Mixed martial arts
Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a term for the combat sport in which two competitors attempt to achieve dominance over one another by utilizing three general tactics: striking, finishing holds, and control. The rules allow the combatants to use a variety of martial arts techniques, including punches, kicks, joint-locks, chokes, and takedowns. Victory is normally gained through knock-out, submission (one fighter concedes victory to the other by tapping the mat or his opponent with his hand), or referee stoppage. The sport gained most of its visibility and popularity in the United States in 1993 when the Ultimate Fighting Championship was started as a proving ground to determine the effectiveness of a wide variety of martial arts, where they could compete against one another with minimal rules.
As a result of these sporting events, martial arts training and the understanding of the combat effectiveness of various strategies have changed dramatically over the last ten years. While the early years included the widest possible variety of styles (everything from Sumo to Karate), modern fighters often train in a mixture of only three styles: Freestyle wrestling (focusing on clinches and takedowns), Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (focusing on submissions and positioning on the ground), and Muay Thai Kickboxing (focusing on striking). These three distinct styles coincide with the "phases of combat" theory, which states that fights can be broken into three distinct phases, each requiring completely different skill sets: stand-up fighting, clinch fighting, and ground fighting. According to the theory, a fighters best strategy is to determine the phase in which he has the greatest advantage over his opponent and then to force the fight to take place in that phase. According to Bruce Lee, the best style is no style. It currently appears that this is mainly correct, in the sense that if you are equally skilled in all phases of combat, you are prepared to take advantage of any weaknesses in your opponent.
MMA is also used to describe any modern style of martial arts which incorporates techniques and theories from several traditional martial arts. This especially applies to MMA styles which incorporate a mixture of ground fighting, stand-up striking, and takedowns in their training.
Well-known examples of MMA organizations are the Ultimate Fighting Championship and Pride Fighting Championships.
Evolution of Fighting Styles
In the early 1990s, two styles stood out for their effectiveness: Wrestling and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Jiu-Jitsu had the early advantage, since wrestlers were not equipped with a way to defeat them standing or on the ground. However, when wrestlers started training in striking, pure Jiu-Jitsu stylists ran into difficulties since they had a hard time taking the fight to the ground and away from their stand-up weaknesses. This represented the first step of evolution towards cross-training. Wrestling eventually branched into two styles described below: "Ground-and-Pound" (wrestlers who prefer fight on the ground) and "Clinch-and-Pound" (wrestlers who prefer fight standing up).
The kickboxers were next to evolve and added grappling skills to their arsenal. In the early days, they could not compete with the grapplers, since they could not avoid the takedowns and had no defense on the ground. After adding ground techniqes to their training, they scored some major upsets, and showed that fighters specializing in striking could be effective in the sport.
Due to its early dominance, BJJ was the last to evolve. Led by the Brazilian Top Team, Wrestling and Muay Thai were added to their training, and Jiu-Jitsu fighters returned to the top ranks of the sport.
Modern Fighting Styles
The following is a breakdown of the different striking styles of modern MMA, their roots and general effectiveness in MMA.
Sprawl-and-Brawl
These are strikers who have trained in both wrestling and submissions to allow them to avoid the fight on the ground and keep the fight standing. It was this style of fighter that began to even the balance in MMA between strikers and grapplers. Although they train in both wrestling and submission, it is highly unlikely that a Sprawl-and-Brawler will look for either a takedown or a submission. Instead, they’ll use their knowledge of grappling for defense, either to defend a takedown or a submission. Typically a Sprawl-and-Brawler will be well-versed in the defensive guard to prevent a grappler from gaining superior position. Most important are the sprawl to avoid takedowns and the ability to explode from the bottom once on the ground to get back to the feet. While these fighters score a lot of knockouts, they need to hold back more than the “Shock-and-Awe” fighters, since they don’t want to leave themselves vulnerable to takedowns. This style of fighter was made out of necessity; MMA was initially dominated almost exclusively by wrestlers and submission artists. Maurice Smith is the undisputed forefather of this style of MMA, and he displayed every essential aspect of it in becoming the heavyweight champion of both Extreme Fighting and Ultimate Fighting.
Examples: Maurice Smith, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, Chuck Liddell, Pedro Rizzo
Clinch-and-Pound (Dirty Boxing)
These are wrestlers that have added in components of the striking game (typically boxing). Although their base is in wrestling and ground control, they are rarely reluctant to throw some leather on the feet. Often, wrestlers that have added the striking game are partial to strikes from within the clinch (particularly Greco Roman wrestlers who have developed a strong clinch game already). Although their striking is noticeably less polished than other varieties of strikers, a Clinch-And-Pounder can typically punch with a good deal of power and has a solid chin to boot. In the case that an exchange on the feet does not go in their favor, they can bring the fight to the ground quickly as their true expertise lies in wrestling, so they are ultimately less timid about trading blows. The striking wrestler came about as a result of the pure wrestler’s relative inability to actually finish a fight. For example, Dan Severn in his first UFC dominated position and controlled all of his fights but always had a great deal of difficulty when it came to actually finishing his opponent. Don Frye was among the first wrestlers to add versatile strikes to his arsenal, but it was Randy Couture’s stunning performance, in which he used dirty boxing to out-strike a superior boxer in Vitor Belfort, that was the true birth of this style of fighter. He was the first to demonstrate that Stand-up and Ground were not the only phases of combat. Through the use of Greco-Roman clinching techniques, he showed that a third phase, the Clinch, was not well understood and could be used to devastate ill-prepared opponents.
Examples: Randy Couture, Dan Henderson, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Don Frye
Ground-and-Pound
This style is for wrestlers well-versed in defending submissions. They take every fight to the ground, maintain a solid top position, and hammer away until their opponent gives up or the judges give them the decision. Although not traditionally considered a conventional method of striking, the effectiveness and reliability (as well as recently-developing science) of this style cannot be denied. Originally most fighters who relied on striking on the ground were wrestlers, but considering how many fights end up on the ground and how increasingly competitive today’s MMA is, strikes on the ground are becoming more and more scientific and technical and essential to a fighter’s training. Mark Coleman ushered in the era of Ground-and-Pound with his brutal takedowns and powerful fists and headbutts. However, modern MMA camps such as Miletich Fighting Systems and AMC Pankration have developed intricate strategies for attacking while on the ground. In recent years fighters who rely on strikes on the ground have adopted techniques such as guard passing and ground control to reach positions more conducive to unleashing punishment. With ground-striking, a fighter can safely deliver damage with far less risk of being reversed or swept than that which accompanies a submission attempt.
Examples: Mark Coleman, Fedor Emelianenko, Takanori Gomi, Matt Hughes, Mark Kerr, Tito Ortiz, Norifumi Yamamoto
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
This style has evolved since the early days and has added takedowns from freestyle wrestling, as well as kickboxing (usually Muay Thai) or boxing. The Brazilian Top Team and Chute Boxe lead the way, with Jiu-Jitsu blackbelts who are excellent strikers as well. While Chute Boxe focuses more on striking and the Brazilian Top Team focus more on submissions, members of either team can finish the fight standing or on the ground. Fighters like Vanderlei Silva, who started out as kickboxers, can be distinguished from Sprawl-and-Brawlers because of the lack of concern about being taken down. Vitor Belfort was the first in the UFC to demonstrate how devastating a Jiu-Jitsu fighter could be, if trained in striking.
Examples: Antonio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira, Murillo Bustamante, Vanderlei Silva, Vitor Belfor, B.J. Penn
The Future
It appears that these styles are converging. Sprawl-and-Brawlers are looking more and more like Dirty Boxers. This appears to suggest that the style of the future is one in which Jiu-Jitsu, Wrestling, and Kickboxing are all equally stressed. A fighter with no preference towards any of the three could choose his attack based solely on the weaknesses of the opponent.
A fighter who most typifies this evolution is BJ "The Prodigy" Penn. Currently, Penn is arguably the best pound for pound MMA fighter in the world, and has shown one of the most well rounded games in the sport.
"Be formless, shapeless, like water... You put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot... Now water can flow, or it can crash, be water my friend." – Bruce Lee
Timeline: (major events of importance)
- September 21st, 1993: Bas Rutten, a Dutch Thai Boxer debuts in the Pancrase organization winning in :43 seconds with a devastating knee to the head.
- November 8th 1993: Maurice Smith makes his debut in the Pancrase organization with a shocking TKO over perennial Pancrase superstar Minoru Suzuki. Along with Rutten, Smith was the first truly successful striking-oriented fighter in MMA.
- November 12, 1993: Rorion Gracie, son of the originator of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, dreams up the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and younger brother Royce is chosen to step in to represent the family style. Despite being outweighed by all of his opponents and facing a tough Ken Shamrock in the semi-finals, Royce surprisingly wins all 3 of his matches easily. The era of BJJ as the ultimate style begins.
- December 16, 1994: Any remaining questions about Royce Gracie's abilities are answered as he faces a 80-pound disadvantage against Greco-Roman wrestler Dan Severn in the finals of UFC 4. After over 15 minutes of apparent domination by the wrestler, Gracie secures choke from underneath with his legs around Severn's neck in a "triangle choke". Severn signals his submission and Gracie's record goes to 11-1 with 11 submissions (his only loss was a no contest second-round match due to dehydration). It appears that BJJ will dominate forever.
- April 7, 1995: In a much anticipated rematch, Royce is unable to duplicate his domination of Ken Shamrock and the match ends in a draw. Shamrock scored a moral victory in that he was the first to successfully shut down the submission attack of BJJ. It became apparent that there was no such thing as an unstoppable submission attack, and that a wrestler who also studies submissions can limit his exposure to a submission attacks.
- September 1st, 1995: Bas Rutten wins his first King of Pancrase title with a submission victory over Minoru Suzuki. The Shock-and-Awe style is born.
- September 8th, 1995: Marco Ruas chops down Paul Varelans with leg kicks. This was the first display of effective leg-kicking in the UFC. By submitting his first opponent with a heel-hook, Ruas also gives a preview of how effective strikers with submission skills can be.
- July 12th, 1996: In his UFC debut, Mark Coleman takes the tournament title with his unique brand of takedowns and punishment on the ground, later dubbed “Ground-and-Pound.” While Frye also struck effectively on the ground, Mark Coleman would create the true starting point for the Ground-and-Pounder.
- October 18th, 1996: Maurice Smith defies the odds and turns the MMA world upside down by surviving on the ground with undefeated BJJ black belt Marcus “Conan” Silveira and then KO’ing the Brazilian late in the fight with a massive kick to the head to win Extreme Fighting heavyweight gold. Smith is the first striking-based fighter to win a major MMA title in America. In contrast to Rutten's submission-oriented style, Smith utilizes the Sprawl-and-Brawl strategy, which is geared completely towards surviving on the ground and forcing a stand-up fight.
- February 7, 1997: Vitor Belfort bursts on to the scene with quick and stunning knock-outs of two opponents.
- July 27th, 1997: Smith again defies the odds, this time against seemingly unstoppable UFC heavyweight champion Mark Coleman. Again pushing the fight into the late minutes after making good use of his defensive guard, Smith takes control to earn a unanimous decision and the UFC heavyweight championship.
- October 17th, 1997: Randy Couture, a Greco Roman wrestler shocks the world by defeating the lightning-fast Vitor Belfort both standing and on the ground. He makes strong use of strikes from within the clinch and dominates Belfort throughout the fight’s duration.
- November 29th, 1997: Frank Shamrock, once thought of as a one-dimensional submission wrestler, knocks out Enson Inoue with strikes while standing to earn his first title shot at the UFC Middleweight Championship. Like Belfort, Frank proves to be a submission artists who can score a K.O. standing.
- December 21, 1997: At the UFC Ultimate Japan show, Kazushi Sakuraba makes his debut by tapping out BJJ technician Marcus "Conan" Silviera, an incredibly rare outcome for a BJJ fighter.
- September 24, 1999: Frank Shamrock is given the fight of his life by a young Tito Ortiz. Frank Shamrock prevails but soon afterwards, Tito would reign as champion while utilizing the Ground-and-Pound style which he along with several others has helped to perfect.
- May 1, 2000: Royce Gracie returns to reclaim the honor of BJJ in no time-limit match with Kazushi Sakuraba. Royce is beaten for the first time and Sakuraba would go on to earn wins against several other Gracies, earning himself the moniker 'The Gracie Killer'.
- September 24, 2001: Antonio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Noguiera dominates Pride GP champion Mark Coleman, finishing him with a combination arm-bar and triangle choke. With his well-rounded striking and grappling skills, "Minotauro" introduces the world to a new and improved Jiu-Jitsu style.
- January 25, 2003: Duane “Bang” Ludwig, after more than a year of no MMA competition, KO’s #1 ranked lightweight Jens Pulver in a little over a minute. It is the first time that a K-1 Max fighter makes a major impact in mixed martial arts.
- March 16, 2003: Fedor Emelianenko is the first Pride fighter to shut down the submission attacks of "Minotauro" Noguiera and earn a decision win. Fedor fights like a Ground-and-Pounder, but later will show excellent submission skills and striking.