Fan Fight

Aaaaaaaand we are live!

That's right ladies and gents, after an extended hiatus the lauded, applauded, and caffeine over-dosing Fan Fight blog is back and better than ever. That's right, we're like Rashad Evans beating the crud out of Chuck Liddell after a ten month layoff. We're bigger, badder, and trash-talkier than ever.

Well...We're trash talkier at least...

I pity the fool that don't read Fan Fight! I do! I do! I pity the fool!

So what will we be talking about now that we have returned to action? The surprising number of injuries to main-event fighters in the UFC? Not yet. Hamill vs. Rampage? Some other time probably. Nick Diaz with a possible match up with GSP? Interesting but not relevant. Or perhaps we will be talking about how Anderson Silva will be beating the crap out of Okami at Rio? Boring.

No we will be tackling the biggest, most controversial, silent elephant in the room that is the mixed-martial arts scene: Steven Seagal.

That's right, because Seagal is more important than any championship match, more important than any of the top contender match ups and far more deserving of multiple articles across the mma journalistic scene than anyone else. Yeah you heard me blogosphere, go write about illegal up kicks as much as you want. We at Fan Fight will be writing about the real issues.

I pity the fool that can't detect my sarcasm! I do! I do! I pity the fool!

Alright all joking aside, we at Fan Fight will do our best to put this particular issue to rest; not because it is overwhelmingly important but because we can provide a unique perspective on it, being amateur Aikidoka ourselves.

For those of you who haven't heard, shortly after Anderson Silva managed what was the first front kick knockout in the UFC history against Vitor Belfort, Steven Seagal came out and claimed credit for it. Claiming to have helped train Silva for the fight. This naturally was laughed at by most of the mma community and proclaimed to be a bunch of bull.

But then UFC 129 rolled around and Lyoto Machida managed to get the second ever front kick knockout against Randy Couture, shortly thereafter Machida came out and said Seagal had been working on the front kick with him as well. An interesting coincidence seeing as how Machida and Silva are both on team Black House in Brazil.

Since then Seagal has come out said he is working with other members of Black House, but there have also been various sources saying that its all a publicity stunt to make Black House better known in the States.

So where is the truth? Is Seagal imparting ancient Aikido secrets to team Black House? Is it all just a set up so a Brazilian mma team can put itself on the map? (As if having Anderson Silva and Lyoto Machida on your team wasn't enough).

The real question, as I see it, isn't whether or not Seagal is teaching mastery of the front kick to Black House, but if he can. Indeed, there seems to be a definite lack of respect for Seagal's martial arts skills throughout the world. With the exception of his former students.

Seagal, or Take Sensei or Take Shihan as he is called in the Aikido community, is a 7th level Dan in the art of Aikido. He learned directly from the students of O'Sensei (the founder of Aikido) in Japan and opened up a very successful dojo there, being one of the first white Senseis' (if not the first ever) to have a dojo in Japan. What that means is he didn't learn his aikido from some McDojo across from the supermarket. What that means is that he is a master at footwork, speed, balance, in an art form that centers around pain compliance. And when I say that Aikido is an art that centers around pain compliance I mean that in Aikido only the people who can put you in the most amount of pain ever make it to the top.

And Steven Seagal is at the top of the Aikido world.




But how well does all of that translate to mma? On paper, it doesn't translate too good. There are far too many aikido moves that would be considered illegal or that would be hindered by the addition of gloves. Aikido is also a very hard art to learn, leaving little time for a mixed-martial artist to learn additional skills. It is also an art that focuses on grappling, making it not the best choice for someone interested in striking.

In short, Aikido when taught properly can be effective on the street, but less so in the ring. Or so we all thought.

BOOM! HEADSHOT!

With Machida and Silva both giving credit to Seagal, and both managing to KO their opponents in the exact same, and unprecedented, way we are forced to wonder; was Aikido misjudged? Let us not forget that when the UFC first began no one had thought that Brazilian jiu-jitsu would be so effective in mma. And before Karo Parisyan no one thought that judo would be effective in mma either.

And of course before Lyoto Machida emerged, the idea of a karate master becoming a UFC champion was laughable.

In short, it is possible that aikido is beginning to have an influence upon mixed-martial arts. But it really is too early to tell, so I cannot tell you yet if it is the Aikido that Seagal has been sharing with team Black House that has lead to such startling victories.

What I can tell you though is this, if there was one man in this world who would be able to make Aikido applicable to mma it would be Steven Seagal. Yes, shameless self-promoting, pony-tail wearing, bad acting, marital problem having, 7th level Dan Steven Seagal.

Why? Because despite his various personal faults this man is the Aikido community's paragon of Aikido as a form of self-defense. It is very unlikely that in our lifetimes we will ever see another man who has reached the same level of mastery in this art as he. And you can either respect that, or you can go ask Seagal for a sparring session.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

To summarize, whether or not Seagal has succeeded in transferring Aikido to mma can and will only be revealed with time.