I’m sure we’ve all heard about jujutsu, sumo, kickboxing, judo, wrestling and boxing and categorized as a part of martial arts. What happens though when you put a jujutsu fighter against a boxer? Or maybe a sumo wrestler against Judo black belter? What rules will be implemented? To find out, mixed martial arts was born.
Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is a full combat sport that uses a variety of fighting techniques taken from different kinds of martial arts without the use of any weapons.. It is becoming more and more popular as it allows fighters to be more diverse in their fighting techniques and use a wide range of skills instead of just sticking to one. This sports is rather new and the first MMA competition was in 1993 with the founding of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and contestants of different martial art skills fought against each other with minimum rules for safety. Much has changed from that time, players are now required to wear MMA gloves safety for example which protects the fists in punches, reduce the occurrence of cuts and encourage the use of the hands . Elbow and knee pads are also used for amateurs.
The days when MMA was considered as a barbaric, bloody, fight to the death and downright dangerous sport are gone with the implementation of rules including the introduction of weight classes which ensure that fighters only fight with those in their weight-range making the matches more competitive. MMA gloves also vary depending on fighter’s skill and levels- amateurs are required to wear 6ib gloves whereas most pros only use 4lbs gloves which give little protection. Just how do referees determine a winner when players are of different martial arts?
As in boxing, a fighter is declared the winner when his opponent is declared unconscious or knocked-out (KO) whereby the fight is then stopped to avoid further injury as MMA allows ground fighting. Submission is another means of declaring a winner and can be determined by a physical (Tap) on the opponents mat or the floor or a verbal announcement of defeat. The referee also has the authority to stop a match during these three cases:
• A fighter appears to have a severe injury
• A fighter becomes unconscious from a hold or strike
• A fighter becomes so dominant that the opponent can’t defend himself and is taking much damage.
A doctor may also stop the match if the fighter suffers a serious injury and his safety is at risk. The fighter’s corner may also declare defeat by throwing in the towel in between rounds. These safety measures have made MMA not just as a brutal pastime but as a spots with rules, laws and precautions, severe injury is seldom and MMA is recognized as a sport. Along with this evolution comes the revised different penalties are imposed such as disqualification from competitions
Mixed martial arts has definitely changed modern kinesiology, testing various styles and their effectiveness and making fighters improve their techniques greatly,