10 YEARS OF TRAVEL, PART 3

UFC commentator Joe Rogan has predicted that many traditional martial arts will eventually disappear as masters elect to teach only those techniques that work best in a fight. While this may be a bit of an exaggeration, the trend around the world does seem to be toward students leaving the traditional arts and moving to MMA.

A related trend involves more martial arts incorporating elements of MMA to make them more “realistic.” For example, numerous karate competitions in the countries I’ve visited now allow takedowns and submissions. However, most of these hybrid events have regulations to limit ground fighting, such