I didn't know where post this but I figure this may be the best subforum for this.
My question is: Do martial arts in general get watered down over time?
I'm more of a boxing fan and I am convinced that boxers now are not as good as boxers from the past. Guys from the 50s and 60s and even more recent like the era of Duran, Sugar Ray, etc. would wipe the floor with current best boxers. Infighting seems to be lost art since refs now barely allow fighters to work on the clinch. Boxers back in the day also seemed be much more defensively slick. Refs don't penalize fighters for ducking below the waist or turning away from their opponent (and inadvertently get hit in the back of the head).
But this doesn't seem to be just a boxing issue. I'm not as knowledgeable of other martial arts but it's something I hear about judo as well. Apparently a problem in judo is that there are constant rule changes to prohibit certain moves to favor a certain style of judo, and as a result, techniques are being lost.
Perhaps same goes for BJJ, where competitors can abuse the butt scoot and perhaps other ways to use the rules to their advantage, but such approaches may not be useful in a "real fight" which defeats the purpose of why bjj was developed in the first place.
I believe the same may apply for Muay Thai. I'm not a muay thai expert, but when I watch footage of older mt fighter vs current ones, the fighters back in day looked more slick. And this is perhaps is why Thailand had more successful fighters crossing over into boxing in the past. When I watch One fights, it's exciting because the rules favor action, but I don't like that they basically takes away clinch fighting, which is one of the best things about Muay Thai in my opinion. Will muay thai lose it's clinch fighting techniques over time to cater to fan friendly fights?
I can say the same for the UFC. Back in the day I much preferred Pride over the UFC because Pride rules allowed for more flexibility. Not just more action because of head stomps and knees on the ground were allowed, but they let ground fighters work for longer before standing them back up.
It seems most martial arts over time change the rules for a mixture of catering to fans, safety, and perhaps politics, and as a result get watered down as competitors abuse the rules and the style changes around them which also leads to techniques being lost.
Do all martial arts get watered down over time to cater to a larger population of both practitioners and fans?
I can comment on Karate which I trained the most, various styles.
Karate is definitely watered down compared to what it used to be. At its birth in Okinawa it was a complete system with throws, trips, locks, punches, kicks, elbows, knees etc and a very civilian self-defense / practical approach, constantly enhanced and developed by mixing with various styles of Kung Fu and nearby practiced martial arts. Arguably, Karate was the MMA of its time, perhaps with a Krav Maga mindset.
After its introduction in Japan Karate changed in many ways:
- dropped the grappling part (tegumi) since Japan already had Jujutsu/Judo for that
- dropped 'hojo undo', which is weight training and body conditioning
- borrowed the Judo uniform and belt system
- adapted for training large groups of ppl via kihon (as opposed to 2 person drills)
- simplified kata for beginners
- put more focus on performing kata rather than bunkai (application)
- added more flashy kicks
- split into many different styles
- as many modern Japanese arts embraced the "way of life" (do) approach as opposed to fighting skill
Arguably, all of the above made Karate easier to popularize but at the same time diluted the practical aspects. Those got diluted even more when Americans practiced just 1-2 years under masters in Okinawa and made a whole new style out of that after coming back to the US.
What we have today, especially in the "Olympic Karate" WKF, is so vastly different from the original Okinawan art it is barely recognizable. Some styles went on to "reinvent" the mixed martial art nature of Okinawan Karate (eg Kudo, Shidokan) but those are less popular than the major styles like point-sparring Shotokan. Kyokushin went a completely different route by keeping the hard body conditioning but banning head punches - which is good and bad at the same time.
As for any martial art which got accepted into the Olympics - those got watered down due to the Olympic committee's constant rule changes. In
Judo, leg grabs are no longer allowed (which is ridiculous). In
TKD face punches are no longer allowed (which is even more ridiculous) and body punches score low and basically aren't used. If MMA ever becomes an Olympic sport (god forbid) it will be severely watered down IMO.