Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)

In a previous post, I mentioned MMA. Someone asked me what that was, so I realized that there might be more people who aren't familar with that term, so I decided to explain it.

MMA in the general sense refers to Ultimate Fighting Championship type events in which participants can punch, kick, throw, clinch, knee, takedown, and grapple on the ground with submission holds. They sometimes take place in a cage type environment, or in a boxing ring. Rules can range from fairly strict (like no closed fist punches) to almost street fight like, though this is, and has always been pretty rare.

In a specific usage of the term, MMA also can refer to those who train all of these elements together as a comprehensive system. The original UFC type events pitted "style vs. style" i.e. a wrestler against a kickboxer, a jiu-jitsu player against a karate expert, a boxer against a streetfighter. After a few years, smart fighters began to train a spectrum of techniques and tactics in order to not be vulnerable to certain situations the way most of the early UFC fighters did. What happened was people began to see that you needed to have a decent knowledge of striking, clinching, and ground grappling, so they sought out the right systems to fill in the appropriate gaps. Basically today our striking comes from boxing, Thai Boxing, and Savate. Our clinch usually stems from Greco-Roman wrestling and Judo while the ground part is from Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with some elements of Russian Sambo and western wrestling. These arts generally provides the framework for most MMA practioners because they have been proven to work in high pressure situations. There is no theory or faith in a omnipotent grandmaster as the only proof. These things do work. In another post, I will go over how MMA works in the ring AND the street with little modification needed.