Is taekwondo underestimated?

[Mattchoo]

Its all about the application, nothing is really 'BAD' as such it just might not be effective as a whole against something else. But like someone said up the top, its that they train to fight the one style more or less or are suited to a form of fighting.

In my opinion its not underestimated, but the people that use it are in comparison to other more well known arts. Any technique from any style can be made as effective as any other if it can be applied correctly, no matter how crazy it is if the person doing it is good enough and well versed enough they can make great use of it. Within reason.. its all to do with the ability of the fighter using said technique, not that anything is 'crap' as such, Just that the fighter might be awful at everything else and has no fighting mind to adapt his techniques to the situations as they come in a fight.

[The Natural]

Is Taekwondo underestimated? In theory, yes.

Are most Taekwondo 'fighters' underestimated? No.

The problem with TKD fighters (like most martial artists) is that they are trained for a specific sport - in this case TKD. TKD might look like 'fighting' (primarily to people who watch too many films) but it's nowhere near the same thing because of all the rules (a similar point can be made of MMA). TKD practitioners are generally therefore no more suited to fighting than people who lie on the floor swining their arms around are suited to swimming.

There are two exceptions:

1, People who claim to train 'traditional' TKD. This is because TKD was actually designed for the Korean military to use. The original/traditional form from the 1960s is therefore designed to be efficient and lethal. People who practice this will tell you that they could easily kill you - the problem is that they've mever actually killed anyone with it. No pressure testing = no way of knowing whether you can do what you think/claim you can.

2, People who use TKD in MMA. These people are bloody horrible. These are people who have taken the skills they have learnt from the sport of TKD and adapted them (through lots of sparring and pressure testing) into their MMA arsenal. We have one at our club and he's horrible to fight against. He throws Thai kicks and boxing bunches as good as everyone else from his training with us but every now and then you just get smashed in the face with a spinning hook kick out of nowhere. It has, however, taken him a long time to adapt this effectively into MMA.

Conclusion: TKD (as with every other martial art) is only as effective as the person who is using it, and they are only as effective as the way they train.

Watch this horrible TKD/Muay Thai half breed style to see the damage it can do:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mePhUm5OpbQ

F&*king hell..the guy on that clip is unbelievable.

[Drill Sergeant]

I know this answer isn't directly what you are looking for but its my respectful opinion on TKD.

1) If you want a combat sport with limited commitment then its perfect. There is Light /Semi and Full Contact TKD but even the Full Contact is nowhere near as committed as MMA, MT or even Western Kickboxing in that there are way less K.O's - Its the safe option!

2) Its great for flexibility and for speed and fitness, but I wouldn't want to rely on it to defend myself as a "basic" student of the system.

Having trained in Western Kickboxing, MT and various self defence martial arts I believe that even with the most basic of their systems techniques you could repel the average attacker. Video's like the one offered are of a rare breed of person, people who can take these things to the next level and who can inspire others. He has gained control over fine motor skills and can use them during the "Adrenaline Dump" phase - no small feat.

The other issue that comes from TKD is its association with "McDojo's" and being "Belt Factories" facts not helped by people like Master Leigh Childs who would go around giving out Black Belts at advertising campaigns in shopping malls/centres.

To summerise, it may look pretty and be unorthodox but it's unnessessary* for MMA or for street defence as it uses so many fine motor skills that it would be impractical at best.

* sorry bout the spelling