Internal Skill

There is a fantasy martial art skill where a short Asian man is able to toss around larger opponents like a rag doll. This is shown in martial arts demos (like most Aikido randori,) but usually does not show up in sparring. The consensus on Bullshido.net is that the following video is not fake:

IF that larger guy really is a wrestler, he's definitely out of practice, because wrestlers train really hard and have great conditioning, and would not be out of breath that quickly. But the fantasy isn't throwing around other skilled grapplers, the fantasy is throwing around larger opponents, and that is clearly happening there.

THAT is the skill people doing internal martial arts such as Aikido, Pa Kua and Tai Chi are trying to develop, and it is no coincidence that the master in the video above practices Tai Chi. But he got that skill by training to fight in these kind of tournaments:

But are these two videos really connected, are they really the same thing? Here's what happens in one of those tournaments when the opponents are not evenly matched in terms of size, conditioning and skill:

There's that Aikido skill again, tossing people like rag dolls, this time in an open tournament.

But the above video before that, the 2nd video with the evenly matched opponents reminded you of something, didn't it... Sumo: the ring size and format, objectives and techniques are similar. Though I didn't quite grasp the significance of this at the time, in the early 90's I had a short, stocky friend from Japan who had used his sport Sumo training effectively in self defense, at least once against multiple opponents:

The fact is the Mongolians spread this kind of grappling all over Asia and Eastern Europe if they didn't have it before. This kind of grappling's application on battle field is obvious: it is better for you to be on your feet and worse for your enemy to be prone. Time and again this type of stand-up grappling to throw the opponent on the ground is found in culture after culture, all over the world.

THAT is the skill that made Aikido famous. So how come most Aikidoka can't do it? Because they don't do that type of grappling. How come the early Aikido masters could do it? First, the Aikido founder probably did Chinese internal martial arts and probably had significant tai chi type sparring skills, BUT even if he did not, his involvement in Sumo is well documented. Other early Aikido masters also had Sumo backgrounds! Aikido is supposed to be like Tai Chi in that it is supposed to grant Sumo power to people not large enough to be Sumo wrestlers. But that skill can only be achieved by training in that skill directly, as shown in the above videos: Kata and forms may or may not be appropriate conditioning for that kind of sparring, but they are no substitute for that kind of sparring!

As a martial arts critic, I would ask "why don't we see this in MMA?" First of all we have, just for example in UFC 1 a kickboxer* used exactly that sort of technique to take out a Sumo practitioner:

Second of all, MMA by way of BJJ and Sambo is highly influenced by Judo. Kano added a rare school of techniques to his Judo when he created the sport of Judo, which were the ground fighting techniques that are now ubiquitous in MMA. With added techniques for ground fighting, it made the most sense to try to fall on your opponents when you throw them, keep them pinned, and from there try to submit them. They teach the most deadly and effective unarmed self defense skills known to mankind: chokes, limb destruction and slamming heads on the ground. Yet ALL training has blind spots. Throwing the opponent on the ground with you still standing is a blind spot for this kind of training.

*But notice that this is the objective for most combat sports: in boxing and kickboxing, knocking the guy off of his feet is plan A. This is the only way to score in Knock Down Karate. Though it has very limited amounts of clinch time allowed, Chinese kickboxing actually allows numerous throws to this same end. Numerous indigenous grappling arts have the same objective. But as I have mentioned before, the combat sport where I see the most internal martial arts skill is in Thai Kickboxing:

No wonder Muay Thai has a great reputation for handling larger opponents or multiple opponents, with their footwork, practical striking, and throw-the-opponent-down style of grappling. Here's an example of Muay Thai technique being used to train people to take on multiple opponents:

So in many ways, Muay Thai IS the REAL Aikido. But how could Aikido, Tai Chi and Muay Thai be almost exactly the same thing? Listen carefully to how this kickboxing & MMA coach explains his encounter with a Tai Chi master starting at 8 minutes, 45 seconds: