The OSMMA Review Awards are officially under way, and what better way to kick things off than with the battle of fraudulent fighting systems. Below we have five of the most egregious offenders in this category, and you get to decide which was the best of the worst.
Here are the nominees for Best Fake Martial Arts Style:
SAFTA – Scientific Aggressive Fighting Techniques of America. Need I say more? I guess I should to pad out this post. Wikipedia also calls SAFTA “Scientifically Applied Force Training of America”, but that does not roll off the tongue nearly as well. Created by Jon Hess, this particular style was co-founded by Lew Hicks, and were both former students of SCARS, another amazing acronym that stood for Special Combat Aggressive Reactionary Systems. SAFTA took those techniques and added some Kung Fu and other things in it that we never got to see, because Hess never got to show us much in his 1-1 MMA career.
RFTA -Utilized by Cal Worsham, specifically at the Ultimate Ultimate 1996, this acronym stood for Realistic Fighting Techniques of America. You know you have a bad martial arts style when you are basically ripping off SAFTA. Worsham had a deep background in Tae Kwon Do, and was also a former Marine, so this military-based style probably had similarities in terms of techniques with SAFTA, but it was hard to tell from his appearances in the promotion. Luckily, Worsham did much better than Hess ever did in the UFC, but that is not saying much since RFTA was never seen or heard from again.
Pit Fighting – An arcade game by Konami from 1990. An action movie from 2005 by Jesse V. Johnson. A martial arts style fabricated for a UFC event in 1995. This is greatness. Pit Fighting essentially amounted to street fighting, but this name sounded much sexier. Tank Abbott was the supposed champion of this fighting style, which is unusual since most fighting styles don’t have that. Tank even acknowledged this was a made-up style when he returned to the UFC after his brief suspension, but that did not stop the promotion from promoting him as such for a few more events.
Trap Fighting – Now this one is actually somewhat more legit than the others on this list, but only in name. Trap Fighting originates from Kung Fu, a part of Sticky Hands training where the goal is to trap whatever target comes at them, be it body part or weapon, and destroy that target with punches, kicks, armlocks, or whatever else happens along the way. Paul Varelans version of Trap Fighting sounded far more romantic, as you imagine him training deep inside an igloo battling Polar Bears like a 1950’s novelty wrestling act.
JoeSonDo – Created by Joseph Hyungmin Son AKA Joe Son, this has to be the most egotistical martial arts style on our list. Named after its creator, JoeSonDo debuted when the 5′ 4″ master donned his skin-tight red thong and stepped into the octagon to prove his mettle. The skills of JoeSonDo are few but hard to master – praying to Jesus for power, carrying a cross into the cage, and feeling no pain while getting your testicles punched in. Many have tried, but to this day, there is still only one master – Joe Son. Don’t worry, we will talk about him some more later!
Thanks to June M. Williams for our Awards graphics.
Place your vote by writing in the comments, and let us know why you made your decision. Best answers will get read during our OSMMA Review Award Show episode!
“The OSMMA Review Awards, Volume 1” only represents UFC 1 through Ultimate Ultimate 1996, so remember that when placing your vote, as anything other than what was listed in the categories will be ignored, and the voter shall be promptly flogged. Stay constantly vigilant as more categories become announced, or take a peek at the stream to make sure you placed your vote in all twelve categories!
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