Bushido - Erik Paulson

When it comes to lack of respect in the mixed martial arts, I'm a broken record. I have been harping for years that MMA needs a huge injection of respect, honor, humanity. I have gone on endlessly about MMA being a sport mostly made up of thugs, trash talkers, punks, immature kids. I know, I've become a bore; an old man pining for the old days. Oh well. But I ran across an interview with Erik Paulson recently. It was refreshing to see I'm not alone in my concerns. Below is an excerpt of the interview.

Kaplowitz: Do you think that having a traditional martial arts background helps you in mma?

Paulson: I think it’s good if you’re going to promote martial arts; if you’re going to promote the fighting. A lot of guys go, "I’m just a fighter." Well what’s your history? What’s the Bushido code? The Bushido code has been lost a lot in fighting because guys just talk smack, get tattoos, and simply train hard. That’s great for publicity, for TV, for show, but in the end what are you passing on? What are you passing on to the youth? What are you passing on to all the other people out there? What’s the message that you’re bringing? You have to pass it on. You have to have information, not just be tough. You have to have an art behind you that you’re teaching and passing on, otherwise it just gets completely lost. The respect factor, the discipline, is about showing up on time and being at the gym when you say you will be. It's about being accountable for what you say. The moral code is also about how you conduct yourself outside of the gym, and I think all of that needs to be emphasized. You know, don’t talk, be the one talked about. That’s the biggest goal — don’t talk, be the one talked about.

Kaplowitz: So do you think that the moral code is what’s missing from some fighters today?

Paulson: Absolutely. 100%. And who is to blame? The coaches! Their coaches are to blame. Hey, so you're a good fighter, you’re tough. But these guys are getting on the Internet and blabbing; just talking, talking, talking. But to their coaches it's like "No problem. It's okay." They don’t respect their elders at all. They don’t respect guys that were in the game before, and "Oh I can beat them up so therefore I don’t have to learn from them." Hey, could Mike Tyson beat up his boxing coach? Of course! But guess what? That guy made him a great boxer and he taught him a lot about life. You know, who’s your idol? "I want to be like this guy." Yeah, well, you’re a role model, and if you’re a role model you better act like a role model. Don’t flip off the crowd, don’t swear in front of everybody, don’t do bad things, don’t get in trouble and then laugh about it. Be ashamed of it! If you get in trouble be ashamed and show the public that you’re ashamed. "I’m sorry, I apologize.”

Wow. Nicely said.