Mix Martial Art (MMA):- A Modern Fantasy | Brief Amazing Story of MMA

Conor McGregor, Brock Lesnar, Ronda Rosey, Khabib Nurmagamedov and many more. These are some of the richest sports-person of the world and almost everyone is familiar with their names. And they have reached this stage through one of the riskiest and popular sports known as Mix Martial Art or simply MMA.

The full form of MMA is Mix Martial Arts but many prefer to use the term Modern Martial Arts as a full form of MMA. MMA is a combat sport where full-body contact is allowed with the means of striking and grapplings. Unlike other martial arts like judo, wrestling, taekwondo where only striking or grapplings happens, Mix Martial Art allows the use of both strikings as well as grapplings not only while standings but also on the ground. Because of this, not only a player got many options for his or her strategy but spectators also enjoy that a lot.

Millions and millions of practitioners are dreaming to represent themselves in a big event of MMA such as Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) or ONE Championship. This is because of the reason that performing an eye-catching performance even in only one fight of a big event can take you from bottom to top and give you a life that you have never imagined. The three biggest dreams, name, fame and money can be achieved in very little time but for this, you need an immense level of hard work and dedication and unique quality of never give up. And this is because the Mix Martial Art training is very very hard, rough and tough. They have special MMA diet plans, MMA exercises and uses various MMA equipment to get well trained. You need an extreme level of fitness to be a well trained MMA fighter.

Evolution Of Mix Martial Art (MMA)

MMA has its roots back more than 2000 years ago in the form of pankration, a martial art from ancient Greece which consists of elements of striking and grappling similar to the modern Mix Martial Art. The story of Mix Martial Art becoming popular was a bit controversial as well as sarcastic. Well, earlier it was not known by the name of MMA. It was just a form of combat in various regions like Japan. Sometimes shoot wrestling, sometimes no hold barred matches. The earlier history is very long as well as complicated. So we will counter modern history only which is not only interesting but is full of sarcasm as well.

A brief about UFC 1

In 1993, an organization was formed which was about to become the most prominent MMA organization in the future. It is non-other than the Ultimate Fighting Championship or UFC. In 1993, they sent an invitation to different martial art organizations around the world to come and compete in a tournament. The motive was to find out which fighting style was the best. On November 12, 1993, an event took place in Colorado which later come to be known as UFC 1. The event signed 8 men who belonged from different martial arts to compete in an 8 men tournament. The winner of this tournament will receive $50,000.

There were no weight classes, rounds or judges. The only three rules were: no biting, no eye-gouging and no groin shot (however some fighters used it). The only way to win a fight was by a knockout, submission or if a fighters corner persons throw the towel in the fighting arena. There were some humorous fights, some respected fights as well as some bloody fights. Most of the styles like Sumo, Boxing found it difficult to compete in the fight when they are on the ground. While shoot fighting wrestlers find a bit difficult to land strikes on their opponent as compared to Taekwondo fighters. By this event, many weak, as well as strong points of different martial arts, were found. However, the fighting tournament was won by Royce Gracie by defeating Gerard Gordeau via submission (rear-naked choke).

Royce Gracie belongs to Brazil and in there he used the fighting style known as Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu or BJJ. After the tournament, not only UFC but BJJ also became very popular and was discussed a lot among the people. Television critic Howard Rosenberg used the term Mix Martial Art or MMA when he reviewed the UFC 1. The term gained more popularity when newfullcontact.com, one of the largest sports websites of that time republished the article.

Aftermath Of UFC-1

After that, everyone is just crazy about them. Moreover, even the UFC owners played a pretty good game in the field of business. They have invested their money well enough to get themselves some reputed sponsors as well as the T.V channels and reached a dominating stage quickly. Women’s divisions were introduced and more and more people got interested in it. Many other organizations of Mix Martial Art like Pride Fighting Championship or PFC and One Championship were also formed but UFC always dominated and still dominating the world of MMA and MMA promotions.

Rules and Regulations

Well, the rules of Mix Martial Art have changed a lot after UFC 1. Many people have doubts in their minds. They have one common question. Are MMA and UFC the same thing? The answer is hell no. MMA is a sport while UFC is an organization for the promotion of that sport. UFC promotes and organizes various MMA events.  Different organizations got different rules but we will discuss the basic rules which every organization has to follow.

• The fighters will fight either on an octagonal cage or in a ring of definite dimensions.
• Different weight divisions are there. The number of divisions depends on the organization itself. There is a title or championship for particular weight divisions.
• Nowadays almost all organizations use the same dress codes. i.e shorts, finger cut fighting gloves. No head-gears or shoes are allowed during fights. Earlier there is not any definite attire. The fighters can wear traditional attires from their fighting styles.

Victory can be gained by the following methods:

• Knockout (K.O)- It is a condition where a fighter gets knocked down unconscious by its opponent with legal strikes and can no longer able to continue the fight. The K.Os are of two types- Normal K.O and Technical K.O where the fighter is not unconscious but is in a state of losing consciousness or in a state where he or she cannot defend from the opponent’s blow.
• Submission- A fighter may admit its defeat by tapping out on the ground or opponent’s body or by tapping verbally.
• Unanimous decision: The judges decide the points if there is not any submission or K.O at the end of the fight.

The above mentioned are the most common winning ways. However, there are other ways also like forfeit, disqualification, doctor stoppage and corner stoppage.

Time limit:

There is a fixed amount of time set for a fight. Furthermore, the amount of time depends on different weight classes. The time limit also depends upon the organizing committee.

Restrictions:

However, there were several restrictions for a player. If the player uses illegal moves or fails to follow the rules then the referee will give warnings. The third warning results in the disqualification of the player.

• No Eye-gouging, biting, scratching, groin attacks, choking.
• No grabbing of opponent’s short.
• Hitting your opponent with the pointed end of the elbow is prohibited.
• A player cannot kick his or her opponent when grounded (however, in some MMA events it is allowed but in major events like UFC, it is forbidden).
• No headbutting.
• Knee to the face of a grounded opponent is illegal.

Thank you very much for giving your precious time to read this article. For more such interesting facts about other martial arts, visit:

• Golden Rules to Win Street Fights
• Capoeira- The Most Controversial Martial Art
• All About Martial Arts
• MMA Vs Boxing | Which One is Better? | Traditional Boxing Vs Modern MMA