Editor’s Notes - Aug. 2008

Posted at Friday, August 22nd, 2008 By: Artjunky
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As we approach our one year anniversary next month it is an exciting time for our magazine. We’ve been happy to provide a fresh prospective and look forward to doing it better as we move forward. We’ll be making some announcements concerning our anniversary soon on our website, so make sure to keep in touch with us at martialartstimes.net.
We’d like to invite you out to Dania Jai-Alai on Sunday, September 7th from 1-3pm. The XFC Lightweight Champion John Mahlow will be there signing autographs and taking pictures. If you’ve never gotten to actually see and hold a real Championship belt the time has never been better. As a bonus, Mahlow will be conducting a free thirty minute seminar for attendees that afternoon. He is truly a well grounded fighter whose intentions are pure, and he’s excited to do whatever he can to help the sport grow. The people from American Top Team are a first class bunch.
With the rise of new fight draws like Kimbo Slice and Brock Lesnar, I’ve seen too many fans debasing new fans, claiming themselves to be the “true MMA fans”. This sickens me to no end. Instead of welcoming new fans with open arms and embracing the growing popularity of the industry, these so called fans instead mock newcomers and drive them back away from martial arts.
Unfortunately, too many in the sport have a limited idea of what MMA is. While today’s fighters utilize mostly aspects of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, an altered style of boxing and the wrestling skills now coined “Ground and Pound”, MMA is so much more than that. Is this because BJJ is really the world’s greatest martial art, or more because the greatest fighter to ever enter the octagon, Royce Gracie, was a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fighter that dominated the sport and brought thousands of new students to his art in the process.
You need to look no further than Kazushi Sakuraba to answer that question. A fighter with a catch wrestling background, he was infuriated that Brazilian Jiu Jitsu was seen as the ultimate martial art. He made it his personal responsibility to prove that wrong. He did that by challenging and defeating the greatest BJJ fighters in the world, including Marcus Silvera and Vitor Belfort. When Sakaruba defeated Royler Gracie he became the first fighter to defeat a Gracie in several decades. In 2000, Royce Gracie and Kazushi Sakuraba battled for an hour and a half, the longest fight in MMA history. Sakuraba walked away the winner after Gracie’s corner threw the towel in. From then on Sakuraba was known as “The Gracie Hunter”.
The Martial Arts Times goal is not just to provide an excellent publication, but to cover all the martial arts in a way that no other magazine on the market today does. While we pride ourselves on coverage of a variety of arts, everything we cover is a part of Mixed Martial Arts. Hung-Gar Kung Fu is MMA. Jeet Kune Do is MMA. Karate, TaeKwonDo, Judo, Greco Roman Wrestling, Pankration, Muay Thai, even traditional boxing among many others.
Who knows when the next great fighter of a new background will storm onto the scene and change the way the sport is seen, and the styles that the majority of fighters utilize. What about Lyoto Machida? Currently ranked among the best in the world at 205 pounds, this Brazilian is known for his Karate and not his BJJ. His unorthodox fighting style makes it very tough on opponents, which was very evident in his most recent victory over Tito Ortiz.
How about Karo Parisyan? A judo black belt, he is a tough contender at Welterweight. He fights with a style called the Hayastan Grappling System, which contains elements of judo, sambo, catch wrestling, freestlye and Greco Roman wrestling, as well as Muay Thai.
There are thousands of aspiring fighters across the globe looking to get an edge on their opponents so that they may be the next great champion. As Sifu Richie said in a previous edition, “You cannot defend what you do not know.” Some day soon there will be a fighter with a new style that will go on to dominate the sport and change the perception of what an MMA fighter is, much like Royce Gracie did in the 1990’s.
Don’t forget you can join us at www.martialartstimes.net for the latest news and updates in the Wide World of the Martial Arts.

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