Martial Arts Spotlight: Origins of Mixed Martial Arts

Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a competitive sport in which fighters use a variety of techniques to overcome opponents, with minimal rules and restrictions in place to impede the action. Unlike other martial arts competitions, which focus on a fighter's mastery of one form, mixed martial arts tournaments are based on a fighter's mastery of multiple forms and his or her ability to switch seamlessly between them.

Featuring slogans like "as real as it gets" and "no-holds-barred," these brutal competitions are more popular today than ever before. Pay-per-view broadcasts of MMA tournaments such as Pride and the Ultimate Fighting Championship are watched by millions, turning the fighters who participate in them into superstars.

Some say the primary goal of MMA practice is to determine the most useful fighting techniques for hand-to-hand combat or self-defense on the streets--to see if a kickboxer can dominate a wrestler, or if a wrestler can take down a boxer. But others have doubts about MMA's real-world effectiveness. They argue that some elements of MMA fighting, such as the common tactic of "going to the ground" with an opponent, are much more dangerous and difficult to pull off in a street fight than they are within the safe confines of a well-padded gym.

At Blue Snake Books we encourage fighters and fans alike to get back to the origins of mixed martial arts by learning more about the individual arts that fighters use to defeat their opponents. Close study of the individual arts is the basis for a comprehensive understanding of how to use each art effectively in mixed competition.

Background

Though the history of these contests dates back to ancient Greece, their current reemergence can be traced to the vale tudo (anything goes) booth matches in Brazilian circuses in the early 1900s. Vale tudo owes its popularity to the Gracie family of Brazil, who popularized the sport throughout the first half of the 20th century.

Gastão Gracie, a Scottish businessman, moved to Brazil in 1901, where he befriended fellow immigrant Mitsuyo Maeda. Maeda, a Judo champion, offered to teach the sport to Gastão's son Carlos, and after years of intensive study, Carlos commenced teaching Judo to his siblings. In 1925 Carlos and his younger brother Helio moved to Rio de Janeiro and opened a Jiu-Jitsu academy.

In order to popularize their new academy, the Gracies issued the "Gracie Challenge," in which they claimed they could defeat any competitor in a vale tudo match. These matches drew widespread attention from Capoeristas, boxers, and other martial artists seeking to prove themselves better fighters than the Gracies. The "Gracie Challenge" might be called the beginning of mixed martial arts as we know it today. Because the Gracies were practicing a Japanese art in Brazil, they did not feel bound to any strict form, and adapted it in many ways. Eventually, this led to the development of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, foreshadowing the usage of multiple martial arts by contemporary fighters.

Though vale tudo enjoyed widespread popularity in Brazil starting in the 1950s and 60s, it took the emigration of Helio's son Rorion to the United States in the 1980s for the sport to gain the international notoriety it has today. In 1993 Rorion Gracie, with the help of several American investors, founded the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), the United States' first professional mixed martial arts organization. The UFC presented bouts in a pay-per-view format, viewed by hundreds of thousands of fans.

Despite the consistently increasing popularity of the UFC throughout the 1990s, many felt that the sport was "barbaric" or lacked credibility. Some people, including Senator John McCain, pressured several states to ban the sport outright, and by the end of 1997 some pay-per-view channels had dropped it from their programming.

In 2001, the sport reemerged largely as a result of a new set of regulations on MMA fighting, The Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts Combat, as well as a new league structure that was added to the UFC. The new rules established weight classes, prohibited certain types of blows to the head and groin, and allowed referees to end matches if they felt conscious fighters could no longer intelligently or effectively defend themselves. These newly implemented rules have legitimized mixed martial arts and contributed to the explosion in popularity of the sport.

Suggested Titles

Today's top mixed martial artists are not like traditional martial arts masters, spending an entire lifetime perfecting a single art. Instead, they study many different martial arts techniques in order to be effective when standing as well as when on the ground. Mixed martial artists consider the widely divergent disciplines of boxing, wrestling, kickboxing, Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and Judo to be the primary forms to master.

Some Blue Snake Books titles of interest to mixed martial arts fighters and fans include:

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Basic Techniques

Eight-time world champion and senior teacher in the Gracie School of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Fabio Gurgel reveals the most effective method to master this powerful martial art for confident self-defense and dominant competitive form. Includes an extensive practical technique sections, showing how to utilize strikes, holds, locks, throws, and evasions. He also unfolds the mental techniques of Jiu-Jitsu that have made him an eight-time world champion, teaching how to achieve self-confidence, self-esteem, stress relief, and to increase the ability to focus.

Muay Thai Basics: Introductory Thai Boxing

Muay Thai, also referred to as Thai boxing, combines fitness training, self-defense, and competitive sport. In this hands-on guide, renowned trainer Christoph Delp presents the sport's history, development, rules, and equipment. In the techniques section, he first details basic skills such as the correct starting position and footwork. Next he offers a complete list of all the attacking techniques and a selection of effective defensive and counterattacking strategies.

Judo in the U.S.: A Century of Dedication

Commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the United States Judo Federation, this volume traces the more than 100-year history of judo practice in America. The authors begin with a comprehensive survey of Japan's classical disciplines, which sets the foundation for understanding what judo is and what it means to the people who practice it.

Kickboxing

This comprehensive training manual features all the information needed for a successful start in kickboxing, right up to winning the match in the ring. Author Christoph Delp, an expert fitness coach and an experienced kickboxing and Muay Thai trainer, begins by describing kickboxing's history, development, and rules. The technical section explains all of the attacking techniques, as well as important defense and feinting skills.

Additional Reading:

NBC Pokes CBS In the Eye, Which Is Legal In Mixed Martial Arts, Apparently

NBC orders mixed martial arts

Mixed Martial Arts: Ultimate Sport, or Ultimately Illegal?