It seems that martial arts is no longer something that appears in Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, or Steven Seagal movies (the latter squinting more arbitrarily than his nationality seems to actually provide). It seemed that being a ninja or "karate master" was no more than something regarded as fantastical or else a childhood phase up until somewhat recently when it gained more mainstream acceptance via the UFC, which is much more realistic than wrestling and less sleepy than boxing; you won't see UFC fighters mimicking slow-dancing prom dates in any match, even the ones that endure longer than such brutality calls for. UFC fighters are at the highest technical caliber a fighter can reach, being trained to do more than simply punch or simply pin. No, extensive martial arts training is required of any UFC fighter that wants to survive in a caged setting with another behemoth and no rules, other than "no eye-gouging."
Murder isn't strictly prohibited; therefore, extensive self defence training provides the measures that ensure survival and, beyond that, an incapacitated opponent.
Such a stimulating form of pugilism seems like boxing with no limits, but those limits do exist in the form of martial arts training. They are the same skills that kids attempted to achieve that allowed them the mind-blowing ability to break cinder blocks with the edge of their hands, but to a more extreme degree as those same kids ever considered breaking a face instead. UFC takes the romanticized techniques and overcoating that make martial arts an artform and simply removes all the beauty; in fact, UFC, and its fighters consequently, is a very ugly sport and is why men can consume it without sacrificing their masculinity. Unabashed, legal violence will always be popular with the American masses.
The violence in UFC does appear mindless, on the surface, but it really involves a lot of strategy. Considering it involves more than just blocking punches, there is a rudimentary sophistication to the techniques that make such fights last longer than ten seconds. Martial arts training provides the fighter with an outfit of techniques to employ but also ones to anticipate. In-depth self defence training gives the fighter a sort of mental recall list of attacks which are stored and tailored to the appropriate counter-attack. They training is more reflexive than anything else, muscle-memory recall being the basis of survival in the ring. Memory is most important, and it is a great hope that the fighter's head doesn't take so hard of a beating that his cognitive abilities become inert and no longer serve a functioning role. This is less a fear, and more of an expectation, in boxing.
Never let anyone tell you that UFC is barbaric, for that is only what appears on the bloody surface. Real fans of UFC, as well as practitioners, will verify the complexity that underlies the sport. Of course defending masculine authority through sheer physical and brutal means typify the very idea of barbarianism, but that term really only applies to the people who watch UFC matches just because it makes them feel tough. The Karate Kid was by no means ever tough; he received self defence training from a wise, not to mention frail, old man, and went on to become not just a bully-thwarter, but a fictional champion. Such inspiration.
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