MMA: A Brief History

Mixed Martial Arts is a full-contact combat sport that allows striking and grappling, both standing and on the ground. It's evolved in large part from pankration, which utilized wrestling and boxing in Ancient Greece. It was also found in Ancient China in the form of lei tai arenas. The interest for martial arts has been widespread for well over a millenium, so let's break down some of the most popular disciplines utilized today.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Judo

Jiu-Jitsu originated in the late 19th century. It's important to note that Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu was an evolution of the already existing martial-art. Decades before JJ, there was Judo, which was created in 1882. Judo focused on throws, takedowns, pins, and submissions such as joint locks or chokes, rather than strikes and hand thrusts. The most popular Judoka in UFC history was Ronda Rousey, who is discussed in the next section.

In UFC 1, Royce Gracie did more than bring glory to an emerging sport. At the time, he represented his family, who created Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. His family learned Jiu-Jitsu (known as Judo in Japan) at an American Circus, from a black-belt instructor from Japan. He would go on to submit wrestlers 80 lbs. heavier than him in future UFC events, but this will close out our BJJ discussion. BJJ places emphasis on full-contact fighting, and is widely used today in MMA. While Judokas like Rousey focused more on tosses and armbar submissions, BJJ practitioners focus on sweeps, submissions, and positioning. Since you don't have to submit your opponent to win, and in MMA, obtaining a dominant position such as a full mount sets you up nicely for ground strikes. One last distinction of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, is that practitioners feel comfortable fighting off their backs. The reasons are usually because of the ability to detain an opponent through various leg guards such as closed, and butterfly. These positions neutralize ground strikes from the top, and also lead to sweeps, where the bottom person will be able to escape or gain a dominant position. Lastly, there are plenty of submissions from the back, which make for a mighty entertaining fight. This confidence from the back differs largely from wrestling, which is a dominant force used today, and has been around longer than BJJ.

Wrestling

Wrestling involves grappling-type techniques such as clinch flighting, throws, takedowns, holds and pins (which are kind of like submissions). Its origins go back 15,000 years to cave drawings. One popular style is Greco-Roman, which is primarily upper body, and focuses on throws. Another popular style is freestyle wrestling, which incorporates the lower body and is similar to collegiate wrestling. Amateur pankration focuses on controlling everything, and utilizes striking techniques. There are many other types of wrestling. One of the most popular wrestlers in the sport today is 155 lb. Lightweight Champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov, who is of Dagestani descent and started wrestling at the age of 8 years old. We will discuss him shortly as well.

Striking

Boxing, Kickboxing, Muay-Thai, Taekwondo, etc.

There are many disciplines in martial arts, but for the sake of the project I will boil some of the remainders down to striking. In MMA, striking basically consists of forcible hits from the hand, elbow, knee or leg, though it's really any force you could think of. I've seen shoulder strikes while an opponent was pinned against the cage, and foot stomps are effective as well, though not nearly to the extent of a front kick, which may be a top-foot or heel strike focused at an organ such as the liver, or a sensitive head location such as the chin, temple, or behind the ear area. Headbutts are illegal in a majority of MMA promotions.

Boxing originated in Ancient Greece and became extremely popular during the prizefighting era of the late 19th Century. The sport involves gloves. Its strikes are hands only, and focuses on straight punches, hooks, and uppercuts. Evasiveness, defense, and countering are crucial techniques in the sport. It's considered the sweet science, however its limitations are emphasized if one were to compete in MMA, because one could simply kick your legs or take you down, therefore eliminating your only strength.

Kickboxing is basically boxing mixed with karate. Generally speaking, the main differences are the utilization of strikes from the shin and foot. Knees are not allowed. This style is very common in MMA, because leg kicks slow down grapplers, since leg damage makes it harder to shoot, and each round starts standing. The most popular kickboxer in MMA history is probably Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic, for many reasons. One, his nickname comes from being a member of Croatia's elite Special Forces tactical unit. Second, his leg strikes earned the complementary motto "Left leg hospital, right leg cemetary." Third, he was a fighter who evolved into a man that could submit somebody unconscious, execute takedowns, and finish opponents with ground elbow strikes. Moral of the story is that a mixed-martial artist is almost always going to beat a singular discipline practitioner under MMA rules, because the MMA fighter has an answer to more positions. See Cro Cop's highlights here.

Muay-Thai is like kickboxing that also utilizes knee and elbow strikes.

Taekwondo is a Korean martial art that is full-contact sparring. It focuses on speed and agility, and operates under the Theory of Power, which is sourced from its creator's understanding of biomechanics and Newtonian physics. Learn more here.

Now that we have a general understanding on certain martial arts disciplines, let's add it all together. A boxer can get taken down by a wrestler and beat up, but if he can sprawl and defend the takedown, then he can strike and perhaps knockout his opponent. A dominant multi-faceted striker can react to a feint strike and be taken down, mounted, and either submitted or defeated with strikes or control. Truly, nobody knows which martial art is the greatest, due to so many factors of what leads to a victory. However, now you know why the Ultimate Fighting Championship was created! It was made to answer the question, "Which is the greatest martial art of them all?" It has led to the evolution of individual martial arts and mixed-martial arts. Now let's learn about some of the most glorious fighters in the sport.