People arguing about who's style is better is like two mechanics arguing about what brand of tools are the best. bottom line is unless they take the tools out of the toolbox and use them they do nothing at all. Same with martial arts. It is not the tool that decides who is the best mechanic it is the mechanic using them. The same apply to the martial arts. Almost all people start with the this style is better than that one. The ones that become very skilled and knowledgeable know it is not the style but the person and the quality of their training. for the first few years of my training I too believed that some styles were superior to others. But I got past that ignorant belief .

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MMA is a sport. It is used for competitions. It has rules to protect its athletes. The objective is to win.

TMA is traditional martial arts. It keeps the traditions of a particular culture. It was created for self defense. There is only one rule and that is to do what is necessary to survive. The objective often is to maim or kill.

Neither is better. If you want a sport I suggest choosing mma over TMA. If you want to learn self defense I suggest choosing TMA over mma. The techniques used in both are the same. The tactic may differ. The objectives are different. TMA has more techniques as mma remove techniques for safety reasons.

TMA, traditional martial arts, are systems of fighting and self defense. They vary widely in approach. Also, individual schools are free to set their own standards, so the quality of training varies greatly, as well. MMA is a modern fad, a sport that takes some basic moves from various styles and packages it as entertainment. One is not better than the other, they are different. If you want to become an excellent fighter, I contend that it is far better to stick to one style and work your way up into the black belt ranks. In short, I hold that it makes more sense to be excellent in one style than to be average in many.

"What's the difference between MMA and TMA?"

MMA is typically a sport, and sometimes adjunct learning for self-defense occurs. TMA is not a sport, though sometimes competitions are held.

MMA competes to see who (not which) is better. TMA trains for self-defense.

MMA as a sport has rules, with a defined code of behavior, defined start and stop, a referee to start and stop, a list of techniques that can be used, a list of targets that can be hit, and except for WWE, there are only two combatants. Everyone survives.

In TMA, there are no rules, there is no defined code of behavior, there is no defined start and stop, no one will say start and stop, and there is no list of techniques and targets. Survival is not guaranteed.

They both use fighting skills, and as such, there is significant overlap, leading to the confusion about what are the differences.

The biggest difference is mindset: in one, two people willingly engage; in the other, one tries to get away.

"Exactly why is one discipline superior to the other? It sounds like the start to every Hong Kong Kung Fu movie... "

Yes, it does. But stylists have boasted about their superiority for eons, hence the eons of campy but entertaining Saturday afternoon Kung Fu movies.

"But I don't understand this line in the sand. Who drew it? Personally, I see the merits of both disciplines. A few practices about both trouble me as well. "

There are many stylists who practice both MMA and TMA. There are many stylists who practice non-MMA sport-fighting as well as TMA. There are stylists who practice multiple TMA. And there are stylists who compete under more than one MMA gym.

I'd say the person drawing the line is compensating for a rather tiny penis. Drawing lines is a way to draw attention away from the problem the person drawing the line is having. Those who know better "on both sides" don't care about these lines being drawn, and ignore them.

"As for me, I tend to straddle that line in the sand, with more weight on the back foot."

I'm not sure about whether your weighted foot is on the TMA or MMA side, but you clearly don't subscribe to the "this vs that" mentality, so, I would only suggest you keep training. Let those with a compensation problem worry about their compensation problem.

The 'MMA' is the 'Many Muslims Attacked'.

This is often confused with the fighting MMA.

The true MMA, Many Muslims Attacked, is for situations such as 9/11 and the Lee Rigby case.

This is a serious situations when many Muslims attack, hence the name.

The 'TMA' is 'Tourist Muslims not Allowed' (Don't include the 'not').

This is for national attractions such as the Empire State building or the Eiffel Tower.

They put this in place to prevent any attacks such as 9/11 from taking place.

It is very effective as you can tell as the Empire State Building is not a pile of ash.

Hope this helps

mma (misnomer) was created to find out which style would

come out on top in a one on one battle (street fight) in the early 90's

of course there had to be some rules unbenonced death could occur

so some rules were implemented , no nut shots etc etc

in the end tma lacked the ground skills necessary that could arrive

in such an encounter the rest is history

neither, its the person not the style which has been proven time and time again.

it reminds me of the my daddy can beat up your daddy preschool fights

Patrick is correct!

Exactly why is one discipline superior to the other? It sounds like the start to every Hong Kong Kung Fu movie...

But I don't understand this line in the sand. Who drew it? Personally, I see the merits of both disciplines. A few practices about both trouble me as well.

As for me, I tend to straddle that line in the sand, with more weight on the back foot.