Submission Fighting and MMA
Submission Fighting and MMA
Mixed martial arts, referred to as MMA, are a competitive sparring sport where fighters are allowed to make use of techniques from a variety of martial arts.
It has rules and regulations and has prohibited some techniques to secure the safety of the competitors. As such it is incorrect to refer to MMA as ?no holds barred fighting?. While rules are implemented mixed martial art fighting tries to ensure that most techniques are allowed so that its original concept of determining the most effective fighting techniques in real combat can be realized. Rules differ according to the organization conducting the events.
MMA events are held by organizations like Ultimate Fighting Championship and PRIDE Fighting Championships. There was an attempt to include MMA under the guise of ?pankration? in Athens Olympics in 2004. It did not succeed only because there was some difficulty regarding the capacity at Athens.
Techniques As MMA is a combination of various martial arts its techniques come from both ?hard? and ?soft? martial arts. It contains striking techniques using hands, feet, and knees, as well as grappling techniques like clinching, pinning, submission holds, throwing, joint locking, sweeping and take downs .
Some of the techniques prohibited by recognized MMA organizations include, biting, fish hooking, eye gouging, manipulating small joints, and striking at groin. Some techniques are allowed by some organizations while others prohibit them. These include strikes using elbows, head butting, and spinal locks.
It must be noted that there has never been a death or a crippling injury in mixed martial art fighting in United States.
Fights are conducted within a limited period of time. Fights are stopped before the period by, knockout, submission, by referee or fight doctor in the event of injury that makes competitor unfit for the fight, and by throwing in the towel by the cornerman. Winner is decided by judges.
MMA fighting can be divided into three phases; Stand up fighting, Clinch fighting, and Ground fighting.
Submission Fighting Widely used in MMA submission fighting involves getting the opponent to the ground by throwing or a takedown, establishing a dominant position on the ground by grappling and striking the opponent, and finally obtaining victory by applying a submission hold.
Fighters trained in martial arts like wrestling, Brazilian JuJutsu, Judo, or Sambo are adept in submission fighting techniques. This gives them an advantage in MMA and they prefer to go to a ground fighting position. In order to reach ground fighting phase they are sometimes willing to be at the bottom position there. So they use such tactics as ?guard pulling? in which the fighter pulls the opponent to the ground from a guard position. Such is their confidence in their mastery of submission techniques. Martial art practitioners with techniques for submission fighting generally had an advantage in MMA matches. However other fighters coming from martial arts with background in stand up fighting and striking have started to evolve strategies like sprawl-and-brawl so as to avoid takedowns in order to win matches. Modern MMA fighting strategies that have developed in order face reality of MMA combat include Sprawl-and-brawl, Clinch-and-pound, and Ground-and-pound. Suitability of each strategy depend on the martial art on which fighter is trained.
History Ancient Olympic Games included pankration, a form of unarmed combat with minimal set of rules. From nineteenth century various events were organized where recognized fighters from different disciplines were matched together, for instance boxing champions with Greco- Roman wrestlers. Several no holds barred competitions were also held.
Before professional wrestling came to be identified with staged fights for entertainment value, some professional wrestling matches were organized with minimal restrictions. These bouts where the fighters actually fought were called ?shoot? wrestling. Some of these became international events. First mixed martial arts organizations descend from these. One of the first formed in Japan in 1985 is called Shooto.
Bruce Lee?s theories concerning Jeet Kune Do, also contributed to MMA development. Lee believed that all the extras accumulated in various martial arts should be discarded in order to discover the most effective fighting techniques that will achieve victory in real combat. He borrowed from a variety of arts to improve Jeet Kune Do.
First Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) held in 1994 received widespread publicity and helped popularize the sport.