In the 70's, Karate and Kung Fu was the best. In
the 80's when the Ninja craze was out, everyone
thought IT was the best.

By the late 80's it was kickboxing. Throughout the
90's it was Gracie's and UFC and everyone thought
they were the "best".

Now that the Gracie's got beat and are no longer
the driving force in UFC, it's MMA and they are
the "best".

It's funny how people would go around telling
people what's the best based on what the
current trend is.

An intelligent person will see that things in
martial arts, as in life, are always evolving
and changing.

So if you can't be one of those brilliant people
who can cause evolution and change, at least get
out of the way and stop telling people how this
or that is the "best" as if it's the unchangeable
absolute.

History has repeatedly proven that is never true.
 
If the sheep and fans would stay quiet, maybe then
the newly evolved would teach them something when
it arrives.

Many things can help martial arts training such as
psychology, criminology, sociology, sport-science,
biology, fitness etc.

One thing that these fields all have in common is
constant research and development. Do you think a
scientist would say "Ok we are the best let's stop
researching for better ways of doing things?"

Only in martial arts can you find such ignorant
people who would think in terms of the absolute
best.

When people say the best style, what does
that mean? Best for what?

Are we talking about sport fighting or real fights?
If it is a sport what are the rules in that
particular sport?

If it's a real fight what are we
talking about: home invasion, ambush, frontal
confrontation, third-party rescue?

The best depends on the situation. If you want to
become a great martial artist, you have to take an
honest look at yourself and ask what your goals are.

Then you have to hunt and research ways to achieve your
goal.

One of the ways to do that is to think in terms of
constant improvement and evolution, not the "the
best", for that's just insecurity seeking a blanket.

And that’s one thing I love about MMA, its constantly evolving.