Musashi on MMA and Tournament Fighting
Anything in these snippets strike a chord, Old Jong? 
No man is invincible, and therefore no man can fully understand that which would make him invincible.
The “Way” cannot be learned through frivolous contests in which the outcome is for the name of a school or a large trophy. It can only be realized where physical death is a reality.
The ancient masters must be studied constantly without respite, even when the practitioner thinks he has grasped the knowledge.
Calmness is attained through meditation and belief in your own skills. It is not to be confused with egotistical technique, which generally fails under intense combat situations.
Remember, the main idea behind becoming a warrior is learning how to destroy the enemy. Without destroying the enemy you are playing a child’s game. … Think of nothing but cutting the enemy down. …There is no other reason to be a warrior.
Practice is the only way that you will ever come to understand what the Way of the warrior is about. … Words can only bring you to the foot of the path.
The obvious answer to all things is practice and more practice.
The more you practice, the more the “spirit of the thing itself” will reveal itself to you. For whatever reason you have chosen to be a warrior, you must understand your responsibility to the art and to yourself. They are one and the same.
It is foolish to get into scuffles with an enemy and not attack with a killing resolve. In order to understand life and death, you must actually be in a situation where the possibility of death exists.
Each time you practice a “thing,” the “spirit of the thing itself” will reveal more of itself to you. Study is a life-long undertaking.
My school is different. I care not for the dressings of other uniforms or the growing of small trees, although these things have their place. If the school is primarily interested in building up a clientele and displays the trophies won at tournaments (among other things) it give the student the wrong idea about the Way of the warrior. Essentially, such a school is trying to sell its wares to the public by using the long sword as a means to accumulate wealth. This is absolutely not the way of the warrior.
Circumstances being equal, the winner of the fight is still the one with the most resoluteness.
Early on in training your teacher must impart this wisdom to you. If he does not, perhaps he is the wrong teacher for you if you truly wish to learn the Way of strategy.
It is not wise to criticize another’s Way. There are reasons for each man to have his own. … There is no need to examine the doctrines of another school of thought until you have come to terms with the doctrines of the school you are studying. … When you feel that something is missing or that you are not learning anything further, you must of your own volition seek the next level of instruction.
If you hope to understand my strategy you must study as many of the martial arts as you can and never veer from you chosen course.
I’ll say those SBS and SAS guys are pretty good.
I guess you have never felt one before!