Philosophical Roots of SBG: Matt Thornton and the Message of Aliveness

Via Wikimedia Commons. Pic by: Zero Xero

This post will be dedicated to the man behind the famous Straight Blast Gyms, Matt Thornton. Over the last couple of years especially SBG Ireland with head coach John Kavanagh has been featured in MMA media almost daily, both due to Conor McGregor's extreme starpower and the sheer skill of SBG based fighters (McGregor, Gunnar Nelson, Cathal Pendred, Paddy Holohan etc.). The man who started it all, the founder of SBG however, is Matt Thornton. His approach to MMA and Martial Arts in general is very unique and has a solid base in philosophy. Thornton, being one of the pioneers of American Mixed Martial Arts, has developed his very own philosophy to accompany his Martial Arts training, taking ideas from e.g. Jiddu Krishnamurti among certain other schools of skeptical thinking and philosophy. In this article, I want to focus in this philosophical approach - as the title indicates - which underlies his training methods. Since his philosophy is the result of years and years of research, this text will attempt to be a first glance at one of the core principles to which Thornton refers rather often. The concept of Aliveness. 

Let the Thunder Rumble: Natural Movement with Thoreau and Chuang Tzu

Alan Watts once called change a synonym for life. For if something does not change anymore, does not move anymore, it is dead. Movement is life. Nothing stays in one place forever, as Heraclitus put it, "everything flows". The nature of reality seems to be dynamic rather than static. Everything moves, grows, is in decay, wins, loses, inhales and exhales. It is an up and down that is often hard to accept. Almost by design we as humans seem to want things to be permanent. We want to keep things the way they are. Change provokes insecurity and monotony in change presents us with familiarity. These, however seem to be unrealistic expectations. Reality doesn't work that way*. Taking a look at it usually confirms this: The movements of waves, tides, birth and death all point towards an impermanent reality. It may be argued that all of this is part of a huge cycle of coming and going, yet it is evident that most things do not last, at least not in the form in which they are perceived at the moment. 

The New Era: Daoism, Nietzsche and Conor McGregor

Both due to its young age and hybrid nature, MMA has allowed us to inquire not only into which kind of technical approach to combat might be the best, but also into which mental attitude could be the most beneficial for accomplishing the task at hand. Further, an attitude which is helpful in facing a trained killer in the octagon will probably also be helpful in the comparatively mild circumstances of everyday life. Yet the immense complexity and multitude of variables involved in determining the outcome of such hand-to-hand combat situations seemingly repel the possibility of a one-size-fits-all solution.