I don’t think Aikido is effective as a stand-alone art, but I believe strong Aikido fundamentals mixed with Brazilian Jiujitsu, wrestling and a striking discipline can be effective! I think there are many Aikido techniques that don’t work in a street fight scenario and should be used only in an Aikido match. But the same thing goes for certain techniques used in martial arts known to be effective for self defence, like Brazilian Jiujitsu. For example, I wouldn’t recommend going for an imanari roll or guard pull in a street fight. What do you guys think? Let me know in the comments below!

Haha! Never thought I'll do this, but: First 😂 Seriously though, thank you Jeff for giving me a shot to try out my Aikido with you and for not going beast mode with me so I would have a shot 😊 I felt privileged to have this opportunity 🙏 PS: Those cheering sounds in the background surely made the video even more special 😂

I just love the journey that Rokas has been on, from dedicating most of his life to traditional martial arts and rejecting the new, to a complete disilusion as all his beliefs were challenged and shattered from where he rejected tradition and embraced a more modern approach to martial arts, and now seeing him after years of practice coming with actual applications of the traditional forms, blending them into his new style and finding practicality in what he rejected before hand, that's really a path to enlightenment. I think that most of all what his journey has proven is that curiosity, the ability to change your mind and to truly look back on yourself is really what it takes to get you to the next level, the eternal student is also the master of all.

Really suprised how well Rokas did here. He’s really improved since he started making content.

The martial arts content has been insane you guys are making sure theres levels to this!

In the early days of Aikido the requirement for students was that they had to be already good martial artists in other arts. Aikido was supposed to be the cherry on top of already competent fighter. In that way it will work nicely.

That championship was one of the best things to happen to the Martial Arts Community. Love how close all you guys are now! 👏

I've followed Rokas for a while and I think when he first pressure tested Aikido against a fighter, Aikido was all he had and so he was woefully ineffective. But now that he has MMA, BJJ, Aikido (and I'm sure a smattering of other things too) he can seemingly use Aikido if and when an occasion calls for it including in this video when he could use it to ... "encourage" Jeff's body to move in a certain direction. I think if he can use it sparingly and strategically to move an opponents body for an easy side control/modified mount, there might be some cool stuff there! Also, I think Rokas' Aikido body awareness showed up in the Self Defense Championship circle drill where compared to the other competitors he was able to pretty quickly use the bad guy's energy and balance to spin them over and get on top for some quick finishes. Great content Jeff!!

There are parts of every martial art that can be effective. Even aikido. Learn it thoroughly, take what's useful, discard the rest. Great video!

BJJ black belt here, first love the channel Jeff and yours as well Rokus. I think part of the discussion is that technically wrist locks are fine, they are legit. Less viable in MMA because of hand wraps but you see them all the time in jiu jitsu, its not so much an issue of "do wrist locks work" more of "how do you train them?". To Jeff's point Rokus could absolutely become a wrist lock specialist in jiu jitsu because he is going through that trail and error in live sparring which makes all the difference

Aikido makes a lot more sense when you know that originally, Ueshiba's students were already black belts in Karate, Judo, Jujitsu etc, meaning they already had a base of physical strength, active training against resisting opponents, seeing and reacting to committed attacks and so on. So because they already had a strong base in striking or grappling, they could apply the technical Aikido techniques with the philosophy of nonviolence in an effective way - kind of like a Master's program. Of course, nobody wants to start a school where you need to already have twenty years of experience in a different art, so instead they just taught these beautiful flowing motions to people who don't have the physical strength or experience to do anything with them

if he combined that with some wrestling and ground and pound these techniques seem like they'd actually be very effective

This was the best aikido sparring I’ve ever seen. I’m really impressed. Sparring is not just two guys trying to kill each other, the partners should somewhat try to support each other so both can learn. Jeff is actually amazing sparring partner here and understand to protect himself in time, but doesn’t just play a practice doll eather. If you want good aikido, this is all you need.

Interesting and impressive. Rokas has taken the time and hard work to develop a solid delivery system with BJJ and striking arts, and in this context some of the more esoteric stuff makes better sense. Respect!

@MMAShredded Jeff Chan Here is a Compilation vs MMA BJJ kzfaq.info/get/bejne/pJxylK5ezduogok.html I actually put together for Rokas who at that time didn't want examples of Aikido/Standing Locks working vs MMA Pros and BJJ guys

I loved this video Jeff! Your open mindedness is inspiring! This collab content recently has been awsome!

Jeff is such a super nice, intelligent, and dangerous guy.

I believe Aikido techniques are something that you can only use if you let them emerge organically, meaning during the fight, someone gives you the right energy. But just like head-hunting, if you go looking for it, you're forgetting the other 95% of your game. So first you have to be able to fight. Take this video, then go look at some of Rokas' early videos where he's deathly pale floating around with willing participants. The difference is staggering. Before he was a guy who was pretending to be able to fight. Now he can FIGHT.

Nice to see the progress of Rokas in this sparring. As far as I remember, in the beginning of his journey he was very skeptical if Aikido would work in a real sparring but he finally made it work. Congrats, bro! 🎉

I was just hoping for this exact collab after seeing you collab with Kevin and seeing Seth use his Sumo and Rokas use his aikido in USDC. Rokas journey coming full circle and actually finding a way to use Aikido effectively in mma would be the ultimate story arc. You seem like the best suited mma guy to experiment all these styles with since you are already so creative and unorthodox while also being successful in the cage and ring. Keep these coming!

Love your videos. Martial artist through and through. Can’t wait to see your developement. I think you would be an incredible coach.

Thanks for sharing this video! It was really cool to get to see Rokas deploying and developing more combat-effective Aikido, and I was really impressed by how you struck a fantastic balance of giving him the opportunity to work his techniques without giving in and making the technique work for him (I hope that makes sense to other people!).

I love that Jeff is the kind of guy that anybody can having fun sparring, no matter the parameters. That's my new goal. Also, this was a fun video! You make really fun content.

The collaboration among you all in that self-defense championship was incredible! Having most of my favorite martial arts youtubers in one place was fantastic. What's even more amazing is that we get to see more videos like this one because of that gathering. Cheers!

I love everything about this channel and the cooperation and synergy you guys have evolved; the respect towards tradtitional martial arts is very important, because everybody forgets that they are the technical and conceptual source of modern day martial arts!

Halfway to the milly brother. Love seeing the channel grow. You deserve all the spoils from helping us become better men and martial artists. 👏

Thank you for putting this gem on the tube for us to see. I love the content this group is putting out. The more they collaborate the more sucked in I am.

Jeff always coming out with that A++ content!

The collab I’ve been waiting for 🙏🏼

Wow! This looks really nice. Congratulations on your evolution Rokas! Also loved the collaboration between all of you. You rock!

I like how you guided Rokas to continue to work and get to his feet instead of just stopping the roll. One of my instructors drilled that in to me, sign of a great teacher and training partner. Oss 👊

Jeff seems like such a cool guy. I liked what he said about all martial arts being able to work if the person is skilled enough. I think pressure testing is paramount.

The logic in all of what you said is extremely on point and quite satisfying to see spoken in such a simple yet comprehensive manner 🤓🤙🏾

This looks like a fun experiment, showing of some aikido techniques and Jeff being one of the coolest guys to experience it on his own. Jeff basically said go back to Aiki Jujitsu, the parent of aikido is what I’m understanding I like this a lot

Bravo Rokas!! Getting two kotegaeshis among other techniques was amazing, thank you Jeff for the video and the open mind!!

Really cool of both of ya'll to do this.

On such a nice mood seeing all the great content you guys put out lately!

It’s so badass how Rokas is starting to adapt his aikido into mma and with more training he could be a serious force to be reckoned with

Cool to see you guys working together creating content. 😀

Cheers guys. What a nice and technical sparring. 👍👊💪

Excellent roll out Jeff. Aikido works it needs resistance training like this. Good to see you guys working together.

Impressive stuff there Rokas. The technical get up, and your get up from the dog fight we’re very slick

Really great video, Jeff! That was super interesting sparring to watch!

Awsome job Rokas!!!

It was a lot of fun to see you guys do that sparring exchange.

Beautiful video!! Thanks!

Well we can see Jeff was not in beast mode, but it was still nice to see the techniques being used in sparring and how Jeff managed to re-establish position after being thrown

What great controlled sparring. Both people being there to help each other progress - no ego. This was a pleasure to watch.

Loving this brotha🔥🔥🔥

Your content standard never fails to fall. Loved the park video too.

Really great to see you vlogging a bit and talking more dude

Man your content really is top notch.

Looks effective to me. Good vid!

It’s cool how he incorporated aikido into his striking and clinch game.

I think almost all of my skepticism about Aikido was gone. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Actually I was an Aikido practitioner before I play boxing and jiujitsu.

Awesome Vid💪🔥🔥

This is a great video. I honestly think you have done something good here to progress the general understanding of martial arts. Partially because we see Jeff rolling out of moves and hear him talking about it afterwards. It makes it easier to connect the dots between what we see in Aikido demonstrations and what we see in fights. I agree with you 100% and think that some more competitive form of training that includes a novice program pairs perfectly with Aikido and other styles of training often derided. Judo would be the best fit for Aikido I my opinion, but I agree JJ would be a good fit too and you know better than I. I think Tai Chi would pair best with Boxing and Greco or maybe Sumo.

3:40 Also nice axe kick attempt as you broke away from this grappling exchange.. very cool 😎🤙🏾

@martialrtsjourney Rokas, this was a thing of beauty.

Keep up with the good work jeff! Oss!

I live for videos like this! I once heard the saying “the art doesn’t fail you, you fail the art” which I feel is very similar to your stance on martial arts. You might “fail” an art because you haven’t trained enough or applied it properly but that doesn’t mean you can’t learn to do it.

Fianally, well said Jeff! Ueshiba's Aikido, when conceived, was the epitome of a combination of traditional jujutsu systems. Ueshiba had a realization concerning blending with the kinetic energy of the opponent resulting in loss of one's balance and controlling the body by applying wrist locks. Even further, if one has developed the explosive force skill (fajing), wrist locks can be devastating, since the intent is not just to lock but to destroy the wrist. This was needed against cold weapons (blades). Martial science is not static, it changes according to the needs.

You are a real martial artist! All the Respekt to you

Enjoy your channel and learned a lot from your MMA Striker program. 23 years of Aikido on my side, cross training in bits of boxing, bits of judo, few months of MMA, seminars in BJJ, started off in Taekwondo. Nice to see the open minded conclusions. It's true that Aikido when trained as a martial art based fitness system is difficult to translate ( not aimee at) to a practical combat or even sparring situation. I have found that encouraging my young and fit university age students to cross train a little in Judo, BJJ and mixed striking and then asking them to test themselves in light sparring/rolling is what is needed to get them to connect the pieces. At the beginning boxing and basic kicks are relied on to maintain distance (they take time to learn how to close). Then common direct grappling/ takedown approaches like double leg takedowns or judo throws become the go to. After just a few months the Aikido seems to come back into the mix (not replace it all). By that I don't mean just wristlocks (my frustration with Rokas - while fully appreciating his personal journey - being the reliance on techniques that are only meant to be principles with variations in application), but rather footwork to change distance and angles, postural structure and a movable balance/base (too often confused with just ukemi), joint locked (wrist, elbow, shoulder and sometimes head/spine) pins or related throws, control of maai and centre line, etc. And well... This is not a sales pitch - everyone to their own.... But anyone practicing seriously, try it as It is fun to see the principles that are difficult to comprehend as abstract and uncontextualised practice pieces, slowly become a glimmer in the eyes and a part of tested practice. Both the testing/sparring and knowledge (even basic) from cross training appear to be essential if Aikido is trained as a martial art with practical martial ambitions. Look forward to more from you Jeff..

Amazing, remember rokas's first mma sparring? Compare it to this now, getting all of these fancy aiki takedowns and pins on a pro fighter, massive respect for both!!

Damn rokus you were amazing bro! Its awsome to see how far you have came!

Insane escapes, really good material about aikido and mma

Hey Jeff! Thank you for making this video. I'm humbled by your open mindedness every time I see you trying out a martial art, giving it a chance and showing it. As you said, I think Aikido can work and like you said too: in Jiu-Jitsu specially. I really really wish Rokas would modify his Aikido and offer a different flavor mixed with jiu-jitsu and Judo/Wrestling. I think it would be an amazing system and many people would benefit from it. Now I just have to tell him that about 1,000 times again to try to convince him :)

Hey man, discovered you through the USDC. You're an excellent fighter, humble, great teacher and great content maker. You have no fluff in your vids, and every second is worthwhile content. Your thoughts and analysis are worth their weight in gold. Keep doing you man, gl on USDC 2 and keep on doing you.

I'm impressed! I trained Aikido myself for 17 years and I know for a fact that they like to talk about effectives and self defense but it's training methods do not translate to reality, just does not apply. Just a bit of striking and grappling knowledge, paired with some light sparring can create an environment where it's actually possible to find and practice the functionality of some Aikido concepts and techniques, as shown in this video. But the deep sense of traditionalism (and mysticism) typical to Aikido, unfortunately does not allow for the practitioners to be open minded and study it in a practical way. This colaboration between all of you is just amazing! I really hope you guys are abble to do more of this kind of stuff. You all are a set of mature, honest and sincere individuals who bring a lot to the table and your interactions gives us a really positive vibe and sense of community! Tks, Jeff! ps.: just not to be "that" guy... Aikido gave me a good sense of distance and timing, specially when training weapons. Plus, I think it's falling techniques are prestine!

Being a beast with the ability to dial it down to the situation is awesome.

Rokas hit the "kata sukashi" shoulder swing down which is pretty common in sumo wrestling, very cool to see and pretty unique as armlock throws arent allowed in judo or wrestling

Jeff, since you have been going down various avenues of experiencing different martial arts/combat sports, I would love to see a video about various blends of combat sports and martial arts, maybe 5 key techniques they they might have an spar with them highlighting these blends' strengths and weaknesses.

Damn you know how you can tell Jeff has been doing this forever. Because he speaks so clearly with his mouthpiece in.

Love your video guys. A light smart sparring without connivence. I’m an aikido and MMA practitioner too and your sparring test makes sense to me. Had also this mind to try. Hope to do sparrings with you some day (;

This is cool! I see how he’s adapted his aikido to the clinch.

Great video. I followed both of you. Rokas it was good to see the kotegashi, wrist, throw show a few times. I used to use it in bjj especially in grappling and guys didnt know what to do with it and it was great surprise attack. Also you tried a kaiten nage which worked a little and sankyo. The wrist throw is aikido best technique. However aikido offers something else, relax and flow.I see older season jujitsu guys roll in an aikido way. Using the aggressors energy. Thats what it has to offer. Jeff, thanks for showing this and as always enjoyed your teaching. I have done alll arts love them and love the humility you both have.Keep doing what you both are doing.

Bro you kocked ass! I have been following you for a while and i am very impressed to see your proggresion. You would definatly do awsome when you have your next cage fight! Thank you for resparking my love of martial arts with your channel bro.

Good stuff!

Okay Rokas is mad funny during sparring just based on sounds. Good round you two

I agree with Jeff's assessment about building up further to make it more effective and this was awesome to watch both of you spar together! I think the key to making it work as it was created is to build on a foundation that lets you have and create choices on how to navigate a combative engagement. Aikido is more so about the paradigm for transforming a combative conflict into something more favorable when the opportunity is clear. Like the philosophical difference between aikido and aikijutsu is about being present with opportunities to transform or deescalate the situation with certain submissions and have control over the interaction vs striving for a combative win by any means necessary in ways that often resulted in severe injuries or death. Ueshiba fought and survived as a soldier in two wars and was already established in karate and some other disciplines before arriving to make aikido. So there's no doubt he had a strong repertoire of skills to navigate hand to hand combat. But when a practitioner doesn't have the skills and moves to confront the typical range of combative techniques, they're just not going to be able to use it and keep up. It's like a musician who likes a song and wants to improvise but they don't know how to play most of the notes needed to even play the music yet. Their ideal to be empowered and conscious about how to handle the opponent isn't the same as what you're tasked to handle in the moment. Hence Rokas is beginning to step into more practical applications now that he's developing his baseline BJJ and other mma skills and reconciling the common applications with ways to apply aikido.

Nice sparring!! I always wondered how effective Aikido was since one of my friends practices it.

Bro you got it your making akido work!!

Jeff and Rokas have matured a lot. Not just in martial arts, but attitude as well as mind. Great to see. I hope Rokas adds Catch as Catch Can to his skill set; I can see that helping him a lot with Aikido (yes, BJJ as well).

That was freakin' awesome.

you are the king. Bro for giving people and searching for them to proof something to this gasloghting community is immense thanks man from my heart.

Been watching rokus and mma shredded since the inception. And this is show was literally what rokus was born to do! Create and affective aikido for sport and self-defense!

Lifelong aikidoka here.. idk why people equate aikido to wrist locks. Aikido is so much more than that. The hip sweep technique you taught Kevin Lee a week ago, pops up in aikido: it’s known as Kokyunage. Kimura also pops up all the time. It’s called ude garami, Rokas does a good job trying it here. Rokas has a hard time pulling off wrist techniques because he doesn’t set them up. He telegraphs and goes straight for them, which is easy to anticipate and counter. Dan the wolf man shows a great setup for kotegaeshi from the clinch escape. I agree it’s the practitioner that makes the difference. Aikido techniques are not the highest percentage moves, so by itself it’s incomplete, but if you develop them in tandem with other skills, especially with the right entry/ setup… aikido can absolutely provide quality tools. I would love to see a video of u and Erik Paulsen. He’s a wrist lock aficionado and accomplished catch wrestler

I just want to expand on what you said at the end. Aikido comes from aikijujitsu it's techniques are high level for disarming your opponent, controlling their weapon, and not allowing them to control your's. They are low percentage techniques that are very situational. So it's really cool to see Rokas use them as a means of positional control.

I like your summary at the end, it was exactly what I was seeing. Aikido is sort of understood to be a defensive system but Rokas entering the clinch and engaging from there was cool to see. Yes you rolled out of those attacks but from what I could tell, as you mentioned, that was your only option. I wonder what he could have done to shut down your roll, maybe controlled the hips a bit more some how. Cool stuff.

Brilliant video

Interesting stuff!

The best martial art content on the planet, who would ever think of giving Aikido a chance

watching Rokas' Aikido base is so fun, he looks like he plays a very anti striking based grapple game, I could for sure see success for someone with aikido whose able to take those fundamentals and combine with wrestling and bjj, especially once able to seemlessly move from aikido to bjj off an overcommited strike.

I've watched that fuys channel a few times he has def improved from when he first tried to implement Aikido in practical situations. And your the best person he could have tried his be knowledge on

¡Great work !

Nice contrôle of your positions Jeff👌🏽

Very nice of you to let him work through all his arm drags

I'm honestly both impressed and super Happy because i've been following rokas for years and i've Always seen the commitment he put in to trying to make functional aikido and all the times he failed ti do that and i've respected that he has never stopped. I think that for the standing position using more judo could be effective and maybe tring freestyle wrestling and i agree with you even because if he doesn't finish someone with his aikido he can use it to reach some position and have more tools

That kote gaeshi was actually sick. I know neither of you were really going 100%, but it was really beautiful to see against a resisting opponent.