Martial Arts History Quotes

My father created this whole MMA thing.

There are certain things that I always dreamed of, like fighting in the UFC. There's just certain things that I feel like haven't been accomplished there. There's such great women coming up in the sport; seems like a wonderful time to be in women's MMA.

I wish there were more kung fu films. They are a part of our culture.

Martial arts have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember.

My role in kung fu - in the art of kung fu, not the series - is not as a practitioner. My role is that of an evangelist, which is an entirely different thing.

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 think the book struck me in a few ways that I thought very interesting to pick it as my first martial arts film. It has a very strong female character and it was very abundant in classic Chinese textures.

Back then in the early '90s, people weren't calling it MMA - we called it Knockdown Sport Budo.

I'm getting to put all my time and effort into studying my martial arts and to be the best fighter I can be.

I grew up in a kung fu house. It wasn't until I got older that I discovered that most families didn't talk about the Shaolin Temple or Jackie Chan at the dinner table.

In my camp, we have Minotoro Noguiera and Lyoto Machida.

I've kind of grew to enjoy fighting legends that I got into the sport watching and admiring.

If Gerard Gordeau would have won the first UFC, everybody would be learning savate.

Heritage is something martial-arts films don't often talk about.

I love the sport, and I have for a long time. I'd stay up late and watch the Pride New Year's Eve shows. I watch all the UFC pay-per-views. I'm a fan. I love this stuff.

To make a film like 'The Grandmaster,' I know I'm not going to make just a standard kung-fu film; it's not going to be just tricks or like wire works. So I spent seven years on the road interviewing different schools and a lot of real grandmasters from Chinese martial arts.

1936 is a very important year: a golden time for martial arts, right before the Japanese invasion.

The first martial arts movie I ever watched was this old Chinese film called 'Five Deadly Venoms.' I was seven years old. My dad and I were sitting in front of the TV on the floor in our living room.

I'm a trained martial artist. My parents were both martial artists.

I didn't and still don't watch sport all that often, but I did see all the Pride fights back in the day, which is when I first saw MMA and I felt that's something I really want to do.

I respect all the fighters. I respect Georges St-Pierre because Georges has a great story in the UFC. I respect all the fighters in here because this is the biggest sport in the world.

I'm a big fan of martial arts films, novels and radio programs.

I wanted to know what exactly martial arts is. When you look at martial arts films, the later ones became more and more exaggerated. It's like, wow, is martial arts only a show?

When you think about martial arts here in the states, kickboxing was here in the '70s, and it kind of ran its course. But I always felt there was a place in combat sports for kickboxing.