To touch on some other points you made, a "simple blackbelt" my be just that in tae kwon do, or jeet kune do, but in an art that is designed for actual combat and not just to bring in the cash of well-to-do parents trying to teach their kids how to defend themselves, a black-belt is anything but simple. I once trained with a guy in his mid-40s who had a black-belt in jiu-jitsu, judo, and aikido. He had dedicated his life to these three disciplines, and he was one of the most cerebral, scary mother fuckers I ever had the pleasure of grappling with. Please don't lump all black-belts together. I'll take a blue-belt jitsu practitioner over a 5th degree tae-kwon-do blackbelt 19 out of 20 times.
Your final question is about the use of steroids by regular martial artists, to which I say, if you are not well rounded in your fighting disciplines, you will need a lot more than steroids to beat a true mixed martial artist with your limited, point-fighting style, pretty but ineffective single-minded discipline. A top level mixed martial artist, let's take Eddie Alvarez for example, against a top level "regular martial artist", let's take your idol Bruce Lee, would be a lopsided cage fight or street fight for that matter. Bruce Lee was incredibly fast, and intensely devoted to not just his own fighting style, Jeet Kune Do, but also to the many styles of karate from which he built his. But how is his chin? Unknown. Takedown defense? Probably weak. Submission defense? Mostly non-existent. I believe if he were alive today, he would love the sport of MMA, and he would probably freely admit that the cream of the crop of today's fighters would demolish a traditionally trained martial artist.
Lastly, I just want to add that steroids only really make a huge difference in the heavyweight division, where the maximum weight limit is 265 pounds in most organizations. Unless you are really tall, it is hard to naturally be 265 and solid muscle, agile, fast, and in great shape. And if you are tall, it is still hard to be agile, fast, and powerful enough, NATURALLY. But throw in steroids, and you have guys like Alistair Overeem, who, if you've never seen him, is a monster. He has undoubtedly been using over the last 8-10 years, just google the fight between him and chuck liddell in pride years and years ago and then check out a current picture of him. When steroids allow an extremely athletic, skilled mixed martial artist, to put on 50 pounds and still be in the same weight class, it is skewing the possible results badly. Case and point, Brock Lesnar.
All in all, there is nothing anyone can do about steroids in pro sports, because as long as there is that much money on the table, there will always be the desire to find ways to get it.
I said 'Simple Blackbelt' in relation to the McDojo craze, which every serious Martial Artist or Cage fighter should know of. I am certified in the Brown Belt/Level of Krav Maga, am a Practitioner of Jeet Kune Do, I have done Boxing, study under various other styles as well. I pick the best to use, much like Bruce Lee and all Cage Fighters do. I also have been in six Amateur fights under my belt in the Mid-West, and two Open Style and Weight tournaments under my belt. To be completely audacious, the demeaning attitude you take is offensive. You establish your self as an 'insider' and then decide to insult me because of my opinion of Aforementioned McDojo's Black Belt certification's. Do you think it is a challenge to open a Dojo and tell people they earned a belt? Karate, for example, is relatively easy to become a real black belt of. The styles of Tai Chi (Yes, it actually is a fighting style) is very simple to become a Black Belt of. Even now you can get Gracie certified to the black belt level online, by sending in tapes. On the other hand, learning Karate from a proficient instructor is much more of a challenge. The best contrast I can provide is Boxing. You have YMCA boxing, and Golden Gloves Boxing in cities like Detroit. Take a pick which one its harder to become proficient under? Or which one give you more bruises? Or for that matter, missing teeth and broken bones? Royce Gracie puts it the best, the Black Belt only covers two inches above your a$$, you need to cover the rest. That is my point. What matters in less about the belt, but more about the instructor, the guys you train with, and your dedication.
Please do not insult the art Jeet Kune Do, or its creator Bruce Lee. Jeet Kune Do has a very limited list of certified Sensei, to of which to train under one who is the real deal, you will travel cross-country/over sea's to do so. Going to Brazil is wonderful for you to have such an opportunity. Just take a minute to think about how hard it is to learn even the concept of Jeet Kune Do when the founder is long dead, and his own students who are certified to teach differ in belief and approach. Some have a MMA feel to it, others traditional Martial Artist, other street combat. And the divide of theory vs definitive style means in order to learn the entire scope of the style, one would need to learn uder the four top masters (Per my knowledge there are four) and possible train under the rest of the few dozen certified instructors to understand the system. The methodology of rolling the blows away in order to establish openings for a punch, low kick, ect are exactly the same. Dan White called Lee the grandfather of MMA for a reason.
Lee used an Arm Bar like move over 30 years ago. No one state side knew what it was. He preformed Judo flips more efficiently than actual Judo Masters. I could go on, but his style is more than one dimensional. I am not saying the style is the best, or that he was. Hell, I prefer Krav Maga personally, but, the man deserves the respect he has earned. He was a revolutionary years before his time.
Now, about Royce Gracie. Most MMA insiders know of the history of Royce. He was not the best Gracie, but was dedicated to the gym, so his oldest brother picked him to represent the gym over his brother who has more weight on him and represent the style in the UFC. Royce Gracie was the only Gracie allowed such an opportunity. The middle brother was much more proficient and a natural, and would have not needed steroids. Do I blame him for using? No. Does it effect the Gracie name? For those who are ignorant to the past and the UFC, yes, but to those who know the history understand the world never saw the the best the Family, and style, had to offer.
Now, when I stated a Martial Artist I made the assumption it was understood the dynamic. The time a person spends to be a Martial Artist and be a Cage Fighter should be the same. A Cage Fighter picks up elements of styles to create a style legal for his organization that is most effective. A Martial Art practitioner should spend the same amount of time learning a singular art or arts as one picking the best for a limited purpose. The opinion of most Martial Artists is that they are superior to Cage Fighters because they learn hundreds of years of mastery and use it against relatively new styles and jumbles of techniques not backed by style. These same guys do not believe in Jeet Kune Do, Krav Maga, BJJ, ect. They are too 'new' and they are shallow to such fighters.
I never thought the distinction should need to be made. Assuming the fighters are of the same training length, the attitudes are pretty much universal. The bias for one style or another does not involve Steroids, but is an age old discussion which most often comes down to practitioner. But when learning from a traditional and authentic Martial Art studio, you learn much more than hand to hand combat. Weaponry, Self Discipline, Self Improvement, the mind setting of a fighter, killing intension, how to fair against non-traditional fighters, ect.
My question was not an attack on any particular style, but one purely of Steroids. Guys who go for steroids and only study for the intention of learning a limited art capacity, do so most often wrong, and think the belt and the steroids will give the edge. Cage Fighters and Practitioners of an art look at this differently, Steroids give the edge, but they master the style and work harder in order to abuse the benefits steroids give. So my question was simplistic, what is the boards opinion of not professional athletes, but regular guys who have a regular McDojo black belt taking steroids. Not for looks, or preformance really, but to improve the ability they believe they have.
opcorn: so, One....what's ur real name?
