Acculturation refers to the cultural modification of an individual or a group of individuals through adapting to traits or characteristics of another culture. Hybridization, on the other hand, is the concept of mixing tradition thus creating a new and acculturated form. Concerning mixed martial arts, commonly abbreviated as MMA, hybridization has played a significant role in the combination of major fighting styles such as the Vale Tudo of Brazil, Jeet Kune, and many others. Examples of such mixed martial arts include American Kenpo, Bartitsu, Sambo, and much more.
From the Mixed Martial Arts ‘Fightland’ video obtained from ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T20eESTOYNM ), the original fighting culture is street fighting that is mainly hinged on the ancient Philippine knife fighting technique. As Aguilar contends, before acculturation and hybridization through the mixed martial arts notably pioneered by the advent of the URCC, street fighting was the only way of fighting. According to his experience, he has been slashed, cut, and stabbed several times in the streets as a young man before moving on to study mixed martial arts that involved a myriad of fighting styles other than Karate.
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The ancient knife fighting inspired by Karate from other Asian countries such as the Chinese and the Japanese has primarily been acculturated in the Philippines, especially with the advancement of Mixed Martial Arts fighting spearheaded by Aguilar through the URCC. Aguilar demonstrates in the video that he aimed to change the street fighting tradition due to its violent nature. He attempts to give the young Philippine men a meaningful career in fighting through discouraging street fighting and involving them in MMA competitions and championships (Fightland, 2014). Despite the knife fighting technique still being maintained in military training and combat, it is no longer an option in the mixed martial arts sport.
According to Vaittinen, (2014), MMA has propelled a steady proliferation of academic interest and instigated wide-ranging scholarships. Indeed, based on the spectacle related to MMA fighting through the internet and the media, the sport has created a visual culture that has been entrenched in the contemporary society as part of the social life. However, this culture has culminated in pervasiveness by giving rise to a physical culture consequently affecting the physical aspects of the society regarding increased violence. The sport has further provided meaningful employment to the youths through which they can improve their living standards as opposed to engaging in violent and dangerous activities in the streets.
MMA has resulted in the global distribution of the sport whereby almost every country gives an individual to compete globally in the sport. Moreover, in the contemporary society, MMA events have significantly been linked to tourism in the sense that the spectacle and hype created by major fights draw individuals from all over the world to watch and be part of the live event (Jones, 2017). An instance of this is the fight between Conor McGregor and Mayweather that attracted all and sundry across the globe to the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Ultimately, through organizations such as UFC, MMA has become a global source of income with major global economic impacts (Jones, 2017).
According to the Fightland video, an advantage of hybridized MMA to the Philippine culture is the provision of opportunities for employment and professionalism to compete on a global stage. In addition, the receiving cultures get an opportunity to interact with individuals from diverse backgrounds especially because the fighters are from different countries and the hybridized styles are varied. For instance, the typical styles include Jiu-Jitsu from Brazil, Muay Thai from Thailand, as well as Karate and Judo from Japan. To this end, the indigenous cultures such as Brazil, Japan, and Thailand benefit from spreading their cultures thus putting them under increased academic recognition and popularization.
A disadvantage of MMA hybridization to the receiving cultures is pervasion of their traditions and indigenous cultures. For instance, despite the knife fighting technique still being taught to the military individuals, as an ancient tradition, more young individuals will be sucked into MMA, which discourages weapons, and thus slowly phasing off the knife-fighting tradition. Ultimately, with the advent and domination of global organizations such as UFC, more rules are set to be implemented as per the public demands thereby causing deviations and modifications to the original fighting styles and consequently eroding the indigenous fighting culture.
Overall, MMA as a sport and culture in the contemporary society has grown popular demonstrating the power of hybridization. However, as much as hybridization and acculturation have resulted in positive impacts regarding employment and entertainment, global disadvantages such as erosion of culture and spread of violence due to television abound. However, as a sport, it cannot be faulted for individuals’ actions and based on the ability of cultural interaction proffered by MMA, hybridization should be embraced and cultivated more.
References
Fightland. (2014). Mixed Martial Arts in the Philippines: Fightland Worldwide. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T20eESTOYNM
Jones, M. (2017). The McGregor Effect: The Soft Power Impact of Mixed Martial Arts. USC University of Southern California. Retrieved from https://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/blog/mcgregor-effect-soft-power-impact-mixed-martial-arts
Vaittinen, A. (2014). Sports and Visual Culture: Ways of Knowing Mixed Martial Arts and Visual Culture. Amodern. Retrieved from http://amodern.net/article/mixed-martial-arts/
