Introduction to MMA

What is MMA?

Well it is all in the name! MMA = Mixed Martial Arts. Almost all the practitioners are skilled in multiple arts. One popular combo is Muay Thai for the stand up, Wrestling for takedowns and takedown defense and brazilian jiu jitsu for ground fighting and submissions!

But there are other combo's too, like boxing for stand up, Judo instead of Wrestling and Sambo. There is even a guy (Machida) that has a combo of traditional Shotokan Karate, Muay Thai, Sumo and BJJ.

In this day of age a fighter must be a master of multiple disciplines. A guy who is only good at striking will be taken down and neutralized. A ground specialist is going to be KTFOd.

Stand-up, ground fighting, wrestling, what the hell are you talking about?

Well the stand-up part of the fight is easy to understand. Both guys are standing and they try to strike (kicking, punching, kneeing elbowing) each other, or close the distance.

If fighters get real close to each other they start to hug. This hug is called a clinch, because that sounds more manlier . There are various option here. You can knee or elbow from the clinch, you can try to take your opponent down or you could prevent to be taken down if you prefer to stand.

There is also a different way to take down an opponent, by shooting. Shooting is basically diving towards his leg to topple the guy. If the opponent does not see it coming, he will be on his back.

The last one is ground fighting. This is slower and more methodical. Trying to get a position to submit your opponents with various techniques, like armbars, chokes, leglocks, etc. This techniques are designed to choke someone out or break his limb. To prevent that a fighter submits before this happens. This can be by tapping or verbally submitting.

There is also another option on the ground, and that option is striking. Also known as ground and pound. In other words, you lay on top of them and punch them in the face.������ 

So how do you win?

The cool thing about MMA is that are various ways to win. You can win by KO or TKO. You can win by submission or by decision. You can KO people on the ground, standing (or in the air if you are Fedor). You can submit people by chokes, leg locks, neck cranks or even by punches (they tap if they had enough). So many options, so many ways to win or lose.

Submissions tell me more

There are various techniques I will explain the most common ones.

The armbar

With this move you hyperextend the elbow if he does not tap, it will break very easily. There are various variations. The picture shows the basic ones. But you can also do the armbar from the bottom. There is even a flying variation, which is used to submit a standing guy. It is a high risk move though.

Shoulder locks

These move can rip your shoulder of, it can be applied on the top, bottom or even standing.

Triangle Chokes

This move is awesome, you use your legs to cut of circulation to the head. Causing your opponent to faint! It is usually preformed at the bottom, but there is a flying version of it. Yep you heard it right, there is a bloody flying version of it. Oh the humanity. Genki Sudo was a master of the flying triangle.

Chokes

There are many different chokes, but they can have two effect. It can cut off the blood circulation to the head, causing you to faint. It usually takes 5-10 seconds before someone faints, so once the choke is set in, it can go very quickly.

Another way is to close the wind pipe. This way take a whole lot longer, but it is also a lot more painful.

So with all the moves, do all fighters fight the same?

Hell, no! There are different type of fighters, there are guys who are good strikers. So they use their wrestling skills to keep the fight standing and use their ground skills mostly defensively. There are ground guys who want to take it to the ground and there are all-rounders who can do both.

Even among strikers there are many different types. You have guys who go balls out insane, you have guys who are very illusive, etc. You have kung-fu guys, Muay Thai, Karate, etc. The same is true for all the other disciplines.

So who is my favorite fighter?

Fedor no questions asked.

So they all fight in this UFC thing I have heard about, right?

Wrong, there are many different MMA organizations around the world. In America you have Strikeforce, UFC and Affliction. In Japan you have Sengoku, Dream and Pancrase. I mentioned only 6, but there are a lot more.

So can you tell me more about some of the biggest MMA organisations?

Yes

So?

So what?

Tell me more about these big organizations!

Okay, if you insist

The UFC is currently by far the biggest MMA organization. It all started in November 12 1993 as a no hands barred contest. There were only 2 rules, no biting and eye gouging. There were no round and no weight classes. The fight would last until a guy was KOd or until he submitted.

In the early days each fighter had his own style, so it was styles vs styles. A boxer vs a wrestler, a kickboxer vs a Sumo guy, etc. This slowly changed until the fighters were more well rounded like they are today.

The UFC is also the place were the Octagon is invented. Basically is a octagon shaped cage. This is were the term cage fighting is from

Today there are far more rules and the sport is the fastest growing sport in the States. The sport is becoming more and more accepted.

Started in 1997 to match popular Japanese pro-wrestler Nobuhiko Takada with Rickson Gracie. This proved such a success, they started their own promotion. In the heydays of Pride it was even bigger than the UFC. It was shown on Fuji TV in Japan and was also very popular worldwide.

But after Fuji TV dropped their support because of alleged links with the Yakuza, Pride was in trouble. They were then brought by Zuffa the parent company of the UFC, and now they do not exist. So sad.

Later more organizations