"Karate is Useless": A Radical Redefinition of Effectiveness
Why a style is never effective, but a soul can be. Deconstructing the myths of combat sports, self-defense, and the true power of the Fighter.
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“Karate doesn’t work in real fights!”
“You should try boxing or MMA!”
“This won’t work in self-defense situations!”
“This is useless, you’ll get destroyed in the UFC!”
These are some of the delightful comments I often read under my videos or other traditional Karate videos on YouTube.
A few years ago, these statements would have made me furious and switched on my “silly mode,” prompting me to say things like, “Okay, come on! Test me and let’s fight!”
Maybe I’m getting old or wiser, but today this only makes me laugh and reflect on how foolish people—especially men in this field—can be when they defend their church without thinking.
Training is not fighting
Kihon, Kata, and drills are not real fights. They’re not fights at all! Even prearranged Kumite isn’t real fighting.
I know this may sound obvious... But apparently, many people—perhaps only involved through their keyboards—need to hear this reminder.
Would you feel safe and confident about your skill acquisition if you went to a martial arts or boxing school and the instructor said, “Okay, put your gloves on and fight!” and the entire training consisted only of successive fight matches? Wouldn’t you need to somehow figure out how to strike, block, or dodge first?
Do you think tennis players only train by playing 5-set matches on clay courts?
That makes no sense, right?
So why do people—especially those who’ve never fought—think that learning to be a good fighter requires training that consists only of tough sparring?
So my questions are:
“Would you enter an ATP Tennis tournament without having learned how to serve powerfully and accurately into the designated square?”
“Would you play in a soccer game without knowing how to control the ball and shoot effectively at the opponent’s goal?”
“Would you enter a surfing contest in overhead-size Hawaiian Pipeline waves without knowing how to swim?”
“Would you engage in a no-gloves, no-weight-categories Karate fight without knowing how to punch and kick?”
If you answered yes to any of these questions, I’m sorry, but you’re somewhat reckless, and there’s nothing I can do for you... But in that case, be careful who you’re talking to and how, because this attitude could lead to some serious disappointments!
The emptiness of Self-Defense
“Karate doesn’t work for self-defense.”
What?
I mean... WHAT?
Karate was specifically designed for self-defense and to give practitioners the best chance to escape physical altercations.
Besides, it has been extensively tested in “real” situations—both on the streets and on battlefields.
But I get it: paying your membership fee at the local Dōjō and attending a weekly class for one year won’t grant you the invincible power to escape any “real” fighting situation against any type of opponent.
When you’re tempted to compare the effectiveness of a Karate-ka versus another type of fighter or combat sport practitioner, don’t compare a random blue belt Karate student to Conor McGregor! That makes no sense. With all due respect to that blue belt, we must compare what is comparable. Sorry if this hurts, but not everyone is equal in everything—whether it’s our physical abilities, body type, background, mindset, or even our current life circumstances!
I’m fortunate enough to have met some of the greatest and fiercest Karate-ka in the world, and I can tell you that seeing them in action, nobody would have the courage to question their power or fighting ability.
And what do “real life situations” even mean? What does self-defense mean?
Do you truly believe that practicing boxing or MMA will help with self-defense?
Of course, yes! Any discipline that teaches you how to punch, kick, dodge, block, throw, immobilize, or endure pain will be a great asset when entering a fighting situation.
And if you’re a top UFC fighter, you certainly have a better chance than most people of escaping a physical altercation unscathed. Same if you’re an Olympic Judo champion!
But don’t get me wrong.
Maybe you train in a self-defense system like Krav Maga and feel confident in your ability to handle self-defense situations...
But what if your aggressor is Conor McGregor? What if there are five highly trained guys attacking you? What if they’re wielding bladed weapons? What if the attacks aren’t feinted but carried out with real intent to harm or kill?
You see where I’m going?
There is no single “self-defense.” Self-defense isn’t a static situation. There are thousands of self-defense scenarios, and just as many factors that will determine the outcome of an altercation.
Self-defense is an empty word, a catch-all term that no longer means anything, used by many only to make money by giving people false confidence in their capacity to face a fighting situation, which is harsh, brutal, crude, ugly, and very painful.
If you only practice arm-locks every week without taking care of your physical conditioning, your ability to move quickly, your capacity to deliver destructive strikes, and pushing your fighting spirit to its limits, you will only be able to survive “self-defense” situations against weak individuals or people who have never been involved in fighting in any way.
You’re merely learning a false sense of confidence, which in today’s world is obviously very dangerous for your safety.
Well and intensively practiced Karate—like any other martial art—is precisely designed to give you a better chance if you unfortunately end up in such situations.
It doesn’t mean it will make you unbeatable, but it will help you develop your body, sharpen your mind, and build formidable fighting techniques.
Boxing and MMA are not real fights
Boxing is tough—very tough. And I have immense respect for people who commit themselves to entering the ring in front of someone who genuinely wants to destroy them. The same goes for MMA.
But as rough as they may be, they are sports. And sports are not—fortunately—real combat.
Why?
Because there are rules: things you can do and things you’re not allowed to do. There are referees, medical staff, protective equipment, and only one fighter in front of you. And thankfully, that’s how it should be!
And I want to emphasize this: due to their commitment to training and the intensity of their confrontations, boxers and MMA fighters are better prepared than most people for physical altercations.
But fighting within the framework of a sporting event is not exactly the same as being attacked on the street by someone—or multiple people—who genuinely want to harm you.
“Okay, but MMA is the most complete fighting system because you learn how to fight both standing up and on the ground!”
Yes, it’s a very complete sport. But my friend, if you end up on the ground in a street fight, you’re done—and given the violence of the impact, there’s a good chance that simply falling onto the pavement will mark the end of the fight.
“But Karate isn’t a real fight either, and if you enter the ring against a pro MMA fighter, you’ll get your ass kicked!”
Of course!!!
First, even though we try—and each discipline does this in its own way—to get as close as possible to a real fighting situation, training will never be a real fight. Why? Simply because we don’t want to go home with serious injuries, and of course, as instructors, we don’t want our students to get hurt.
So the way we do this in traditional Shotokan Karate is to fight without weight categories or protective gear, performing attacks as fast and powerfully as possible while preserving our opponent’s integrity through what we call control. And yes, this requires a high skill level that not every Karate-ka reaches in their lifetime.
Second, of course, if I enter the octagon against a prepared UFC fighter, I will have no chance of winning and I will get brutally beaten. But you should understand that if a prepared UFC fighter enters a high-level Karate, Judo, or Kung Fu competition, he will also have no chance of winning.
This is completely normal and not a problem. It doesn’t call into question the abilities and skill levels of any of those participants. But if you’re not prepared for a specific competition, you will also lose against people who are experienced and very well prepared! Simply because the rules are not the same—that’s all.
The problem is that because it’s about “fighting,” people think you can mix practitioners from all martial arts and that a Taekwondo practitioner should be able to enter an MMA ring. And it’s interesting to note that we never ask an MMA fighter to be effective in a Taekwondo tournament.
These are two different sports, and the comparison is as ridiculous as asking a table tennis player to participate in a Grand Slam tennis tournament, or vice versa. Can you see how absurd that sounds?
Yes, MMA has become the reference for many and has earned the label of being the toughest and closest-to-reality fighting sport. The UFC has changed the face of martial arts worldwide, but it needs to be examined for what it is—a tough sport—and understood in its proper context.
It’s not the art that makes the fighter
Maybe you’ve seen a random Karate guy getting beaten by an MMA fighter in some YouTube videos...
So what?
That doesn’t mean Karate isn’t effective—it only means that this MMA guy was stronger this time compared to the Karate guy. Maybe because of his practice and the kind of training he does, maybe because of his fighting spirit, maybe because of the difference in skill between them, maybe because the first guy had a bad day, maybe because of chance...
Who knows? That doesn’t mean MMA is superior to Karate. In fact, only people who don’t know what true martial arts are can say such stupid things. It rather means that on that day, the MMA guy was stronger. And that’s it.
There are so many factors involved in the outcome of a match that it’s very difficult to pinpoint the exact reason for a win or loss when fighters have equal skill levels.
Personally, I think that when we witness a fight, we’re not judging the art but rather the fighters involved. A rather weak person will still be weak regardless of the type of martial art they practice. Of course, the art can transform a person, but it requires a tremendous amount of effort and a mind of steel. And I’m sure you know that a physically and mentally strong person will be hard to beat regardless of their fighting style.
In fact, there are very strong and tough MMA fighters and very weak MMA practitioners, just as there are very dangerous Karate fighters and untrained recreational Karate practitioners. That’s normal—that’s life. And I feel it’s a real pity that we still need to remind some people of such obvious truths.
If you have a strong, fast, and powerful body coupled with a great fighting spirit, you just need to learn how to properly move, kick, punch, and execute some basic defenses to become a tough fighter. And those skills—which are somewhat universal—can be given to you by many different arts.
It’s not the art that decides the outcome of a fight, but the fighter: his physical abilities, his skills, his spirit, his dedication, his focus, his experience, his background, and his current life conditions.
So, is Karate not effective?
Well, it basically depends on the Karate-ka!
But do you seriously think these guys aren’t dangerous and don’t know how to fight? Don’t you think they are better prepared than most people to engage in physical confrontation?👇
What makes a strong fighter?
Understanding the philosophy is one thing. Knowing exactly what attributes you need to build to become a dangerous practitioner is another. Below, I reveal the 3 essential skills that define a true fighter and how Budō serves as a 'Superpower' in the modern world. Unlock the full manifesto and join our community.
