. Until there's some sort of plateau, there is really no need to codify "MMA" as a system.

One of the difficulties I see that MMA have in teaching or getting people to learn a diverse arsenal from various martial arts is that because these fighters want to win MMA matches, they WILL NOT diverisfy. In fact, they will pick out what they are good at and train that area almost exclusive to any others. They will learn just enough to defend and keep their own, but they will rely upon their specialty to win the fight.

For some fighters, like Helio Gracie, that means BJJ ground game. Get them to the ground and submit them. For others, it is Muay Thai stand up game, where they are looking for a KO or TKO.

Because people are motivated to win fights, not motivated to learn various different martial arts, the fighters that make MMA into what it says it is, are often the ones that have already retired from professional arena or octagon fighting. But how many years would that have taken up?

When people learn new things, they are spending time learning from scratch. It means people are almost going back to zero. They can't use that in a fight. So they prefer to develop and maintain the skills in what they already know. If you want to know techniques and applications from various martial arts, that's exactly the opposite attitude you need.

As for MMA becoming, as a whole, unified and systematic, I don't think it will ever happen. There are too many factions and different philosophies in there. The whole point of it is to have a match with standardized rules to see "what" actually works. That's the meme so to speak. Nobody actually agrees on any particular element of martial arts in MMA.

EDIT: @"look up what kind of martial arts they teach in the Army and Marines.....look familiar?"

of course it is familiar. The Marines and Army needed a cardio program to build up team spirit and MMA offered a system popular to both male and female soldiers.

The 3 weapon systems a single infantry soldier relies upon is, in this order, rifle/bayonet, sidearm, knife.

For combat, they will always spend more time shooting than practicing with a knife. For use in real war, they will always prioritize bayonet training over H2H training. Soldiers are expected to accomplish the mission. In that sense, casualties are to be expected. H2H is more of a suicide solution than a self defense solution at that point.

The various military sources I have heard from have constantly noted that the Army combatives program as well as some parts of the Marine H2H program, are not designed for the individual to survive against enemies, but to build esprit de corps and fighting will as a team. These people I have heard from aren't desk pushers, either. They often times volunteer to go to Iraq and Afghanistan to help train the indigenous troops there, whether they be in the military or in the civilian sector after retiring from their military career. They spend a lot of time self-training in ways to kill using blade, firearms, or hand. But more importantly, they have spent a fair share of their time dodging mortars and rockets. So their concern for good H2H training isn't simply a matter of academics.

MMA is a system; not an art. You can have your unique style of MMA, as MMA is mixed. It's up to you how much mixing you do. MMA is the compliation of many sport martial arts, for example, Greco-Roman Wrestling, Judo, Boxing, Sambo, Muay Thai, Kickboxing, BJJ, etc...

Types of MMA:

- Pankration

- Sambo

i would consider MMA to be more of a sport, but i think it would have the potential to be run like a martial art, with belts, and promotions, etc. It is interesting now that some of the newer fighters are coming up with their training as only "MMA" versus the older fighters who are trained in the various mixed martial arts.

I believe MMA is already a style.

It has it's own unique charateristics that make it distinguishable as a fighting style. It has such unique methods such as, "ground and pound," "dirty boxing," etc. It's definetly way more than just people randomly putting styles together or even just putting BJJ, Muay Thai, and wrestlign toghether. If some just put those styles together and called it MMA it would still be incomplete. You wouldn't have those different elements that weave those styles together. You would be missing pieces.

Peole tend to think they can just crosstrain in striking arts and grappling arts and there you go, MMA ready. No, it doens't work that way. You have to specifically blend your skills set to fit MMA rules and conditions. This is where MMA is unique for all other martial arts/combat sports and simply just crosstraining.

MMA has become and exact science since the beginning of the UFC in '93. It has morphed into it's own unique style. People can see a guy fight and immeditaely recongnize he is a MMA fighter. They can tell he's not just such and such style or just a collection of crosstrained styles. He is unique trademark MMA moves and strategies.

It already is pretty much it's own unique style. The huge majority train: BJJ, Muay Thai, Kickboxing, Boxing, Wrestling and add the unique elements of MMA to it to produce MMA ready skills. But, even replacing some of those arts like adding Judo, Catch Wrestling, Tae Kwon Do, instead, it still can be distinguished as MMA because of it's unique blend and trademarks that make it cage ready without gaps that mere crosstraining would do.

ANY AND ALL "true" martial arts have different approaches and allow for individuality. period.

the definition of martial is military.....look up what kind of martial arts they teach in the Army and Marines.....look familiar?

besides that....ANY AND ALL...yes ALL..."traditional" martial arts are just mixed martial arts that became "traditional"....then again...nothing is traditional..until someone tries to change it...and someone else says "thats not the traditional way"

my opinion:

is mma an "art" in and of itself...yes it most certainly is.

however it is not a "style" ...for example jujutsu/judo is a style..as in it has an overriding philosophy (ju/ yeilding) as its base.