I was at my nephew's watching this UFC nonsense. A bunch of oily Brazilians and white trash humping each other. Garbage. I would pit my Black Belt in Kempo against one of these clowns any day of the week. One knife hand chop to the throat and the these Gracie characters are rendered helpless. There is no match for a traditional Karate master.
I have trained in a very traditional style of kung fu called Choy Li Fut from 1978. I fought in many open competitions and even won a few when I lived in Australia, and I spent from November 1991 - August 1992 in South East Asia where I fought in open full contact competitions in Malaysia, the Philippines and Borneo, against silat, tkd, karate, muay thai, judo/jujutsu and other kung fu fighters. We were not allowed to attack the eyes or throat, or stomp on a downed opponent. Everything else was fair game, groin included.
I really thought I'd seen it all, and I thought I knew how to fight. Then came the first UFC and I saw people being taken down and choked, arm-barred, leglocked etc, and my first thought was "It would never happen to me". But you know what? I'd had so many disappointments and revelations with pretty much every traditional style, including my own, by that stage, I went and sought out a grappler, just to see if I really could stay on my feet, and i proceeded to get my arse handed to me.
I say this with the utmost respect from my perspective of someone with 33 years training. Most traditional styles are full of people who have no idea about fighting and are so ego bound they have no desire to learn. The brazilian concept of 'vale tudo' is the best thing to happen to martial arts/martial sport in a very long time. I don't think there is a lot technically wrong with traditional martial arts, but to think they teach you all you need to know about fighting, without being modified/adjusted and trained accordingly, is naive at best and ignorant at worst.
If you really think hitting someone in the throat who is intent on hitting you back or taking you to the ground is easy, I suggest you try and do for real and see what happens. I've been there. I've tried it. It's not like the movies.