I feel that it is very common to hear people randomly using the terms Martial Arts and Combat Sports to refer to the same activities.
Nowadays I consider that the two terms refer to two different activities, and should therefore be used with that care in mind. During the following lines I will explain myself.
To start with, I think that it is easily accepted that killing arts were developed due to the needs of hunting and self preservation.
Secondly, killing arts are as old as mankind and were developed all over the world. Every civilization developed both unarmed and armed killing systems. In terms of armed killing systems, these naturally followed mankind’s technological development, starting to be focused on stones and staffs, to latter incorporate iron (bladed) weapons and, finally firearms (which were obviously not the end, but the path to further developments, such as nuclear and biological weapons).
Special note:
Long before ever coming into contact with the eastern side of the world, western civilizations developed its own unarmed systems such as wrestling and boxing, as well as armed systems with both staffs and medieval bladed weapons.
This means that no one holds the copyrights to the creation of killing systems. What happened was simply that, when westerners reached the far east, they came into contact with technologically under developed populations, who were still fighting with swords, staffs and unarmed techniques, at a time when western civilizations had already developed firearms and had obviously stopped practicing their own arts of that kind.
Curiously enough, instead of looking at things this way, people were suddenly overwhelmed by these fantastic “new” arts and systems of fighting, and the myth that killing arts are of eastern origin was created.
Now, back to the main subject.
As you’ve noticed I’ve been using the “horrible” designation killing arts. I apologize to those who may feel that this designation is a bit strong, however, it is the most objective designation that I found, leaving no space to wrong interpretations about the purpose of these activities, but I will now make the connection between killing arts and martial arts.
Imagine that you see someone stabbing another fellow human being some twenty times and, at the end, ripping his eyes off and cutting him in pieces. What a psychotic!!! I bet you’re thinking that this is someone who’s lost it and gone too far.
But what if I were to tell you that the person committing this violent act had been held hostage for twenty days and, during that time, had seen the person he’s cutting into pieces, rape and kill his wife and daughter together with some other ten more women (including your own wife and mother).
Now I bet that you’re going like, that guy got off easy!!!
I use this example to highlight the fact the Human Beings are very quick to pass judgment and, when analyzing violence, have a tendency to privilege romantic concepts of a world free of violence, making any type of violence unjustified, as well as anyone who perpetrates it a psychotic murderer.
This is why, in my opinion, somewhere down the line someone resorted to designate the systems of knowing how to effectively winning fights as Martial Arts, instead of killing or even combat arts. There’s something much more neat, not violent and even honorable about the word Martial. It is more socially acceptable, thus bringing in more students, as one can even complete a 180º degree turn by adding that these are peaceful and educative arts, which the public loves to hear (and which they can end up being, but as a result of the way a particular individual teaches it and not because of the art itself. That individual can be an equally good educator using other activities such as soccer, tennis, etc).
Nevertheless, this brings me to the main point that I wish to focus, which is that Martial Arts, in my opinion, are killing systems designed to teach people to effectively achieve self preservation when faced with physical conflicts.
On the other hand, Combat Sports are restricted and modified versions of Martial Arts, which result from the wish to have, in these modern (supposedly less violent) societies, safer combat practice options for recreational purposes.
Therefore, I consider that these are some of the variables that should distinguish Martial Arts and Combat Sports:
MARTIAL ARTS
COMBAT SPORTS
Combat against multiple opponents
Combat against one opponent
No weight classes
Weight classes
No clear definition of start
Clear definition of start
No use of pads, gloves or controlled strikes
Use of padded , gloves or controlled strikes
No limitation on type of strikes allowed
Limitation of strikes allowed
Managing dialog before fighting
No dialog management skills needed
No judge, no safety net
Judge, possibility of stopping, safety net
Possibility of hidden weapons
No possibility of hidden weapons
Hence, having presented this list, it’s pretty predictable that I consider that training for Martial Arts and Combat Sports should be different, thus respecting the activities’ goals and specificities.
Nevertheless, I have seen some Martial Arts trying to go so hardcore that they end up never sparring. They resume themselves to analytical drills, thus never accomplishing an effective interaction between the several skills that they work on separately.
As for Combat Sports, I feel that there are a lot of participants who buy way too much into the athlete concept and loose a little bit of the edge that a fighter needs to have, namely to have good tactical judgment.
So, I believe that a clear distinction between Martial Arts and Combat Sports is needed, mostly so that the public can choose the activity which fits its own motivations.
At the same time, these activities can also benefit if they were to promote a stronger interaction by frequently training together and going through each of the activity’s concepts and drills.
