Mixed martial arts
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mixed martial arts (or MMA) is a sport where two people fight to see which one is dominant.
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[edit] Rules
Unlike other fighting sports like boxing, MMA fights have few rules and fighters can use any martial art they like in the fight. In these fights, fighters can fight standing with punches, kicks and other strikes, in a clinch where fighters are grabbing each other while standing, or on the ground. Each fighter will try to defeat the other either by submission, or knock out. Each fight can last only for a period of time, after the time ends, judges decide who is the winner. The referee in the fight will make sure no one gets hurt too badly and that rules are followed.
[edit] History of the Mixed Martial Arts
The pankration was an old style of unarmed combat. The ancient Greeks introduced this sport into the Olympic Games in the 648 BC. Some public fights took place at the end of the 19th century. They represented different styles of fighting, including jujutsu, wrestling, Greco-Roman wrestling and others in competitions and challenges across Europe. After World War I, wrestling was born again in two main flows. The first flow was real competition; the second flow began to depend more on the choreography and on the grand public shows that resulted in professional wrestling.
Modern mixed martial arts (MMA) has its roots in two kinds of competition: the Brazillian Vale Tudo and Japanese Shootfighting. Vale Tudo began circa 1930, when Carlson Gracie invited every competitor to compete in a fight. That was the so-called "Gracie's Challenge". Later, Hélio Gracie and the Gracie family continued this. In Japan, about 1970, Antonio Inoki organized a series of mixed martial arts fights. They were the forces that produced the Shootwrestling, and they later caused the developing of the first organization of mixed martial arts, known as Shooto. Mixed martial arts obtained great popularity in the United States in 1993, when Rorion Gracie helped create the first UFC event, one of the earliest MMA events in the USA . In 1997, in Japan, the interest for this sport resulted in the creation of the greater organization of mixed martial arts - Pride Fighting Championship.
The Gracie family caused the tournaments, as the UFC, to be well known. It should be noticed that the UFC is the most famous tournament, but the persons who practises Brazilian jiujitsu normally do not use blows. Undoubtedly, the Gracie family played an important role in the creation of open competitions of Vale Tudo and in causing them to be well known through the television. Nevertheless, before anyone created the UFC or Shooto, where the persons who represent every method of self-defense can fight, there had already existed such mixed martial arts as: the jeetkunedo, the kajukembo and the Karate Nisei Goju Ryu.
[edit] Gradual development of the competitors
About the year 1990, three styles were famous for their effectiveness in the competitions of the mixed martial arts: the wrestling, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and the shootwrestling. This can be because of their attention given to the combat by means of holds. Before the year 1990, the promoters organized a lacking amount of the competitions of the mixed martial arts, and some martial arts base on blows. Therefore, probably, most instructors of these arts had given too little attention to the holds.
[edit] The most important competitions of the mixed martial arts on the world
[edit] The United States
- Ultimate Fighting Championship http://www.ufc.tv www.ufc.tv];
- King Of The Cage www.kingofthecage.com;
- International Fighting League www.ifl.tv;
[edit] Japan
- Pride Fighting Championship www.pridefc.com;
- Pancrase;
- Shooto;
- K-1 Hero's.
[edit] Europe
- Cage Rage (The United Kingdom) www.cagerage.tv;
- Cage Warriors (The United Kingdom) www.cagewarriors.com;
- European Vale Tudo (Denmark, Sweden) www.europeanvaletudo.com;
- KO Arena (Spain) www.koarena.com;
- Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki (The Martial Arts Confrontation, Poland) www.konfrontacja.com
[edit] Brazil
- Meca FC;
- Storm Samurai;
- Jungle Fight;
- International Vale Tudo Championship.
