Sorry to steal the thread...
I was remembering the time that the MA community was skeptical of muay thai, grappling and FMA.
In th early 90's many American kickboxers/karateka said that it didn't take much skill to throw leg kicks. They also thought that the thai kick wasn't much different than the karate roundhouse
. There were several exhibition matches between some top American kickboxers and muay thai fighters.
I used to have a tape of Rick Roufous (from full contact karate days) vs. Kiatsongrit. The rules were heavily modified, clinching/kneeing/elbowing were not allowed, but low kicks were. Roufous was unprepaired for Thai style kicking and power and got hurt pretty badly. I think Mike Miles's site has a clip from it
www.mikemiles.com
Grappling too. I remember when the Gracie challenge was something that your instructors talked about with a little fear and admiration. There was even an old article published by the guys at "MA Training" showing masters of several styles trying to defend the shoot.
The masters included: He Il Cho (TKD), Randy Williams (WC), Kenneth Funakoshi (shotokan), Duane Ludwig (Muay thai) and some ninjitsu guy. The defenses looked interesting on paper.
It wasn't until 10th dan Kempo Master Ron Van Clief stepped up and fought Gracie in the UFC that we saw how legit these defenses were. Van Clief had heart and 40 years experience. On top of that, he was ripped for a guy his age. The match lasted about 5 minutes, with Gracie tapping the master out.
Man, the 90's were some great times for styles to prove themselves. In the first few UFCs, you could punch, kick, knee, elbow, headbut and grapple. How many traditional MA guys would be willing to compete with those rules? To be honest, it was scary then.