Martial arts are a huge part of sports at TeamUCL with fourteen martial arts clubs, making up nearly 20% of the clubs in TeamUCL but it’s easier to get confused as to what the difference is between this diverse, broad collection of sports.
This article is here to give you a brief but comprehensive understanding of that very issue and hopefully give you an appreciation of the awesomeness of fighting.
A martial art is a broad term used to describe any organised systems of striking and/or grappling, ancient or modern, unarmed or armed that is used for military, combat, self defence and can be practiced in as a sport, as a combat sport. Some martial arts can also be focused on promoting health and spirituality rather than on the practicalities of fighting.
For your ease of understanding we are going to define all the martial arts at UCL by a few simple questions is the art a combat sport; is the art traditional or modern; is the art armed or unarmed; and if the art is unarmed is it a striking or grappling art.
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A combat sport is simply a martial art as a sport. A place where under a set of rules, normally specific to the art, where individuals compete one-on-one to assess their ability, hone their skill, or have fun.
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The distinction between traditional martial arts is not what you might think. Traditional martial arts can have developed very recently in history, such as with Aikido which started in the 1920s and modern martial arts can be very old, such as Muay Thai which as been practiced since at least the 1500s.
The difference is in how the martial art is practiced, its goals and philosophy.
Traditional martial arts are martial arts that focus on more than just how to fight, they attempt to instil in their practitioners a sense of discipline, respect for authority and tradition. Practice of these arts often but not always involves the forms/ patterns / katas, a series of choreographed moves, memorised and performed alone or in groups. These martial arts mostly do not involve hard sparring, and when they do engage in sparring it is often under a very specific and limiting rule set. The martial arts often focus more on the health and spiritual aspects of martial arts rather than on testing and applying the most efficient forms of combat.
Modern martial arts are focused far more or entirely on the actual martial part of martial art. They attempt to instruct their practitioners on the practicalities and realities of fighting. Modern martial arts do not have kata and training consists of practicing moves and sparring, often hard sparring involving practitioners attempting to apply their knowledge and skill against a resisting opponent. Practitioners of these martial arts believe that this makes their martial arts more realistic than traditional martial arts because practicing against a resisting opponent makes you more prepared in self-defence situations as you understand timing, how your techniques actually work and are experienced in dealing with someone using force. Hard sparring and sparring can be conducted to practice self-defence scenarios, but it often takes the form of that martial arts combat sport.
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The difference between unarmed and armed is simple, in an unarmed martial art you do not have a weapon, in an armed martial art. It is worth noting that some martial arts, particularly traditional martial arts, do attempt to teach unarmed defence against an armed attacker but this is a controversial practice we will not delve into here.
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Unarmed martial arts can be divided into striking martial arts and grappling martial arts. Striking martial arts are those focused on hitting your opponent with parts of your body, mainly the fists and legs but sometimes the elbows and knees.
Grappling martial arts are those that focus on gripping your opponent and throwing or taking them down to the ground, controlling them on the ground and applying submission holds, including chokes and limb breaking techniques to subdue an opponent. These arts also deal with how to defend against these techniques.
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The final thing to know before we break down all the martial arts is what practitioners wear. This is split into two broad categories, gi and no gi. A gi is the traditional wear of several martial arts originating from Japan. In striking arts, the gi is mostly for show and tradition but in some grappling arts it can be held to set up takedowns and submissions. Each of the martial arts have their own gis, made from different materials to better suit the specifics and training practices of that martial art, for example Brazilian jiu-jitsu gis are much thicker and more robust than karate gis.
- Boxing (Modern, Combat Sport, Unarmed, Striking)
Boxing as a modern sport emerged in the 16th century in London, it is the most popular martial art in the world, so naturally Boxing Club is one of the largest martial arts clubs here at UCL. Boxing if you do not know already is a striking combat sport where only punches are used. Boxing involves both hard sparring, light sparring, and hard competition.
- Muay Thai (Modern, Combat Sport, Unarmed, Striking)
Muay Thai, the art of eight limbs, is a modern striking art and sport from Thailand that uses techniques involving punches, kicks, knees, and elbows. Muay Thai is a style of striking. that has become popular for use in kickboxing and mixed martial arts. Muay Thai involves both hard and light sparring. Muay Thai involves both hard sparring, light sparring, and hard competition.
- Karate (Traditional, Combat Sport, Unarmed, Striking, Gi)
Karate is probably the most famous traditional martial arts in the world. Originating from Okinawa, Karate is a striking martial art with many different styles, all focused on kicks, punches, and blocks, attempting to score decisive singular strikes. Karate involves katas, block breaking and sparring. Sparring and competition are typically light contact, with competitors attempting to score singular hits to earn points. There is also competition for kata, judged by how well they are performed.
- Taekwondo (Traditional, Combat Sport Unarmed, Striking, Gi)
Taekwondo is a Korean traditional martial art developed in the 1950s, taekwondo literally translates as the art of kicking and punching, but the martial is most well-known for its wide array of extravagant spinning and jumping kicks. Taekwondo involves patterns, block breaking and sparring. Sparring is low to medium, practitioners wear a large amount of padding, sometimes including a chest guard and they compete for points from judges awarded based on executing and landing techniques. There is also competition for patterns, judged by how well they are performed.
- Kickboxing (Modern, Combat Sport, Unarmed, Striking)
Kickboxing is exactly what it sounds like, a combat sport where opponents strike each other with kicks and punches. Kickboxing practitioners often borrow techniques and styles from other striking martial arts at UCL this includes Shotokan Karate, Taekwondo and Boxing. Kickboxing involves both hard sparring, light sparring, and hard competition. Kickboxing is one of the largest martial arts clubs here at UCL.
- Shaolin Kung Fu (Traditional, Unarmed, Striking)
Shaolin Kung Fu is an ancient traditional martial art that has been practiced by the Shaolin Buddhist monks for at least 1500 years. Shaolin Kung fu includes striking techniques styled after the movements of animals and a focus on meditation and a spiritual focus rooted in Chinese philosophy.
- Jiu-Jitsu (Traditional, Armed and Unarmed, Grappling with some Striking, Gi)
Jiu-Jitsu is a traditional Japanese martial art that developed from samurai combat practices over 1200 years ago. Jiu-jitsu is a self-defence based martial art focusing on using grappling techniques including joint lock throwing techniques, but some striking techniques are used. There is not hard sparring in Jiu-Jitsu and instead focuses on practicing self-defence techniques and scenarios.
- Judo (Modern with Traditional Elements, Combat Sport, Unarmed, Grappling, Gi)
Judo, the gentle way is a Japanese modern grappling art founded in the 1880s out of improvements made to Jiu-Jitsu. Judo primarily focuses on establishing grips on your opponents’ gi and throwing them to the floor forcefully, but there is also some study of applying submissions once your opponent is on the ground. Judo is modern in its approach to fighting, with hard and light sparring but does have traditional elements within its culture.
- Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) (Modern, Combat Sport, Unarmed, Grappling, Gi and No Gi)
BJJ is a modern grappling martial art developed by the Gracie family in Brazil in the 1920s after they were taught judo by a Japanese immigrant, Mitsuyo Maeda. Since that time BJJ has expanded to be the forefront grappling martial art in world, not just focusing on takedowns but on controlling and submitting opponents once you have them to the ground. The efficacy of BJJ has been proven time an again from proto-MMA “Vale Tudo” (no rules) fights in Brazil, to the very first UFC event and is still a must have staple of any MMA training regime. BJJ is practiced both in the gi and out of the gi (no-gi) and involves hard sparring and hard competition but no striking. BJJ Club is the largest martial arts club at UCL.
- Aikido (Traditional, Armed and Unarmed, Grappling, Gi)
Aikido is a Japanese traditional martial art derived from jiu-jitsu in the 1930s that teaches throws and joint locks as well as sword, knife, and staff work. Practitioners attempt to redirect the energy of their opponents against them. With aikido translating as the way of unifying life energy or the way of the harmonious spirit, much of the practice and theory focuses of spiritual aspects, rather than practicability. There is no sparring against resisting opponents or competition.
- Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) (Modern, Combat Sport, Unarmed, Grappling and Striking)
MMA is the accumulation of all modern martial arts and emerged in the 1990s. Mixed martial artists train all aspects of unarmed combat sports, grappling, wrestling, striking and clinch work. The aim of MMA is to produce a well-rounded fighter who is competitive in all aspects of the fight game and in the sport all aspects of a fighter’s skillset are tested so there is no room for bad or ineffective technique. MMA includes light sparring, hard sparring, and hard competition.
- Krav Maga (Combative/Traditional, Unarmed, Grappling and Striking)
Krav Maga is a combative or military combat system developed by the Israeli Military in the 1930s. Krav Maga focuses entirely on self defence scenarios and the use of brutal techniques such as eye pokes, groin strikes for these purposes. There is no training against resting opponents or competition element.
- Kendo (Modern, Combat Sport, Armed)
Kendo is a Japanese sword martial art and combat sport emerging from the Kenjutsu of samurai. Kendo is a dynamic striking martial art focusing on applying speed and technique to sword combat.
- Fencing (Modern, Sport, Armed)
Although not typically thought of as a martial art, fencing is indeed an armed martial art, but primarily a sport. Modern fencing developed towards the end of the 19th century in France. Fencers hold their sabre in one hand and attempt to hit each other to score points.