there was a post on the underground a few days ago about sparring an aikido practioner; below is my reply to that post:
A friend of mine, who has been training Aikido for the last 4 years,
came to visit me from out of state a few weeks ago. My friend is 6'5"
250 lbs and I'm only 5'6" 135 lbs. I have a few years of BJJ training
and a few years of JKD training and have been working out with friends
in my garage for the past couple years.
My friend and I both wanted to do some light sparring to see how
effective our material was against each other's. First, I put on some
boxing gloves and did just standup to see how he could deal with it
using his Aikido. I was amazed at how much I peppered him with
punches and the only thing he was able to do that was even halfway
effective a couple times was rush me and shove me back when I ran out
of room in my garage and didn't circle quickly enough. The funny
thing was that he said he didn't even mean to do that and was trying
some Aikido move that didn't work.
We then did some grappling starting from the knees. He had great
balance and it was difficult for me to get a good position against him
or pull off any subs except for one RNC I got after taking his back.
He tried some move and left himself open which allowed my to do an arm
drag and take his back.
Next we moved to standing clinch work with strikes. Again, I was able
to tear him up with strikes but starting from the clinch he was able
to move me around better than before. At one point I threw a couple
strikes and attempted a single leg but found myself just standing
there holding on to his leg. LOL. I never realized how difficult it
would be to take down someone that had so much size and weight on me.
At one point we both ended up on the ground and I was able to get the
mount and throw punches. He didn't know what to do which surprised me
as I always figured I wouldn't stand a chance maintaining mount
against a big guy.
Later during his visit we went to a local Aikido school that's
affiliated with the one he's being going to. He wanted to take a
class and I wanted to watch. Wow, the whole class was nothing but one
technique after another where the "attacker" charged with an
exaggerated overhand chop, or an outstretched hand which was meant to
grab or push. The "defender" then sidestepped and grabbed the
"attacker's" arm to perform a wrist lock or other control that led to
a take down. The whole time during the technique, the "attacker"
stood by and let the "defender" manipulate his arm and get it just
right. There was of course no resistance.
This was the first time I have ever seen an Aikido class or sparred
with someone that has trained in it. Unfortunately, I was not
impressed in the least bit. Granted, my friend has "only" been
training for 4 years so maybe someone that's been doing it longer
would be able to apply the moves against a resisting opponent.
I started out in TMA and did 7 years of kung fu before moving to BJJ
and JKD. While I have absolutely no desire to go back to TMA, I don't
think all TMAs are a waste of time as long as they are trained
properly which means not doing everything against a
compliant/non-resisting partner. Also I don't think any TMA is in and
of itself all you'll ever need. The first kung fu school I went to
claimed to be a "Master System" which to them meant once you got a
black belt in their style, you would have enough fighting knowledge
that you would never have to train in another style. While I liked
the training there and thought they did a good job with full contact
sparring etc., I do not believe there is such a thing as a "Master
System."