A SPORT that consists in the regulated hand to hand combat of 2 athletes trained in various forms of martial arts. An MMA Fighter is an athlete who trains himself to learn and use the best techniques from different martial arts (Muay Thai, Karate, Jiu Jitsu, Judo, Wrestling, Boxing, and Sambo) and conditions himself with the best strength and conditioning methods to enter the octagon or cage and compete against another athlete under similar conditions to see who the best is. At the end of the bout, the athlete who learnt the most techniques and was able to apply them correctly and was better conditioned will prevail. That to me is a SPORT. Similar to football, were the NFL athletes have to study playbooks, conditioned themselves, come up with a game plan and apply their knowledge on the field to win a game, MMA athletes do the same to win a bout. Today it would be ignorant to think otherwise, MMA is a Sport and has become a lifestyle as well. Clothing lines, training gear, training facilities, nutrition are all now part of the sport culture.
Now like anything else, it is important to know where it came from. We all know that we have many different styles of martial arts out there: Muay Thai, Karate, Jiu Jitsu, Judo, Wrestling, Boxing, Sambo, Kickboxing, Kung Fu, etc. even those crazy big guys - Sumo. These styles have fought against their own members, but no one ever thought of putting them to the test against other styles. Not until the Gracie family brought the UFC, Ultimate Fighting Championship to the USA. Although we have to mention that before The Ultimate Fighting Championship, as early as the 1920?s, there have been Vale Tudo matches in Brazil and some other parts of the world. But never until the UFC clearly shown martial art style vs. martial art style to determine which one was the most effective. In the early days of the Octagon, you could easily see that a Boxer would go against an opponent who was a Karate master or a Kung fu expert Or a man weighting 250lbs go against one weighting 170lbs. This was the early days of the UFC where the Gracie family showed that Jiu Jitsu was the best martial art style to know by winning 3 of the first 4 UFC tournaments. Although, in my personal opinion, it would have been a little different if Bruce Lee had been around or maybe even happened sooner. Not saying he would have defeated Royce, but even though he was older when the UFC came around something tells me he would have gotten involved somehow or even had a protégé compete. Bruce Lee in his days was the first one to talk about MMA by insisting that a fighter should be well rounded, know a little bit from every style and how to defend it. He developed techniques to fight standing as well as some ground and submission techniques. That is why he used to say he could defend any style.
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Here is where the reality kicks in: only those who master different styles of fighting, both stand-up and ground techniques, close-up and long striking techniques, would be become successful, long term, inside an Octagon. Fighters realized that they couldnt compete just knowing one style and then: Boom! - That is where MMA comes in. Mixed Martial Arts. You had to be a great kick boxer, judo, boxer, Kung Fu, to be successful. Initially, most fights were fought standing up, except the ones involving Jiu Jitsu fighters. Nowadays, fights can end on both ways because everyone is aware of every aspect of the game.
