First let’s define a specialist. A specialist is someone who focuses on one area of study or one art. So someone who only boxes is a specialist, just like someone who only grapples. But being a specialist can also mean someone who is focused on self defense, someone into ancient weapons, or someone who only focuses on sport fighting. A nak muay and a point fighter are both kickboxing specialists, but on different ends of the scale. So why do we need these guys?

Some People Don’t Want to Mix Their Martial Arts

We’ll start with an easy one. Some people just want to learn one aspect of fighting. It may be a preference for sport, such as boxing. Or they might have a concern for defense, but wish to handle it more gently, like Jiu-Jitsu. It could also be from a cultural connection, like folk wrestling styles. Sumo is not only a badass sport, it’s a point of national pride and cultural heritage for many Japanese people. While I for one love to learn all the nooks and crannies of fighting, I know many people who just want to box, wrestle, or do kung fu. And that’s okay. In fact, it’s great. Because this gives them something that I don’t have, which leads me to my next point.

Specialists Have a Greater Understanding of their Field than a Jack-of-all-Trades

A kickboxer will outclass a mixed martial artist on striking. A wrestler will do the same on the ground. They have more reps in that area and they have studied it more intensely, understanding concept and theory on a deeper level. This is why MMA fighters have striking, grappling, and conditioning coaches. They depend on people who focus on portions of the game to give them an edge and ensure they are performing to the best of their abilities. These understandings can go even deeper as well.

A grappler with decades of practicing Greco will have a better understanding of clinch grappling than a BJJ or Freestyle practitioner. So these specialists can look at a fighter and help them develop tools that fit their style. Now the flip side of specialists is also true. Generalists show the weaknesses and strengths of particular strategies. They help specialists understand the nature of their techniques more deeply, even if the generalist may not realize it.

Specialists Maintain Knowledge for Future Generations

This goes back to my point of specialists having a greater understanding of their field. Specialists can keep their arts or fields of study a priority. They don’t forget techniques and concepts just because they’ve gone out of vogue. We’ve all seen it happen, where someone shows off a move that they developed only for others to say, “Yeah we’ve been doing that for like a hundred years.” Human knowledge is not a constant pile that we all access equally. It is a flowing amorphous collection of understandings. Languages can be lost; so can artistic methods and even combative techniques.

This is probably my favorite aspect about specialists. As someone who spent much of their childhood in libraries, I love specialists. They’re like human textbooks. Consider a teacher like Roy Wood. He’s one of the foremost authorities on Catch as Catch Can wrestling in the world and he just wants to share this style and preserve what’s been given to him. Do his students have to only study Catch? No. Is he going to show them everything Catch has to offer? Absolutely. To be a specialist is to preserve knowledge that even you may not realize will be so helpful or revolutionary to someone.

What Does This Mean for You?

It means you get to decide what you want to learn. If you just want to study one art or area of combat, you can do that. If you want to study everything you can, then you can do that. But we have to recognize that there are tradeoffs to each method. For example, as a generalist I will never be as good at boxing or grappling as my specialist contemporaries, but in an MMA or street context, I have the option to take them where they aren’t comfortable. Would I win? I don’t know. But I’d certainly be harder to beat. In their disciplines, I’ll almost assuredly lose and my understanding of technique may never become as refined as theirs. But that’s okay.

We still learn from each other and we each have our roles in our martial communities. What we shouldn’t do is give in to tribalism and naysaying. What’s good will prove itself and what isn’t will fall by the wayside. Don’t worry, just have fun and train hard. And if you find a detail or intricacy that boosts your fight game, be sure to thank a specialist.