Aikido in the MMA ring?

[Tony Dismukes]

Now I'm not going to vouch for the Aikido of this chap because I don't do Aiki. I didn't know him personally but I know the person who trained with him in MMA. Rik certainly believed that there's room for Aikido in MMA. Sadly he died al little while back so we can't ask any questions of him. He is survived by his father and his son.

Aikido vs MMA - Blitz Martial Arts Magazine

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Interesting. His dad has a YouTube channel that has a number of Rik's fights on them. (Also some fights from another Ellis student). If any Aikidoka care to go through those fights and see if they can spot moments where some Aikido is used, I'd love to see them. I haven't spotted any so far, but I've only watched a couple of the fights and I'm not an Aikidoka.

 

[Tez3]

Rik's father is Henry Ellis 6th dan AikiKai Hombu, Rik's son also fights MMA and has studied Aiki with his grandfather.
It perhaps proves what people are saying, that one must study Aikido for many years to be able to take techniques from it and use in MMA. They won't, I know, have used Aikido as a style but certainly it's likely that there are techniques in there if it's possible to put them there.

 

[elder999]

@elder999 haha yes that figure quoted seems to vary with the quoter and who they are citing 70%, 90%, 99%.. I have even seen it extrapolated in discussion to 100% and but yes certainly when atemi is not taken merely for kicking or punching this esoteric quote translates a lot less koan.. You are Yoshinkan then your interpretation -with respect- I have no doubt would go differently from mine I know Aikido men spend whole nights in the bar after dojo in debating this **** haha.. still, Aikido is just not the right thing to be wheeled out in its true flavours for a MMA fight, yes? Because like your lacrosse stick it is not the right tool for that job yes?? ok make sense..

What is the lesson to be taken I ought to know then in certain internet corners where a theme of arguments is.. "if Aikido was worth **** then why do we see no evidence of it in MMA?" this has me wondering couple of things caused me to ask if any body here knew what that might be about given the clear point you make about Aikido just not a method of best fit for MMA, like surely your point is the end of the question, why is the discussion some times -maybe in certain places less moderated more partisan- go like: "no Aikido discernible in MMA therefore most likely conclusion aikido = **** QED" ?? x

A couple of things, @Jenna :

1) What many fluffy bunny aikidoka (not saying that you fall into this camp, just dredging up an ancient, derogatory term)-what many aikidoka forget is that Ueshiba was extraordinarily strong in his youth to middle age, had studied a variety of martial arts, had hunted boar with a sharpened stick (!!), had been some sort of militray butcher in Manchuria, and had interactions with a variety of martial artists as well...his students came from a diverse background of martial arts.

So let's assume, for a minute, that when he said that "atemi accounts for 99% of aikido," he meant that atemi accounts for 99% of aikido.
Then take a look at the atemi that exists within aikido-it is not only not exactly representative of atemi waza-it is, in fact, it's modeled on sword striking...what we have in aikido atemi waza is a symbolic strike and movement, meant to represent a person attacking, in order to enhance movement, timing, and blending. The assumption-in the beginning-was that the student, having studied other martial arts, would understand this, and have been exposed to real strikes in his other training.

(You'll see that "other trianing" is a continuing theme here.)

2) Aikido, as a way to "aiki development," is really meant for polishing an already competent martial artist with (ahem) other training.

If you ever are interested in any recommendations for additional training, PM me.....I'd recommend, though, at a a minimum, a striking oriented art like wing chun-I'm not talking about MMA competition, here, hypothetical or otherwise, I'm talking about making your aikido more useful-Seagal sensei (since he was mentioned earlier) regularly uses techniques-blocks and strikes-from his gung fu training as entries for aikido. He also does a few things that are size and background specific, just as you should:I've always assumed that you're somewhat petite.....

Some kind of groundplay, like judo, would also be a good fit......

 

[Star Dragon]

Hi Jenna,

While you might see something that looks a little like an irimi-nage (that is, the short version Seagal is famous for, without tenkan movement) in an MMA fight occasionally, the locks that Aikido heavily relies on (including techniques like kote-gaeshi and shiho-nage) are probably not very effective in the octagon, as a good fighter who knows what to expect and has trained for this could quite easily get out of them.

 

[drop bear]

A couple of things, @Jenna :

1) What many fluffy bunny aikidoka (not saying that you fall into this camp, just dredging up an ancient, derogatory term)-what many aikidoka forget is that Ueshiba was extraordinarily strong in his youth to middle age, had studied a variety of martial arts, had hunted boar with a sharpened stick (!!), had been some sort of militray butcher in Manchuria, and had interactions with a variety of martial artists as well...his students came from a diverse background of martial arts.

So let's assume, for a minute, that when he said that "atemi accounts for 99% of aikido," he meant that atemi accounts for 99% of aikido.
Then take a look at the atemi that exists within aikido-it is not only not exactly representative of atemi waza-it is, in fact, it's modeled on sword striking...what we have in aikido atemi waza is a symbolic strike and movement, meant to represent a person attacking, in order to enhance movement, timing, and blending. The assumption-in the beginning-was that the student, having studied other martial arts, would understand this, and have been exposed to real strikes in his other training.

(You'll see that "other trianing" is a continuing theme here.)

2) Aikido, as a way to "aiki development," is really meant for polishing an already competent martial artist with (ahem) other training.

If you ever are interested in any recommendations for additional training, PM me.....I'd recommend, though, at a a minimum, a striking oriented art like wing chun-I'm not talking about MMA competition, here, hypothetical or otherwise, I'm talking about making your aikido more useful-Seagal sensei (since he was mentioned earlier) regularly uses techniques-blocks and strikes-from his gung fu training as entries for aikido. He also does a few things that are size and background specific, just as you should:I've always assumed that you're somewhat petite.....

Some kind of groundplay, like judo, would also be a good fit......

Krav reflects that as well. Imi was some sort of multi talented kill monster.

Imi Lichtenfeld - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia