Do you think the UFC has ruined the aura of traditional martial arts?

[xxxMMAxxx]

Because of my name people on here mistake me as a "UFC fanboy" which is not the case. I watch UFC because it has the best MMA talent pool in the world but I hate what it has done for martial arts as a whole. It's popularity has caused people to think that mastering one single martial art is ineffective and obsolete in today's world and as a result traditional martial arts schools around the world are going out of business and I don't like that. Now if you want to learn a traditional martial art based on self defense and discipline it's hard because most places have joined the revolution and now only teach Taekwondo, Muay Thai, Karate, etc for MMA purposes. Teaching martial arts for use in a MMA bout is effective in a "street fight" but you could be a well rounded MMA fighter and not be as prepared for a practical situation as the man with traditional martial arts experience because martial arts for MMA schools do not teach techniques that are illegal in MMA. I obviously love MMA but I don't like the fact that the popularity of UFC has brainwashed people on what martial arts really are about. It's not that I don't like MMA because you can clearly see by my name that I love it but it's popularity has in a way changed peoples perception of martial arts and are leading people to believe that the honer and discipline are no longer a part of it. Does anyone else feel this way about it?

[Todd]

Martial arts are like languages, they evolve, but still hold on to their roots. We just have to deal with it. In my humble opinion, martial arts were never meant to be a solid thing, but rather a living thing that has a genetic code.

They have lineage, but they evolve. Take bujinkan ninjutsu for example. That's coming off about 10 different schools of technique from the current grandmaster, and who knows what else in addition from his mentor.

50 years from now MMA styles will have names and lineages. There are already out there, like Brazilian jiu-jitsu.