Knowledge of the ancients
Image and caption courtesy of Ryan Parker From time to time I engage in debates with modern combat sports fighters/fans. After the inevitable: " If it worked, we'd see it in the cage/ring ," arguments are played out, we often come back to the same issue: ancient vs. modern technology. "Why should anyone esteem ancient technology? After all, we don't do it in any other field of endeavour. We don't look to the past to decide how clothes should be made, how crops should be farmed, how teeth should extracted/filled, how diseases should treated, how food should be preserved , etc. We question everything - and so we should. We take what has been done before and improve on it. Why should it be any different in regards to martial arts? Today's fighters have better technology than the "ancients" ever had. Adhering to their traditions isn't just blinkered - it is dogmatic; unscientific. There is no reason to assume that knowledge is bet...