One of the oldest sports is considered a fistfight. Even in ancient history in the era of the ancient Greeks during the Olympics athletes competed in the pankration, which is how they called their fist fighting competitions. Fist fights in a modern understanding are mixed martial arts or MMA (Mix Martial Arts), and not boxing, as the two are often confused.
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Since the antique times MMA lost its glory and popularity. Is place was taken by what e now perceive a traditional boxing, kick-boxing, judo, taekwondo, and other types of martial arts. For a long time MMA was in the shade. Each country had its own martial art as close to the current mixed martial arts as possible. In such a way in the third decade of the 20th century in Brazil appeared contests such as the Vale Tudo (from Portuguese literally “everything is allowed”) (Merlino, 2015). Then the representatives of the Jiu-Jitsu Braziliero Carlos and Helio Gracie invited anyone who wanted to come and compete in sparring, where all moves and techniques will be allowed. Later the descendants of Heliio Gracie preserved this tradition and it became known as the "Gracie challenge" (Penn, Cordoza & Krauss, 2007).
In turn, something similar to modern MMA was in England and was called a Bartitsu duel, in Japan - Karate Goju-ryu, in the USSR - Sambo. One of the founders of the current mixed martial arts is rightly considered as Bruce Lee, who in the 60s worked out the philosophy of combat called "Jeet Kune Do". The main principle of Jeet Kune Do is the ability to successfully adapt to any style opponent (Merlino, 2015).
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Now, the question, "What is more effective Boxing or Judo?" could be answered directly in the ring. Everyone could protect his own style in the battle and show its pros and cons. Thu in 1976, a professional fighter Antonio Inoki invited Muhammad Ali to fight in MMA. However, two days prior to the fight a restriction was introduced, which significantly influenced the outcome of the meeting – Inoki was allowed to throw out kicks, only if the knee of his other leg touches the floor. But even with this innovative restriction the Japanese managed to penetrate Ali’s defense with low kicks. The fight ended in a draw, as Inoki for almost the entire fight remained on the floor of the ring, and Mohammed, in turn, was careful not to come up close to the opponent (Merlino, 2015).
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The first serious step toward the popularization of mixed martial arts was made in 1993. Then the first Ultimate Fighting Championship tournament (UFC) has been organized. Participants of the event were representatives of different schools of martial arts such as boxing, kick-boxing, karate, sumo, jiu-jitsu, etc (Penn, Cordoza & Krauss, 2007). The tournament winner was to receive a $50 thousand USD prize. To the surprise of viewers, the winner was Royce Gracie, inferior to all his opponents in height and weight. Gracie won all the fights with the pain technique, little known at the time. Subsequently Royce has won two more UFC tournaments, that widely popularized his jiu-jitsu. This kind of martial art even now remains as one of the key components of MMA fighter preparation and training.
The first tournaments were real fistfights without rules. They had no restrictions, there was no weight classes, there was no mandatory uniforms for the athletes. It was a bloodbath, which was attended by the most confident, or the craziest fighters. Over time, due to the criticism of society and to enhance the safety of athletes, organizers began to introduce rules prohibiting certain techniques and hits into certain parts of the body (Penn, Cordoza & Krauss, 2007).
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MMA as a Sport and Business
Currently, mixed martial arts is one of the fastest growing sports. This is evidenced by indicators of sales of paid broadcasts of fights, growing number of athletes engaged, and sale of goods related to MMA (Merlino, 2015). Currently in the world there are so many organizations that conduct battles on the rules of mixed martial arts. However, the most powerful, influential, rich and popular organization, unconditionally, is the UFC. UFC president is Dana White.
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With all of its reputation as a "bloody sport", mixed martial arts are less dangerous sport than boxing. In the history of MMA fights only four times the pankration ended fatally, at the same time half of these fights was not sanctioned by the authorized organizations. It is worth noting that one of the most famous deaths in MMA fighting occurred in Ukraine. In 1998, the American Douglas Dedge died 2 days after taking part in an unsanctioned rally in Kiev (Merlino, 2015).
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For comparison, according to the popular Internet edition of “The Journal of Combative Sport” during the same period (from 1993 year) as a result of boxing bouts, died 71 people, with an average of nearly 4 deaths per year.
What is the reason mixed martial arts became more popular than boxing? First of all, there are only 9 UFC weight classes. Boxing has 17! Second, the UFC can have only one champion in his weight class. Unlike boxing, the UFC does not have 5-6 zone world champion, as well as titles of "regular champion", "champion on vacation", "silver Champion", etc. The UFC has a champion whom everyone want to fight with, as he is the only person with the championship belt.
Third, the fights in the UFC are organized by one person - it's Dana White. Situations in which promoters or fighters cannot agree simply does not exist. There is only the word of the president, and it is the law. In turn, we must pay tribute to White, because he is not playing games, but assigns those fights that viewers want to see. Dana does not care for his champions, meaning he does not influence the outcome of the bout or is trying to give the belt to someone stronger. He is not satisfied with a dull show and does not protect his favorites. The best UFC athletes fight with the best and that is the beauty of this sport (Merlino, 2015).
Everything is back to square one. If "big bosses" of boxing will not change their views on the way to hold a boxing tournament, if boxing will not return to being a competition, if we do not see athletes fights of the best with the best, in no later than 10 years, the popularity of boxing will be equal to the popularity of MMA of the 90s. The spectacular mixed martial arts have turned from a marginal sport into the main contender for professional boxing, leading to an equal match for the audience and paying their champions, millions of dollars in fees. Muscular athletes get a lot of money for which they in different ways try to beat their own kind on the ring. This extreme occurs exclusively in the ring or in the cage, where the MMA fights are held, which used to be called the most notorious fights without rules.
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Recently, the MMA has become registered on the world's leading sports channels – FoxSports, Showtime, NBC and SpikeTV. Aggressive fighters in thin gloves on their hands, apply the most stringent techniques against their opponents with punches and kicks, and in terms of spectacle surpass the heavyweight division of professional boxing. Boxing Promoters are forced think seriously think about the figures of TV ratings. Thus, according to research a boxing match between Wladimir Klitschko and the Russian Alexander Povetkin on HBO watched a total of 1.239 million subscribers. Around the same time, the final of the Ultimate Fighter MMA live on Fox Sports gathered an audience of 1.129 million viewers (Merlino, 2015).
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Out of the Cage
Paul Varelans, a six-foot 44-year-old American from the lost in Alaska Fairbanks, in the second half of the 1990s was known as the Polar Bear. Now he is a former MMA star and prefers to respond to his real name. However, the 145-pound ex-fighter admits that he has only recently ceased to have dreams at night about entering the cage to start the next battle (Merlino, 2015).
At the time, the opponent to the creation of the UFC, as well as formal recognition of mixed martial arts in the US, was the famous American Senator John McCain, who called MMA "animal activities". However, when Lorenzo Fertitta, owner of several casinos and hotels in Las Vegas, as well as the owner of Zuffa - the company managing UFS, took to the development of the business component of MMA in America, McCain changed his temper justice with mercy.
Analysts say that, thanks to connections and personal acquaintances in political circles in Washington and the strong financial resources Fertitta was able to deploy the authorities' attitude to the “Bloodsport” 180° around. If in the 1990s fighting without rules resembled amateur brutal fights in unsanitary conditions, today the sport is becoming to grow over with more respectable features. Modern unified rules of mixed martial arts are very strict and contain a lot of bans on cruel techniques such as kicks to the head of a downed opponent, which the participants of the notorious fights of the last century or a life-and-death situation could enjoy quite legitimately.
But recently the majority of men did not have enough money to regularly fly around the world and fight in various tournaments. Today we are witnessing how the world of mixed martial arts (MMA) is becoming more international and multicultural. The contracts at UFC fighters are from all over the world. For a quality "brawl" in the world of mixed martial arts people pay serious money. Contracts with the top fighters in the UFC suggest a par with a fixed fee and also a percentage of the money received from the sale promotion of television rights. Accordingly, in order to promote the fighting, athletes make blood ooze from the nose of their opponent which in every way warms up interest towards in them (Merlino, 2015).
They begin with a daily update on social networks for news from their training camps and at the end it has become almost mandatory to exchange a few harsh words with the future opponent being on the verge of insults the so called trash-talk (Merlino, 2015). Good knowledge of the language in the MMA is considered almost as important a skill as to work with one’s fists. For example, the American middleweight Chael Sonnen, a former contender for the UFC heavyweight title is almost perfect in his trashtalking (Sonnen, 2013).
"Yo, Wanderlei, I will break into your house at night. You will hear my steps when I climb the stairs wearing night-vision goggles - Sonnen decided to shock his opponent before the fight with the Brazilian Wanderlei Silva. - The next sound that you hear is the gnashing of breaking of the locks to the bedroom and the camera flash, shoot you and Nogueira brothers [also famous Brazilian fighters] involved in Jiu-Jitsu in the same bed. "
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The Zuffa company does not trade in the stock market for its shares and remains closed in regard to the information on its financial income. But Fertitta said that the largest total fee, which its structure ever paid a UFC fighter on the results of only one battle, is $ 5 million. For comparison: approx. the same amount was equal to the fee for Povetkin's last bout with Klitschko.
"We did not earn money until 2007 - only invested (in the organization of the UFC tournament), - claims Fertitta. - It was only six years ago (the interview was made in 2012) that the efforts have start to pay off. Let us remember that boxing is about 100 years old. There big fights have been arranged for decades. Is not it amazing how we really have risen in such a short time?" (UFC, 2012)
MMA has transformed from a marginal sport into a professional one in many ways due to the contribution of the fans. Joe Rogan, the famous American sports commentator, in recent years has become one of the symbols of UFC tournaments. "Fans are buying T-shirts depicting the fighters, paying for broadcasts of tournaments by the pay-per-view system and, in the end, fill the arena, buying tickets," - says Rogan (UFC, 2012).
Experts call MMA an uncompromising business: here every athlete must constantly sell himself from the position of the entertainment of battle, and exceptional behavior. The retired athlete Varelans argues that, woud he be on the ring today, he would have made sure to promote his name – he would have organized a release of specialized athletes’ equipment under its own brand and opened several gyms (Merlino, 2015).
"Monetization of their name in reality is successfully managed by only a few MMA fighters, - notes Helvani. - It requires competent advisers and the appropriate mindset. Perhaps in the future, when MMA earnings will finally stand on a par with boxing, UFC fighters will each, by themselves or their name, will attract investors and big money (UFC, 2012).
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ММА rules
According to the rules of most professional organizations the bout last three rounds of five minutes, in the title fights the number of rounds is increased to five. Bites, kicks to the groin, throat, back of the head and spine, butting into the eye, the capture and manipulation of small joints (eg, hands, fingers), fish hooking, finger attack or pressure of vulnerable places, such as the ears, mouth, nostrils with the intention to break the tissue are all prohibited (Merlino, 2015). The bout is decided by voluntary surrender: a fighter clearly taps out with an open hand or fingers on the mat or the opponent. Verbal renting is also permissible. Knockout (KO): the fighter is unconscious as a result of the permitted stroke. And a technical knockout (TKO): stopped by a third party as a result of the loss by the fighter of the ability to continue (Merlino, 2015).
Clothes and Equipment for MMA
In order to participate in the bout the fighters are required to have good equipment for MMA. Instead of boxing gloves mitts with open fingers are used in MMA. From clothes only shorts are allowed to exclude tricks with the "strangulation of the jacket lapel" and minimize the benefits of any fighters. Equipment is available in specialized stores. There you can buy different clothes, and sports equipment for MMA: MMA gloves, MMA bandages, leg and foot protection, shorts for MMA training and any other protection.
Technique
Two main strategies are highlighted in MMA fight: shock technique - when the athlete employs blows of the limbs, and wrestling - when the athlete uses throws, grappling, submission techniques. Physical training of MMA athletes varies in different clubs, but the basis is the combination of aerobic exercise and high-speed exercise, strength training. Hybrid styles - these are the styles of combat, where there is a combination of a small number of techniques that allow the athlete to use their strengths. These styles include dirty boxing, ground-and-pound, grappling (Merlino, 2015).
Tactics of dirty boxing use the clinch to prevent the enemy to move away, while the strike and attempts to take the fight to the ground follow. This tactic is often used by fighters, using mainly percussion techniques and Thai boxers.
Ground-and-Pound uses the method of binding the legs, and establishment of the main positions on the ground and attacking the opponent. Ground-and-pound is often carried out before attempting a painful admission.
Grappling is a struggle with painful and suffocating receptions, as well as a strategy to minimize impacts, rapid translation of fight to the ground and the use of painful, strangling techniques.
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Self Defense
In view of current development of humanity, people are more turning their gaze on the need for self-defense and martial arts are becoming an increasing favorite option and solution. People go for different choices:
Aikido is a type of Japanese martial arts, based on the control of the enemy's force through the application of unbalance and painful impact on the joints o the opponent. Requirements to the level of physical fitness are from low to moderate, but doing aikido, you can be sure it's a huge advantage for spiritual development (Penn, Cordoza & Krauss, 2007).
Karate is another Japanese trend in the martial arts, which is a balanced use of protective techniques, punches and kicks. Karate has a beneficial effect on the development of a healthy cardiovascular system, strength and flexibility. Like most martial arts, you can choose whether to participate in competitions or train simply for fun. In this martial arts type there are forms of soft and hard schools, but as a rule, karate is a hard kind of martial arts.
Kickboxing - this sport is almost devoid of eastern aureole. In fact - this is boxing combined with kicks. Very often boxers are instructors in the sport (Penn, Cordoza & Krauss, 2007). Kickboxing classes are held in an intensive mode, jump rope, beat your arms and legs against heavy bags, and only then fighting in the ring. You must be prepared for the fact that very soon you will have to endure the blows to the head, thigh, into the body. There are, however, soft varieties of kickboxing in which the degree of contact is limited. Much more common are different versions, in which the winner is the one who beats faster and stronger (Merlino, 2015).
Taekwondo is a Korean form of martial arts, teaching the person to rely on the technique of punches and kicks, where kicks are given more attention. After receiving the status of an Olympic sport, many instructors prefer to consider training as continuous training for competitions. That is why this type may be of interest to young people, full of sporting ambition (Merlino, 2015). Well-designed rules of bouts, rugged protective equipment, especially in the direction of the WTF, is highly attractive for girls. Often parents bring children to Taekwondo clubs and are right - this type, because of its "sportiness" and security, is best suited to children.
Mixed Martial Arts as we have said, this is neither a Japanese, nor Korean, nor Chinese martial arts. It is a synthetic form of martial arts, which includes a variety of techniques. You can learn kicks, punches, throws, painful receptions, foundations of low ground fighting (Merlino, 2015). A variety of techniques will depend not on the school name, but exclusively on the skills and knowledge of your instructor. Such skills, no doubt, will help you get out with honor from a number of critical situations (Penn, Cordoza & Krauss, 2007).
All of the above can effectively be used for self-defense. However, in order to be prepared for anyone’s assault, we must also consider the fact that they might also be trained. Thus being trained in mixed martial arts is the only viable solution for personal safety.
