Is Aikido Useless? Or, is Boxing Better than MMA?

The debate has been going on forever, "Is this one better than that one!" Is boxing better than MMA, is Aikido better than Judo, is football better than baseball, this can go on forever!

I started learning Aikido when I was 20 years old, then decided to take it up full time. I moved to Japan and studied Aikido everyday. 7 years later I moved back to Houston and opened up an Aikido dojo.

And to answer the question, Aikido is not useless! Aikido is a Japanese martial art that is based in and on self-defense, by learning to use the power and speed of an attacker, you can effortlessly defend yourself. Sounds easy doesn't it....just wait till you get on the mat!

#ErikSashaCalderon #aikidohouston #lifeaikidoetc

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Please watch: "Unlocking Resilience: Lessons from Martial Arts for Conquering Life's Challenges"
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[ehJoe]

U against 5 guys, c'mon you did well. Glad your ok.

[annaeembinannahari]

Hey, I probably should tell you this... actually, countless aikido practitioners had told stories of how aikido is street effective, of how they fought multiple enemies and won using aikido, etc.... the thing is, people just don't want mere story telling.... you gotta provide at least a documented proof like a video clip of how aikido worked against a trained fighter... if it's really effective as claimed, it should not be too difficult in today's internet era. Bcoz till this day there is none whatsoever... only story telling or like fairy tales...

Aikido is advertised to the masses globally as a martial art and/or a fighting system and thus needs to live up to it's name. I personally only see aikido as a choreography of movements... as a martial art/a fighting system, nope i don't think so... If someone wants to learn aikido to appreciate it as an art form or something like that, then that's totally fine.

[wgjung]

MMA fighter is useless against boxer? OK, here comes some bullshit. They were both boxing. Go back to 1990.

[MrREDanvil]

Interesting point about KNOWING THE RULES

[Tanuki-Ha]

Don't compare. Don't compete (because competition bad?).
Don't ask questions. If Aikido doesn't make you a good kicker, take responsibility and make your art effective at kicking.

[jamesdotson]

Good for you but I do notice that you also used a Karate kick in your altercation. I think Aikido is a very interesting art with a spiritual bent to it. Do I think that as it's usually taught it's practical compared to other martial arts? No. I know of more than one instance where practitioners who were over confident in it were seriously beaten. In fact, I believe the even Tohei could not use it when he fought in a challenge match against a newsman and had to use his high level Judo. Combined with other arts though as in Tomiki Aikido, your street fight and Tohei's match it is probably a very useful adjunct to them and more like it's parent Jujitsu based art.

[michelb]

Some random facts about Aikido in my life:
- Practicing Aikido spared me a lot of injuries in Badminton. In situations where other Badminton players tend sprain their ankles, or injure knees writs and elbows when falling on the grind I just do an ushiro ukemi and get back up.
- Practicing Aikido made me aware of people who jokingly try to catch me off guard with a sneak attack, just a shifting my position and an amused glance is enough for them to realize it's going to fail. Then we both lough bout it.
- Practicing Aikido taught me to walk in crowded places without bumping into people
- Due to my Aikido practice the one single time someone showed the intention to swing at me (due to a misunderstanding) I instinctively raised my hands in a pacifying gesture that would also allow me, should the swing happen, to defend myself and probably take the aggressor down gently (I realized that only later when the situation was resolved).
- When people learn that I have a black belt in Aikido and comment that I am probably a dangerous person I always tell that considering the fact that the black belt test in Aikido does not include any actual fighting, it is by no means an indication of a fighting ability. I also tell them that the best way to completely seal an Aikidoka skills is to not attack him (but every Akidoka could have other skills that might be not sealed this way).
- When I was a kid I was often bullied because I was afraid to fight back. I was afraid to fight back because I was scared of possible conflict escalation and opted to endure the humiliation instead. Practicing Aikido gives me a (possibly unjustified) confidence that I could try to defend myself without escalating the conflict, that alone has removed a lot of psychological stress from my life, made me a more peaceful person and probably spared me some amount of trouble.
- When I started practicing Aikido, I was already aware that more brutal and quick-to-learn options existed. I have pondered this and decided that considering the context where I live (very low risk of random physical aggression), I'd rather get beaten once or twice in my life but pursue (hopefully till an old age) a fulfilling activity that I enjoy.
- When I am being asked about how useful Aikido would be for self-defense I always answer that probably not a lot and that if the point is to be safe it's better to have a paper spray and avoid dangerous places. Aikido is for self-developement and the rest should be considered as a freebie.

- In spite of what Aikido teachers struggle to teach us, we, Aikido practitioners (myself included) focus too much on techniques and too little on actual Aikido (placement, angles, timing, balance).
- In fact I think that from now on, when explaining about Aikido to "outsiders" I'll tell them that the Aikido techniques are useless without the "secret ingredient" part that transcends the ranks and which is only taught to a select few who can understand it and that I could only have a glimpse of so far.

- At the office I had a coworker who practiced Krav-Maga. Learning about it our manager jokingly said us that he wanted us to fight so he could decide which discipline he would pick for himself. I asked in return if he would use the same methodology to choose between golf and tennis.

[Creativeinc]

Great video! Personally, I do a fair bit of karate work but this video provided me with lots of information on aikido and boxing! I think part of all the training is learning a mindset. Regardless of the actual physical actions, centralizing yourself internally and zoning in on specific thoughts is the biggest benefit!

[andhaskins]

Awesome content Erik, loved the message and how it was delivered. Makes me want to go focus on MY art. Inspiring

[streetdefenders]

Akido is not for self defense it's for
Playing and for old people to get a good stretch

[keithcove]

The Biggest questions I see here are similar to this Question " Is a Jump Rope useful " the obvious answer " Not if you don't know how to use it ! "

[Tmek]

I'm starting a new Professional MMA League. There will be one twist on the rules - you win when you're knocked unconsciousby the other guy. Also 5v1 fights are allowed, so that trained fighters can stand a chance against an aikido black belt.

[AKILISFILMSTUDIO]

Nice man. You should teach me all the moves you did with the 5 guys 😅

[JSMinstantcoaching]

I appreciate your channel, I love your editing style, I am a new member :-) as far as aikido, I will share my own experience soon on my channel. That will be a different view of yours I need to do the video in English, as my channel is a french one.

[godsrevolver]

No offense, and I don't want to say that I DON'T believe your story, but it's just difficult to believe since I've yet to see aikido prove itself. Is there any way to document or record a fight? Have any been documented or recorded so far? If there have been any, I'd love for someone to point it out so that I can see for myself. I don't mean to sound condescending, if that's how this comment sounded.

[Helltown]

The problem with your philosophy is that my martial arts Journey which is a YouTube channel about a former aikidoka who's now an MMA fighter, had already tried to make it effective in the streets and in doing so he realize that when you change it to make it practical it's no longer akido. The practical form of Aikido is Judo plain and simple. Aikido is the most useless martial art and if you say well it's good for spirituality or something like that I'll just point to Tai Chi and yoga as better Alternatives because at least they don't lie to you about combat. Aikido just doesn't work because it lacks pressure testing and aliveness.
If you want any martial art to be effective you have to spar there's just no other way of getting around it.

[bushcraftandteddybears]

MMA wasn't proven useless against boxing in McGregor vs Mayweather. McGregor was defeated (against one of the all time great boxers) but he did fare better than some/most expected and the fact that the practice of MMA has striking techniques kind of negates your initial comments.

I would argue that aikido has much more merit to be called useless versus boxing than MMA ;)

Also - I don't believe that you managed to "block" all attacks from 3 people kicking you while you're on the ground. Sorry but that just sounds made up.

[ehJoe]

The forever question, curious Muhammad Ali or Tyson, love boxing so was intrigued by this, sorry off topic but still my question :

[formandvoidd]

Kind of wild that I randomly stumbled across this video. I trained in Aikido at your dojo in Houston for about 2 years some 15-16 years ago. It was a fantastic experience. A few years after I left Houston I got into an altercation with a guy at a bar. The fundamental principle of using your attacker's energy certainly worked in my favor. He came at me and I just instinctually took one step backward to absorb his momentum and pulled his head downward. He hit the floor so hard he was knocked out instantly. No punch thrown, one simple motion and he was knocked out cold for 5 minutes. Was it a beautifully executed Aikido technique? Not really. But it was certainly a representation of a practical application of the principle (with a bit of my own force added in for good measure). So for what it's worth, in my one real-life fight situation since training in Aikido it certainly worked for me. As I tried to leave the bar I was told by one bystander that it "was the most badass thing he'd ever seen." LOL. He had clearly not seen enough badass things.

Anyway, even if Aikido is not effective against a boxer or in an MMA setting, those are not street fights. Street fights are sloppy and generally end up with people pushing, grabbing, and grappling. Aikido can be very effective at dealing with those things. If you are an untrained person and you get into an altercation with a boxer, you're probably gonna lose. I think the same can be said for any martial art including Aikido. Training in any martial art will give you an advantage in a real world street fight.

One thing I appreciated about training under your guidance was that you would often point out the subtle differences between Aikido and Jiujitsu techniques. It's unfortunate that it's trendy in the days of BJJ mega-popularity to trash an art that is rooted in many of the same fundamental uses of momentum, grappling, and joint-locks. There's some pretty goofy Aikido videos out there where it does look like guys are just falling over. Those certainly don't help the rep. But I can say 100% that training with you was not like that. There's was a physicality to our training that I did not experience at the one Aikido Dojo I tried out after I moved. As with anything, effectiveness will vary based on the specifics of your training. I always found your approach to training to be practical and applicable. There's something to be said for a great teacher. Anyway... Years later. Thank you, Sensei.

[bushcraftandteddybears]

Just because McGregor lost doesn't mean that mma is useless against boxing (or even that it was that night). McGregor was doing rather well, especially that Mayweather is considered one of the greatest boxers of all time.

So that whole argument doesn't hold water, and then it just gets worse.