Top 5 MA countries in the world

Here's an interesting topic - which countries do you consider to be amongst the top 5 Martial Arts nations in the world? By that I mean which countries have actually given or contributed to the world's martial arts systems the most?

Here are mine:

1. Japan/Okinawa - home of Karate (a popular art in the movies), Judo (which is an olympic sport), Aikido and JuJutsu (Jiu-Jitsu) as well as influencing BJJ. Japan has created some of the world's most famous and popular martial arts as well as being the first nation to introduce the coloured belt grading system.
2. China - home to the pantheon of Kung Fu forms, made famous by Shaolin Monks and some of the worlds most famous and popular martial artists - e.g. Bruce Lee, Jacki Chan and Jet Li.
3. Korea - home of TaeKwondo, an olympic sport and the martial art with the most practitioners in the world (apparently 30 million!)
4. Brazil - home to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which has become a very popular martial art/combat sport in its own right as well as forming one of the fundamental elements of MMA. The Gracie family even founded the UFC. Currently some of the worlds best P4P MMA fighters come from Brazil.
5. North America - home to kickboxing and where the UFC was born.

Honourable mentions would go to Thailand for creating Muay Thai boxing and if you consider boxing a martial art then England. However the reason I've put America into the top 5 ahead of Thailand is because of the phenomenal rise of the popularity and success of the UFC in establishing MMA as a legitimate combat sport. What I think this shows though is the conspicuous lack of European countries! I know France is a very successful country internationally at Judo but I'm not judging this based on league tables of international success in competitions. Do you think Europe has lacked a certain bushido spirit?

Anyone disagree with me? I'd be interested in seeing your lists and discussing your reasons.

No I don't think Europe has lacked a certain bushido spirit, The Netherlands are probably the top Kickboxing country in the world, they have dominated K1 & due to this I would put them way above the USA when it comes to kick boxing. They also have some of the best Muay Thai gyms outside of Thailand, many MMA fighters come here to train stand up techniques. I would also disagree that the USA is home to kick boxing, they do more a contact karate where you can not kick below the waist. Many years ago I did English Contact Karate which originated in the USA, enjoyed doing it as it was a more modern & less complex system than the traditional Japanese & Chinese martial arts. Fair do's to the USA for UFC, wrestling & their cotrabution to boxing. Also eastern Europe are producing a lot of decent martial artists as well as Krav Maga seems more popular here than in the USA or UK. The rest of your list is ok though. Did you ever check out the Fight Quest series? Its all available on Youtube, they go all around the world checking out traditional fighting systems, really interesting.

I'll check out the Fight Quest series at some point.

I knew the Netherlands had a good reputation for martial arts but didn't realise it was that good! However as I said my criteria was origin of martial art not success in international competition. However, your point about Europe not lacking a Bushido spirit was well made. So why do you think Europeans have been able to adopt and succeed in martial arts but our own martial traditions seem to have died out or been neglected?

talkingpoint wrote:I'll check out the Fight Quest series at some point.

I knew the Netherlands had a good reputation for martial arts but didn't realise it was that good! However as I said my criteria was origin of martial art not success in international competition. However, your point about Europe not lacking a Bushido spirit was well made. So why do you think Europeans have been able to adopt and succeed in martial arts but our own martial traditions seem to have died out or been neglected?

Fair point. What I would like to say tho with regards to Dutch success in Kickboxing is how they also modernized/evolved it. I read this on wiki a good while ago so I cant remember it 100% but it mentioned in international kickboxing/Muay thai contests the dutch implemented western boxing techniques into it where as the Asians kept more to tradition & once the dutch got on the inside their western boxing was much more effective. In Muay Thai you can hold for longer & wrestle your opponent to the ground to an extent which you cant in K1, the dutch system seemed to be better under K1 rules & the proof is in the pudding. Put K1 into wiki if your are interested. Also we get a lot of Thailand vs Holland Muay Thai tournaments & the dutch more than hold their own.

With regards to the european success I think some of it is down to an extent less of a slob culture, drink n drugs & take aways/poor diet, more money at amateur level being put into martial arts/combat sports. In the UK there is much bigger an emphasis on football, rugby, cricket, athletics & possibly tennis. Also with the rise of MMA & the money involved many UK guys have switched to that, I dont remember seeing any UK fighters in the last 2 K1 grand prix's or on weekly/monthly kickboxing show we get here on Eurosport. Also boxing is probably a lot bigger in the UK, they dont seem to be that interested here, I dont think I can name any dutch boxers.