3 Reasons Hard2Hurt is WRONG: MMA vs HEMA Response....

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[scholagladiatoria]

I want to be absolutely clear that I was not triggered or upset by the Hard2Hurt video - I enjoyed it, and had absolutely no intention to make a response. I know it was clickbaity and poking fun, and I'm fine with that. I only made this response because I was goaded into it by HEMA people and channel followers, and I'm easy to goad LOL

[peregrinemiles]

As my late father, who was a student of multiple forms of hand-to-hand and ancient fighting systems (pre modern Hema tho) used to put it: “ If unarmed combat was superior, we would not have spent 100, 000 years developing ways to hit each other with absolutely everything but our fists.”

[codyanzil]

It’s almost like mixing your martial arts in mixed martial arts is a good idea.

[alexh]

Saying that you don't need to formally train with a sword and buckler because untrained people can beat a guy with a baseball bat is like saying you don't have to train with a gun because an untrained person can also beat a guy with a baseball bat.

[sharzad]

I think the argument that hema is “unnecessary” comes from the context of home owner having “sword and shield” and intruder having a typically chosen weapon that isn’t a gun, and that the “sword shield” combo is so vastly superior to typically chosen weapons (bat/knife) outside of a gun that limited training is need to be proficient in defending your home against invasion.

[pyrosish]

I’ve got 9 professional MMA fights. My brother is an experienced fencer and Kendoka. We put on the kendo equipment and played about with the shinai (swords). I’ve never had my ass handed to me so quickly and thoroughly. Could not agree more with what you’re saying, Matt!

[BigMason]

The method to Mike's madness is pretty easy to see.

Make a super inflammatory video, get people talking, get professionals talking, invite professional to Collab, make great content and expose everyone to other aspects of fighting.

It's "talk shit, get hit" in a constructive way. And I can't wait for his follow up video with a Hema YouTuber.

[kareliask]

The "dealing with someone behaving suicidally" aspect of HEMA is one of the longest dealt-with matters, I agree that he did not discover the wheel here.

[danielthompson]

I'll add a point based on personal experience: Many of my fellow HEMA practitioners, myself included, are basically nerds that would have otherwise been largely physically inactive for our entire lives had we not discovered and taken an interest in HEMA. My very first training session lasted about 45 minutes and I was more winded afterwards than I'd ever been, so it didn't take long for my desire to keep going to influence my decision to start exercising and eating properly.

[thinnedpaints]

Can agree, used to train MMA fairly regulary, found it's been helpful, but not game changing in HEMA.

[undead]

A blade would not be called a "force multiplier" if it was, indeed, worse than fighting with bare fists.

[johngault]

The UFC sent several of their fighters, including Rashad Evans, to the marine hand to hand combat training school. Using just knifes, the Marines wrecked the UFC fighters.
Great video to watch

[jordanthomas]

I don’t think people understand just how useful a long razor sharp blade at the end of a handle is, especially when you’re less than 5 feet from your enemy.

[RobJT]

I’ve trained for 18 years (3rd degree BJJ black belt, and have done bits of wrestling and striking). One of my students does HEMA and when I got him (at the time a white belt) to show me some simple sword stuff, I felt like I would have been in big trouble if it was real. Distance and angles of attacks are completely different.

[onbedoeldekut]

It's also quite hard to grapple if your hands have been cut off.

[AmarothEng]

My HEMA teacher is a kung fu teacher, and I know enough to know when I see someone who is really good. I myself am a long time karate practitioner who decided to have some fun with swords recently. Guess what, I am miserable with weapons. I make rookie mistakes, I get wrecked just as often as other people, who are rookies to fighting with a long weapon (not knife). I do have significant advantage when I get to grappling distance, and that much is true. But that's kinda it. Unarmed and HEMA combat are two completely different beasts which just shares some common basics (tempo, reach, body structure to support the technique and overall ability to control one's body, legwork, not telegraphing with eyes/unnecesary movements, not being scared and stressed when there's no reason to...) - but that's only what makes one a fighter. Not a winner. I find my experience, outside of the grappling scenarios, to help me learn faster.

Btw, there IS a difference between unarmed and armed grappling. You can let go of opponent's armed arm under more strict circumstances, compared to the unarmed context. What I have done several times is I let go of an arm which I considered to be "safe" - and it would be normally - but then I got slashed with a draw/push cut, because while the arm was in no position to pose punching/grappling danger to me, it was in a position to cut me with a weapon it held by just dropping the thing on me. Having no weapon combat experience, but a lot of unarmed one, can, in certain situations, actually be dangerous to you, because the game does change a bit.

[Trav_Can]

That Hard2Hurt thing is ridiculous. Weapons are a game changer. Great fighters can get killed by a drunk guy with a kitchen knife. And being a bit of an older guy myself, who has played with swords and machetes since I was a kid, it blows me away how awkward people are when they're not used to them. Cutting well is not as easy as it seems. It is it's own skill set.

[dlatrexswords]

Well if nothing else this has created a lot of good dialogue and content to go back and forth! Thanks for taking the challenge in stride Matt, and keeping the tone grounded and civil as always :)

Always something to learn when we compare and contrast different traditions.

[DanielEdwardsVG]

This will be a fun time for me 😄 I watch Shad, Skallagrim, this channel, and Hard2Hurt on a regular basis! It's awesome how much modern and historical arms and armor have in common!

[Bloborus]

I think the hard2hurt video was specifically in the context of using melee weapons in a self-defense situation against unarmed attackers, and his premise was that HEMA training would not be helpful in such a situation. I can see where he's coming from but it's a fundamental misunderstanding of HEMA to think it would be less helpful than MMA in such a situation.