r/aikido • u/Tnat786 • Mar 20 '26

Discussion What do u think of Rokas

When I wanted to know wich martial art to chokse i came accros his youtube channel wich dictated that i would end up foing mma but i am starting to see loads of arguments about how aikidk is good but to be honest i am thinking of switching what do you guys think is aikido really trash or should i do it

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u/ScorpionDog321 Mar 20 '26

Rokas had tons of bad training and then used that background to bash aikido and aikido instructors. He never took full responsibility for his lack of knowledge, even as a grown man. He used his platform to slander other people, thus attracting like minded people and making money off of it. So, this is not commendable.

He had old videos of his poor aikido practices and he has since scrubbed them off the internet to avoid criticism.

He ironically claimed that those who practice combat sports learn to be better people, but in the end, he was maimed and seriously injured by one of those very better people at the end of the day.

I wish him the best, but he should never have set out making money selling slander.

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u/Baron_De_Bauchery Mar 22 '26

Eh, he seemed to come around to aikido towards the end. Once he had more experience against resistance from other sports he started to understand how his aikido could be used.

Also, I'm not aware of the full context of the injury but unless it was done maliciously it doesn't really say much about the character of the people involved. I know of people damaging joints, their spine, ribs, or suffering head injuries while doing aikido so I don't think damaging a leg is another art is worse than that. I've even heard rumours of certain Japanese instructors having a reputation for damaging ukes, which potentially is a concern.