So, since the martial arts were originally designed for warfare, why not evaluate them on the battlefield. World War I was the last war when hand-to-hand combat was plentiful. It was fought by men fighting each other in and between the trenches. Nowadays, hand-to-hand warfare is practically non existent. Soldiers get a little hand-to-hand combat training in the latest "in" martial art during boot camp, and then they never see it again. Special Forces get more training, but they are only a very small portion of the armed services and even they seldom get to use the techniques in actual combat. Nowadays, we shoot and blowup the enemy from a distance, rarely ever seeing their faces.

How about letting the police test the effective of a martial art? The primary power of police is their authority. Due to our upbringing, there is an innate feeling that we must submit to proper authority. Therefore, the police rarely use physical contact and, when they do, it is primarily used only to get the suspect into handcuffs. Suspects may resist, but they rarely try to hurt the officers. As with soldiers, police officers rarely train regularly in any martial art.

To perform a valid test of the effectiveness of a martial art, you have to pit a person trained in the martial arts against untrained attackers and against attackers trained in other martial arts, and these tests must be repeated thousand of times under controlled conditions. These confrontations must be observed by impartial observers trained to know what to look for. Then the data collected from all these tests must be analyzed using set criteria that fairly evaluate the effectiveness of each martial art. The only place this occurs is in the professional fighting ring.

In the sport or amateur ring, winning is desired but it is tempered by the competitors’ desire to avoid injuries that may adversely affect their lives or livelihood. Therefore, they fight for enjoyment and personal satisfaction, but avoid fights that may cause serious or permanent injury. Most of their martial arts training is geared toward this end. Professional fighters also fight for these same reasons but winning is their livelihood. If they do not win, their family does not eat. Therefore, they use whatever is permitted under the rules of competition to win. If it works, they use it. If it does not work, they do not use it. They are not slaves to any particular martial art.

Even in sport competition, you usually see common fighting styles. At a Taekwondo tournament, all the fighters use Taekwondo techniques, at a Judo tournament they use Judo techniques, etc. However, if you watch an open karate competition where all standup martial art styles may compete, you see common, basic techniques used, no matter the style of the competitor. In open tournaments, you rarely see soft martial art techniques used and you rarely see a variety in hard martial art techniques. The techniques used are evasion, using a tight guard to block attacks, and using basic punches and kicks—they are what work.

Professional boxers make their living from fighting. They have limited rules of engagement, but they are free to use any type of stance, knee spring, sine wave, ki, etc. that they want to use. There is always the pressure to conform to the traditions of boxing but if a technique is permitted by the rules, a boxer will use it to win. Yet boxers not use exotic techniques nor do they claim to use them—they just use what works.

Professional full-contact fighters, with the exception of some full-contact styles, such as Muay-thai, may use any style of martial art they choose and they are permitted to use pressure point strikes, vertical punches, sticky hands, foot sweeps, throws, drop kick, flying kicks, etc. To make a living at fighting, a professional fighter needs to knockout or submit opponents, or at least impress the judges with their superior fighting skills; therefore, one would assume that they would use techniques that have been proven to work. Why do ultimate fighters not use pressure point techniques in the ring, they have open hands and the techniques are permitted. Why do they not use Capoeria, Gung-fu, Aikido, etc. techniques in the ring if these are so effective; it is simple—they do not work! I have never seen or heard of any professional boxer or fighter who uses any soft martial art techniques in the ring, they only use what has been proven to work.

Sometimes a martial art may appear effective and may initially float when thrown into the water, but it may have so many holes that it gradually sinks. Sometimes a martial art's techniques appear effective, especially when used during training classes and demonstrations, but when they are tested in the water of an actual attack, the holes in the techniques allow attacks to penetrate and the martial art sinks.

Sometimes, when a martial art is thrown into the water, it will plunge beneath the surface, but, if it is a true floater, it will quickly rise to the surface and float. For example, an aggressive attacker or multiple attackers may seem at first to be overwhelming, but effective evasion, blocks, and counterattacks will bring a good martial art back to the surface.

Do not be fooled by the shinny new speed boat sitting in the dealer’s showroom. It may have a lot of gadgets and features, but if it has holes in its hull, it will be useless when put into the water.

If you enjoy training in your martial art, then keep training, but do not be fooled by the hype of the martial art. Look at what is happening in the ring and in the real world and then use your reason, logic, and common sense to evaluate the effectiveness of your martial art and to see if it floats.

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