Are you a MMA tool? 10 ways to find out if you are! Combat Martial Arts,Philosophy and Thoughts »

I have been training martial arts seriously for a little over 10 years, and off and on for about 15. I do not consider myself a Mixed Martial Arts Fighter. I consider myself a martial artist and a ju-jitsu “artist”. You can read a little bit about me here: http://www.kobukaijujitsu.com/resume.html (I’m Matt). I do have a great deal of experience with MMA though. I have worked with a lot of MMA fighters. I have helped prepare them for fights, and have even cornered for them. One of the things I am starting to despise, as MMA gets more popular, are people pretending they are MMA fighters. I understand with every main stream sport this happens and I think it’s actually great that MMA is getting this popular. The thing about it is, MMA has “Martial Arts” in it’s name. I don’t think these wannabe tools fully understand the meaning of that. Martial arts is just not about beating up other up. Its a unique experience that can only be had by actually taking the journey. When I see or hear these things (this is a list of actual things I have experienced in my years of training), it frustrates me a little. But the reason it frustrates me is because of the way I experienced martial arts and that these people just don’t “get” what its really like to train and be a martial artist.
So, here is my list of 10 ways to know if you are an MMA Tool, enjoy!

1. You own Mixed Martial Arts and grappling instructional videos, but you’ve never stepped foot on the mat
2. You took Tae Kwon Do when you were a kid or you wrestled for 5 minutes and high school which suddenly qualifies you to be an expert in all things fighting related
3. You go the gym with your Tap Out shirt on or your UFC hat yet you couldn’t tap out your Mom even if you tried.
4. You go the your local bar in your MMA tool gear and tell people that you are a MMA fighter. And when confronted (I love doing this), your response is “Yea I’ve trained a little” or “I am training myself right now”
5. You have UFC parties at your house and yell “ARMBAR ARMBAR ARMBAR” over and over again at the TV when the fighters aren’t even touching
6. You watch the UFC and tell your friends what the fighters are doing wrong, and how you can do it better…… because you’ve had a lot SO much experience on the mat
7. You think Kimbo is God’s gift to MMA
8. You go to an MMA school ONCE and when you’ll be ready to fight in the UFC. And then never show up again because my answer wasn’t “Tomorrow”
9. You go to a fight school and after 2 minutes of doing one technique, you’ve say “Ok, I got it, what’s next?” OR you start showing other people how to do it. I guess it’s our fault for not recognizing how good you are sooner.
10. You post videos of yourself on YouTube hitting the heavy bag trying to provide tips for other MMA tools, like this guy:
    Speed & Set-Ups in Combat Sports from a Weird Guy
11. You run a martial arts fighting blog calling other people tools and you can’t count to 10….oh shit.