MMA (what it is... yo)

For a year now i have been interested in watching Mixed Martial Arts on T.V., preferably UFC, because they have the most skilled fighters. Being a Martial Artist myself, and never having had the oportunity to test my skills, i found myself entertaining the thought of learning MMA and fighting locally. This thought was even more provoked when my friend's older brother started fighting Muay Thai. I was hopeful that maybe when i went to college i would be able to find some sort of fighting sport to become a part of.

However, as lucky as i am, a Tae Kwan Do school here in Cedar Rapids (actually its in marion) is starting an MMA training class. I immediately signed up when i heard about it, and told my friend, who also signed up for the class. As excited as i am, ive been telling my friends that i am going to become an MMA fighter, but most of them dont know what MMA is. So i will now give the best explanation i can, and from now on i will just tell people to read my blog.

First of all, and most importantly: MMA is not a martial art. It is a sport. Muay Thai is a martial art, and jujitsu is a martial art, and many times they are used in MMA. MMA (Mixed Martial Arts, for those of you who are just joining us) is a combination of any martial art you can think of, but there are a handful of dominant ones that are most used in the sport.

The Sport involves two fighters, who fight in a ring (usually a cage), and are not limited to fighting while standing up, but also can fight on the ground. There are only a few limitations on techniques that can be used, and only for the safety of the fighters, for instance, eye gouging. The winner can be determined a number of ways: knockout, technical knockout, submission, ref stoppage, doctor stoppage, or judges decision. The judges decision is used when both fighters make it through all the rounds (usually 3) without losing for any of the above reasons.

Now that you have a basic concept of the rules, let me explain some of the key martial arts used in MMA. The first of which would be boxing. there are a lot of fighters in MMA that have boxing backgrounds. Their Forte is stand-up fighting, and their objective is to either knock out the opponent with a clean punch to the jaw, or win by judges decision. The boxer will usually try to avoid being taken to the ground, and if they are taken to the ground, they are usually in trouble.

Muay Thai is probably even more common than Boxing. It is a Thai form of boxing that uses kicks, elbows, and most importantly Knees. Muay Thai fighters are very simmilar to boxers as far as their abilities in stand up fighting, but can also be devestating if they are on top of their opponent on the ground, where they can rain down fierce elbows, and hopefully get referee stoppage

Wrestling is another sport that affects MMA. many of the skilled ground fighters are often wrestlers, some of the best are even state and national champions from high school. These fighters like to take things to the ground as fast as they can and either submit their opponent or "ground and pound" where they control the opponent and bash their face in against the mat.

Now...Lastly, but most certainly not Least... The king of them all, the martial art that has dominated MMA since its beginnings... Jujitsu, Brazilian Jujitsu. Jujitsu figters are masters of controlling the other persons body. They will take the person to the ground as fast as they can, and then they get to work. The Jujitsu fighter's goal is always to submit the opponent, by twisting their body parts or choking them until they tap out. The jujitsu fighter is possibly the biggest threat to any opponent, and is also the most likely to win a fight wthin the first round.

The most successful fighters are the ones that are not only good at stand-up, but also on their feet. Usually a fighter is skilled in two areas, so that they can accomplish this goal. Sometimes a person may be a Wrestler and a Boxer, or a Muay Thai fighter and Jujitsu fighter. These fighters that are well rounded have the best chance of success. This is what MMA is al about. Balance and options.

There has been some debate over which arts and techniques are better. For the longest time, the Gracie family, the greatest family and teachers of Brazilian Jujitsu in the world, who practically invented jujitsu, argued that their way was the only way. For the longest time this was true. And then came Matt Hughes, who won against many Gracie Jujitsu fighters using Boxing, Wrestling, and ground and pound.

At this point you may be wondering any number of the following questions: what martial arts do you want to specialize in? what about your gung fu and wing chun, will that help you in MMA? are you going to wear tight spandex or loose trunks? Well, there are very few people that use traditional chinese gung fu in MMA, and i probably wont, but the principles behind it will certainly benefit me, such as striking quickly and powerfully along the centerline of the opponent. I would like to learn Jujitsu after a while, and i hope to pick up some from the class i am taking, because i dont want to get my ar** handed to me by some short speedy guy with a black belt in brazilian "i break your arm in too". As far as my choice of lower body wear, i think i will probably go with trunks, but i have always imagined that i would look good in spandex.