Karate: The Godfather of MMA

I’ve been doing martial arts my whole entire life. Since I was 5 years old, karate has been my base. My foundation. And now at 33, after 25+ years of nonstop training across disciplines—Capoeira, Wing Chun, Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Wrestling, Boxing, Fencing, Swordsmanship—I’ve fallen deeply in love with not just the practice, but the history and culture that martial arts bring to your soul.

Now let’s rewind to where it all started—me, 5 years old, training hard for my first white belt. I didn’t even earn that until I was 10, but I was grinding. Then, I got my second dan at 12, third dan at 21, and finally earned my master rank at 27. Today, I hold a 4th-degree black belt in traditional karate, trained under legends like Cynthia Rothrock and Superfoot Bill Wallace. So when I tell you that karate runs through my blood, I mean it.

Why Karate is the Godfather of MMA

MMA—Mixed Martial Arts—for those new to the game, is the evolution of combat: boxing, kicks, grappling, takedowns, submissions, and strategy all in one. But let’s get something straight: before UFC, before the cage, before the hype, karate was already doing that.

Unlike many styles that specialize in one area—like Taekwondo with kicks or BJJ with ground grappling—karate was always meant to be complete. The original form, Karate-Do, literally means “the way of the empty hand.” It came from Okinawa, blending striking, throws, joint locks, and even weapons training. It was the samurai’s backup plan when a sword wasn’t available. That’s right—karate was the hand-to-hand battlefield art of warriors.

Where modern MMA boasts versatility, karate was doing it centuries earlier.

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The Deep Roots of Karate

To understand why karate is the foundation of MMA, you gotta know where it comes from.

 Okinawa & The Samurai Legacy

Karate’s roots trace back to the Ryukyu Kingdom of Okinawa, during a time when weapons were banned under the Satsuma Samurai occupation of 1609. Okinawans combined local fighting techniques (te) with Chinese martial arts—primarily Shaolin kung fu—brought over by trade and cultural exchange during the Ming Dynasty.

This fusion gave birth to three major Okinawan styles:
• Shuri-te
• Naha-te
• Tomari-te

These later evolved into the modern forms we know today: Shotokan, Goju-Ryu, Shito-Ryu, and Wado-Ryu.

 Bushido & Battlefield Martial Arts

Many don’t realize that karate was used as an unarmed backup system by Samurai. If your katana was lost or broken, your knowledge of jujutsu, aikijutsu, and karate could be the difference between life and death. These systems all lived under the Bujutsu umbrella, meaning “warrior techniques.”

Even the famous Kano Jigoro, founder of Judo, and Morihei Ueshiba, founder of Aikido, borrowed techniques from Okinawan Karate and Japanese battlefield tactics.

Karate became a symbol of discipline, survival, and honor—not just competition.

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Karate’s Influence on the Evolution of MMA

If we chart the evolution of MMA, the Karate DNA is everywhere.

 Fighter Stats Don’t Lie
• Over 30 UFC champions have karate backgrounds, including legends like Lyoto Machida, Georges St-Pierre, Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson, and Robert Whittaker.
• Machida himself said: “Karate gave me movement and timing others didn’t have.”
• In Karate Combat, there’s an 80% knockout rate, showing that karate isn’t just for points—it’s violent, effective, and real.

 The Building Blocks of MMA
• Striking: Precise linear punches and kicks from karate gave birth to clean techniques in modern MMA.
• Footwork: Elusive movement and stances like zenkutsu-dachi and nekoashi-dachi trained fighters to evade, counter, and close distance efficiently.
• Defense: Blocks, parries, and evasion systems came from kata bunkai, the “hidden code” of old-school karate.
• Grappling & Takedowns: Many karate styles, especially Goju-Ryu and Uechi-Ryu, included throws, sweeps, and standing locks—long before BJJ was on UFC mats.

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The Golden Age to Modern Day

 1868 – Meiji Restoration

The fall of the Samurai class leads to martial arts shifting from battlefield survival to personal development and discipline.

 1922 – Karate Introduced to Mainland Japan

Gichin Funakoshi demonstrates Okinawan karate in Tokyo. He later founds Shotokan Karate, launching the global spread of the art.

 1950s – Karate Hits America

U.S. soldiers bring back karate from Okinawa and Japan. It explodes in popularity thanks to Chuck Norris, Joe Lewis, and later Bruce Lee (who trained in Wing Chun but respected karate’s structure).

 1980s & 90s – Karate Dominates Pop Culture

From The Karate Kid to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Dragon Ball Z, karate became the martial art for generations of fans and fighters.

 1993 – UFC 1

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu dominates early MMA, but karate makes a comeback in the mid-2000s with Machida’s KO over Rashad Evans to win the UFC belt.

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Karate’s Future — What You Can Look Forward To

Today, karate is experiencing a renaissance.
• Karate Combat, where I still fight, is the most exciting organization in the world. It’s fast, real, and rooted in tradition but executed with modern athleticism. It’s the first professional karate league, finally giving black belts and traditionalists a real career path.
• Karate was featured in the 2020 Olympics for the first time.
• More kids are signing up for karate than ever before—globally over 100 million practitioners, making it one of the top 3 most practiced martial arts on Earth.
• Scholarships, pro careers, influencer paths, and media opportunities are growing for karateka who stay the course.

If you’re training in karate, stick with it. What starts as kata and kihon can lead to global opportunities, a deep understanding of self-defense, and a lifelong discipline that few ever master.

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Final Thoughts

Karate gave me everything: my discipline, my career, my fight path, and my platform. It’s the root of so many things we see in modern MMA today. That’s why I’ll keep saying it—

Karate is the Godfather of MMA.

It was here before the cage, and it’ll be here long after the cage lights go out.

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Stay tuned, because in the next article, we’re diving deeper into the real warriors behind karate’s rise: the masters, the legends, the samurai. We’ll break down kata like a war map and teach you how to make your traditional karate effective in any cage, ring, or street.

Let’s keep spreading this culture to the world—oss!

— Will Esparza