NEWS
MMA (mixed martial arts) is one of the world's fastest growing sports and is one of the most dynamic and exciting full contact combat sports on the planet. Mixed martial arts is essentially a sport in which fighters of any martial discipline, such as boxing, karate, jiu jitsu, wrestling and judo compete under rules that allow kicking, punching and grappling techniques, both stand-up and on the ground.
It is usually fought in a cage which is a fighting area enclosed by metal fencing, a traditional boxing ring or in amateur competitions, sometimes a simple matted area is used.
Such fighting has gone on for many years and can be traced as far back as ancient Greece where a sport known as Pankration was popular which was a combat sport that featured range of grappling and striking techniques. Similar styles of combat have existed throughout the ages but none have ever attracted worldwide attention until the advent of the Championship in the USA in 1993.
Pitting fighters of different martial arts styles against each other, it was a TV hit and began to popularise the sport of MMA across the world. Today the UFC is MMA’s largest promotion, has fight nights across the globe and is worth several billion dollars.
There is no one governing body for MMA and there is no uniform set of rules that are used the world over, and many of the hundreds of different federations, promotions and associations across the globe may all have slightly differing takes on MMA rules.
However, several state commissions across the United States of America came together to create the rules and this set of rules has been adopted by fighting promotions all across the globe, including the Ultimate Fighting Championship. By far the most widely used MMA rulebooks, even those promotions that don’t subscribe to them will almost certainly use a close variation of them.
The object of the sport is to defeat your opponent utilising striking, throwing and grappling techniques. Although in the early years of MMA and particularly the UFC fighters tended to concentrate on one martial art and tended to be solely strikers and grapplers, nowadays most fighters recognise the need to cross-train to be successful in MMA.
That means fighters will often have a base style such as Brazilian Jiu Jitsu but will also incorporate wrestling, thai boxing and western boxing training to give them an all round fight game. Such a mix of styles in which you take the strengths of each is essential to being successful in modern MMA and consistently winning matches.
MMA is contested by two people in a cage or a ring. It is generally thought of as an adult only sport but there are more and more juniors training in MMA and they compete in competitions. However, because MMA can be a dangerous sport, matches are generally not full contact, strikes to the face are not allowed and nor are any forms of joint locks that could be dangerous to growing bones. In adult competition, the following weight classes apply:
The ring/cage used in MMA must be between 20 square feet and 32 square feet.
Because mixed martial arts is the ultimate one-on-one combat sport, no other equipment is used apart from MMA gloves, lightweight padded gloves that allow movement of the fingers whilst also protecting the hands when punching.
In mixed martial arts matches, scoring is done in the same way as many other combat sports such as boxing. Three judges sit around the ring and score each round, giving the winner of the round in their judgement 10 points and the loser 9 points. In rounds where there is a clear winner, the loser may only receive 8 points.
If the match lasts the whole duration then the judges scorecards are added up and the winner announced. If the judges scorecards indicate that both scores are equal, then the match is declared a draw.
MMA matches can be won in one of a number of ways:
Attacks that are not allowed in MMA include:
Fights can be won in a number of ways:
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