Interesting enough, but martial arts demos between unequal or non-combative practitioners of that art rarely give any indication of how useful it is.

I agree that it's not as straightforward as a boxing ring or a Kyokushin Kumite but these sparring sessions aim to get as close to "reality" without injuring your partner. Then I guess it all comes down to what works for you :-)

It's kind of an unfortunate paradox that the more you practice these things, the more compliant you become to the actual movements. So, in a way, you become less resistant to protect yourself from injury and also to allow your partner to focus on their movements...but in the end, you become more susceptible to the techniques than an unpracticed person.

It's like dance partners. Being the best dancer in the world may allow you to move an unskilled partner in a manner that mimics skill but you're not going to pull off any complex movements.

I have all the respect in the world for what these guys do but I think they'd agree that they're just messing around and showing off some stuff that doesn't work so elegantly in real life.

Yep, Aikido is a lot like that too.

It's really easy to look at an Aikido demo or class and think that it's all choreographed and one person is just being compliant. Then you try it and realise that the "compliant" person is just trying to avoid having their joints smashed.

Try the same movement with a beginner and they'll get badly hurt, and it will look clumsy and inelegant.

That said, I don't even worry about it any more. Self defence is not the only reason to train in a martial art.

Systema interests me in the way they absorb power. I don't know enough about it to say if these guys are good or not, but their movements are certainly interesting.

This video is self-deception, same as Aikido and every other martial arts scam.

Prove these techniques in an MMA match or GTFO.

Stop putting astrology nonsense out into the world.

And this is why I don't bother with these debates any more.

I don't care what you think you know about Aikido or Systema or Wing Chun or Tai Chi or whatever else you want to hate on.

It's not all about "proving" yourself in an MMA match or "on the street" or whatever other made up scenario you care to concoct.

If you are a better person for having studied your art.... that's all there is to it.

The reason MMA fights are more likely ending with getting choked out than having your limbs broken is quite simple. If you are the guy who breaks everybodys shit, nobody will want to fight you anymore because broken bones take you out of fighting (the thing you do to make money), training (the thing that allows to compete on such a level in the first place) and the enjoyments of life (ever tried to masturbate with two broken hands?) for weeks. Weeks or erven months.
Nobody will book you or allow you in their competitions anymore because 30 second fights aren't that interesting (which is why proffesional boxing matches rarely turn out to be like Muhammad Ali vs random guy from the audience), getting qualified and equal fighters as opponents becomes next to impossible (see above) and "liability" would be the word promoters mutter in their sleep while having nightmare about faceless lawyers.
MMA isn't the Kumite from Bloodsport. MMA matches are a business and their cash cows are their fighters otherwise it would be just bum fights. You can't milk a cow with a broken udder. But you can choke its nipples until the milk flows, you just gotta have the right technique.

Yup, I should of known it was going to go this way.

This post wasn't to say Systema = superior MA.
Evidently if you're counting on competing in the octagon you're going to go with grappling/BJJ + Kick-boxing/MuayThai etc. but the UFC & Co are a very small part of life.

That being said, having practiced a similar art to Systema, I can guarantee that when you train with an experienced and balanced partner there's no compliance if you're serious about your training. It's actually a team work where you point out your opponent's openings and mistakes and gradually go faster and harder. And then there's a limit to what you can spar without risking serious injury : that's when you slow it down.

In the end, again, it's about what works for you and what you need as a person in your private and/or professional life.

It is true that MMA is not the be-all end-all of martial arts,and in fact "two persons of equivalent weight competing willingly on neutral ground" is quite far removed from "actual trouble" (key words: "two", "willingly").

That being said, two things:
1) There have been 'no-hold-barred' fights / underground duels recorded since at least the 1920s, some of them very violent and bone-splitting (famously: Kimura Vs Gracie), and 'soft' aikido-style systems never won anything.

2) More importantly, systema does claim a number of things, including being a martial art in the military sense, and being the product of an elite military force, to which it was reserved (i.e. it was secret). It also claims to have semi-mystical roots dating from the middle ages, and bonker stuff like 'paralyzing soft punch' and 'healing punch' (this is claimed by its actual founder - you can look it up). Of course none of those claims have been substantiated.

So systema is either:
- An elite martial art with Fist-Of-The-North-Star like powers, yet no one heard of it before or beside (not pre-USSR historians, not recognized Russian martial artists, and not actual Russian elite military officers), and was/is super-secret, yet can be somehow taught to anyone.

Or:
- Stuff made up by two guys out of the army.

You decide.

If your goal is "studying" and "bettering yourself", shouldn't that involve something that's honest with its claims?

I agree with Velocity5, it is, indeed, self-deception.

I can't really speak for Systema, and there are certainly some people in aikido who focus on mystic nonsense.

But the base underlying principles are sound. I've been taken apart by a 73 year old man literally half my size. I've also trained with other people in various jujutsus, and both of us have found something to learn from the other.

I don't really think it's self-deception. Maybe for some people, it is, but I'm under no illusion about how well I'd do against one of the UFC guys.

Besides, people seem to think that Aikido practitioners are somehow restricted to the demonstrated techniques. IMO, those are merely teaching aids, the "finger pointing at the stars", if you like

Ultimately, debating martial arts on the internet is even more pointless than debating with creationists. You really need to experience each art to understand it. If it isn't for you, that's fine; find something else that is.

Well anyone with a clue should agree that there are higher and lower forms of martial arts.

Ch'i is NOT some fantastic mumbo-jumbo and anyone talking-shit about Wing Chun, Wushu, or Qigong has head-in-ass syndrome and has watched shitty Hong Kong action films and MMA-masturbatory matches to arrive at their conclusions, which are in fact, horseshit.

I was involved in MA for 20 years and at the end all I could say with confidence was that I could defend myself better than before I knew any MA.