To be bound by traditional martial art style or styles is the way of the mindless, enslaved martial artist. But to be inspired by the traditional martial art and to achieve further heights is the way of genius.
To me, the extraordinary aspect of martial arts lies in its simplicity. The easy way is also the right way, and martial arts is nothing at all special; the closer to the true way of martial arts, the less wastage of expression there is.
That was always the top martial artist - the Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt. Once I started beating them, I knew I had what it takes to form a new martial art. That's when I came up with Joe Jitsu, my namesake, so my legacy lives forever through the martial arts.
I grew up as a martial artist, and I'm still a martial artist at heart.
I'm a trained martial artist. My parents were both martial artists.
I don't think I'm in any position to call myself a martial artist. I'm a student of the martial arts.
The best martial artist doesn't win fights, but avoids fights. Martial arts is a way of gaining basic self-mastery of your mind, body and emotions. It can also be very useful in combat situations.
I think martial arts, in general, shaped my wrestling style. I think I grew up as a martial artist as a kid.
I had always considered myself a martial artist who fights rather than a fighter who learned martial arts - although I probably flowed between those two categories over the years.
Bruce Lee only played himself. Chuck Norris is a martial artist that does acting. I want to be an actor that does martial arts.
I'm a natural born fighter, so this is what I do, and it's normal. It's natural. It's what I've always done as a martial artist, and as a martial artist, it's what I always wanted to do - test myself and always fighting. It's what I'm meant to do.
Everyone else is a mixed martial artist. I'm not a mixed martial artist, I'm a brawler.
Martial arts was something that I wanted to do for the rest of my life, and I wasn't getting what I needed from college. When I realized that I could fight for money and have it be part of my learning experience as a martial artist, it made perfect sense for me to dive into fighting.
Each person may see a fight in different ways... They can see more to a primal way. Others they can see in a pure artistic way... For me I see the pure artistic way, the way that a true martial artist can show his art.
Karate-do is definitely a martial way, and its identity lies in do or principles. Any martial art without proper training of the mind turns into beastly behavior.
Some people think a martial artist has to be tough against everybody - that's not true at all. A martial artist has to be strong against bad people. But we must also be able to know and understand the feelings, moods and mentalities of good and bad individuals before we can comprehend when to be strong and when to be gentle.