International movie star Jackie Chan weighed-in on what he thinks of mixed martial arts via Sherdog.
“I don’t like to see Ultimate Fighting,” Chan said. “As a martial artist, I find it too violent putting them in a cage. At the end, it’s not fighting anymore. That’s not the martial arts. Martial arts is about respect. When somebody is knocked down, stop. I really respect Sugar Ray Leonard. Come on, [when a guy is down] stop. Don’t fight. That’s not the spirit. When you’re down, I’ll grab you up. Are you okay? Should we continue? That’s the martial arts spirit. That’s what I want.”
Not everybody will like or respect mixed martial arts and that's fine, but there's something disheartening when a fellow "martial artist" calls it too violent and in the process trashes the intelligence of ground fighting. I'm a fan of Jackie Chan, but it would serve him well to do a little more research on our beloved sport.
