How far we have come: people beginning martial arts today are beneficiaries of the best thing that ever happened to modern combat arts- the MMA revolution. Whatever problems there might be with regards contemporary martial arts, they are insignificant compared with the state of martial arts when I was growing up. Without a means of testing effectiveness in combat, the martial arts scene of my youth was littered with wild eyed loonies passing themselves off as experts. The few diamonds in the rough did not have a venue to show real skills and instead had to contend against legions of ninjas, exotic kung fu gods, brick breaking demons and internal energy superheroes. The octagon did us the eternal favor of sweeping all that under the rug. Whenever I complain about the current state of jiu jitsu or MMA, I google old martial arts magazine covers and realize we have it pretty damn good nowadays. Check out this gem from my youth. When you see two white dudes in full ninja uniform talking about competing in an arena where the only trophy is survival” – you KNOW it's legit! Wait…those eyes…they seem so…familiar…Eddie Cummings??!! How old did he say he was??!! Could he be one of the long lost “warriors of the night?!” “
