In reality, the two would never fight. Both are true martial artists. Neither would let a situation come to blows. Thus, there would never be a fight, therefore, no winner.

 

As a student of Aikido's "evil twin" (hap ki do, or hapkido), I would like to think that an Aikido black belt could handle a karate do black belt.

 

But, Chuck is a student of Bruce Lee (in case you didn't know). Out of respect for, perhaps, the best martial artist to ever live, I would like to think that a first generation student of Mr. Lee would win any match against any martial artist.

 

So, I will side with Adam. Their clash would either cause or be the result of a terrible tear/warp/distortion in the space-time-energy continuum. All our lives would be at risk after that point.

 

The video of Seagal in Japan might appear choregraphed, but it is not. When one Aikido artist faces another, they are extremely adept at predicting where their moves of aggression will place them (students of aikido are not comfortable with being aggressors, btw). And, one of the main philosophies of aikido is to remain one step ahead of your opponent, to predict and understand . So, a slight/careful move by Seagal may result in the opponent throwing himself to the ground to avoid injury or loss of strategic position in order to preserve his ability to continue the attack. This is where hapkido philosophy differs from aikido. Hapkido practitioners don't expect to encounter another aikido/hapkido student, so hapkido students are trained to break bones, dislocate joints and knock people out, whereas aikido practitioners depend on the knowledge of their opponent to understand that they've already lost, even while they're still standing.

 

In a practical sense, aikido is more "noble," and if you truly practice for 15 years, you are pretty much physically untouchable. With hapkido/karate do, if you practice for 5 years, you're not untouchable, but anyone that touches you will wish that they hadn't. Unless, you come across an aikido practitioner of 15+ years, then, you will surely lose.

honey badger.. no question..