Or I could just practice conventional martial arts while completely ignoring the philosophical aspect of it, which is what MMA fighters do.
The entire part about it being some sort of way of living is really exaggerated. Like, you're supposed to be learning self-defence and then afterwards you are supposed to completely change your lifestyle just because you want to hit someone in the face? That's fucking retarded, I want to inflict pain on another human being, how much depth is there really to take away from doing something like that? It's as if when you decide to learn martial arts you are acquiring some sort of deadly weapon that will guarantee you to win a fight, while that is completely not the case. The entire self-control portion of it implies that you'd be given an upper hand in just about any conflict where fighting could take place, while in reality you'd only be in a position of advantage in very specific cases, there's so many variables in a fight that boiling it down to the way you have practiced in your gym is over-simplifying it a great deal. I'd get it if you were given an advantage that would be so great that you'd be theoretically winning every single fight that might have happened with you, but it's just not what happens.
>muh zen
>muh self control
>muh lifestyle choice
go fucking kill yourself, you're flailing your arms around like a moron and the majority of the stuff you're learning will never be able to take place in a real fight.
Friendly regards, edgy turbo autist