Some observations on that video:

1.) Either Seagal is one tall mofo, or he is surrounded by shorter people.

2.) It looked like people were just letting him take them down. Was any actual martial art being done there, or was it just more Movie Fu?

3.) I swear he has the emotional range of a turnip.

Some observations on that video:

1.) Either Seagal is one tall mofo, or he is surrounded by shorter people.

2.) It looked like people were just letting him take them down. Was any actual martial art being done there, or was it just more Movie Fu?

3.) I swear he has the emotional range of a turnip.

Yeah, I watched it, but I just can't bring myself to be impressed. The dude looks like a man playing with his children.

What you see as people just "letting him" take them down are people who have been caught in a lock. You may not see the lock, because it happens so fast, but it happened. That is, in fact, one of the things that is so impressive about both his technique and aikido in general: it requires very little expenditure of energy to disable an opponent, and he does it so fast you barely catch it.

Not believeable? I disagree. I've seen advanced sensei in other disciplines through punches so fast your brain barely recognizes they occurred.

Perhaps watch again and watch closely the locks he's putting on people. As Monty said, you either go with it to mitigate the damage (which a student would/should do), or you resist and get your hand/arm/etc. broken.

What you see as people just "letting him" take them down are people who have been caught in a lock. You may not see the lock, because it happens so fast, but it happened. That is, in fact, one of the things that is so impressive about both his technique and aikido in general: it requires very little expenditure of energy to disable an opponent, and he does it so fast you barely catch it.

Not believeable? I disagree. I've seen advanced sensei in other disciplines through punches so fast your brain barely recognizes they occurred.

Perhaps watch again and watch closely the locks he's putting on people. As Monty said, you either go with it to mitigate the damage (which a student would/should do), or you resist and get your hand/arm/etc. broken.

When Aikido is done properly, your body instinctively throws itself in order to avoid injury.

Looks interesting, but I think it's the same problem I had with SCA, though - it's a lifestyle choice to take up one of these martial arts fully, and one I've never quite been willing to make.

My own teacher teased me as being majimesugiru – “too sincere” or too serious. He felt the way to build a big dojo was to reward each student with exactly what he or she wanted. Some wanted knowledge. Some wanted skill. Some wanted belt rank. Some wanted an identity. Some wanted a father figure. Some wanted to feel more important than those better than them. Some wanted techniques for navigating daily reality, and some wanted escape from reality. Like the magical little man behind the curtain in the Great Oz throne room, my teacher happily gave out whatever his student came to him to find. It was just that easy for him.

I totally agree, Riov.

As for Mike Tyson - My money is still on Segal. Please, give me more momentum. Give me a laid out punch with your body behind the blow.

One Tyson, sure. But THREE?

I dunno.

Or how about 3 Brock Lesnars?

{snipped}
That being said I do find Aikido to be one of the more interesting styles because it has the goal of disabling a threat without hurting them...which is what every martial artist should strive for.