My Senior Paper
Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) has been around for many years earliest known fight was Nov12, 1993. MMA insist of hand-to-hand combat to see which mixed martial artist is the best between them to basically see who makes it and who doesn’t. Some people say that some of the first known full contact fighting went down in the Ancient Olympics. The teachings of ancient Greek pankration spread to India do to Alexander the great and his habit of recruiting athletes as soldiers because of their combat skills and combat knowledge. A Buddhist monk traveled through India and picked up on aspects of pankration and brought that knowledge to china, where it birthed martial arts such as kung fu, judo, and karate. As people went into the new lands, they took these arts and built on them, often creating a new style of martial arts. As martial arts spread out, so did the idea of the actual mixed martial arts competitions. Often one martial artist would challenge another mixed martial artist for ultimate bragging rights. These competitions would take place worldwide for several decades, eventually gaining popularity in the United States. Participants in these competitions would learn from their opponents and began to realize that n order to become a better fighter; they must study any combative art form that could give them an edge in the competitions. For instance, if a boxer was matched with a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner, the kick boxer would realize that he must become more adept at defending takedowns, thus prompting him to train with Brazilian Jui-Jitsu fighters. From that point on the competitions were no longer between athletes who focused on a single martial art but between two mixed martial arts athletes. Martial arts grew as a result of man’s desire to become better at combat sports, resulting in a new and different style of fighting growing as a societies and cultures evolved from one another. All traditional martial arts forms and disciplines have had their own mixing of other influence over time. Despite the individualization of martial arts there has always been an inclination to know which form and style of fighting or combat sport is the best. In the 70’s professional wrestlers in Japan began to compete in wrestling matches that became the organized discipline. This discipline formed in 1985 was called shooto. This is an organization and particular fighting system derived from shoot wrestling. Shooto combined theatrical professional wrestling with real combat fighting. Legal techniques include general grappling, chokeholds, joint locks, kicks, knee strikes, punches, takedowns and throws but hits to the face were disallowed. Shooto was aimed at having no predetermined result but had tag team matches and some forms of rules we see in modern professional wrestling like the WWE. At no time in history has there been such a rapid and broad mix of martial arts as there has been in the last 15 years. The quest to become the best on not only their own martial arts but which particular martial arts was the best form of fighting overall. The Gracie family has had the biggest impact on the modern explosion of mixed martial arts with the creation of the Ultimate Fighting Championships and the display of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in 1993, The UFC challenged all types of forms of martial arts and fighters to see which discipline is the best. Royce Gracie and the Gracie family wanted to prove to the world that their martial arts would prevail against all other forms of Martial arts alike, Tae Kwon Do, Karate, Kung Fu, Wrestling and Judo. After the first couple of UFC fights, Gracie Jujtsu was the dominate form of martial arts, However, fighters were not sold on solely training for BJJ. Martial artists started to train for cage matches in multiple forms of martial arts. Four years later the Pride Fighting Championships were created in Japan, the modern mixed martial arts was born as the Japanese showed that BJJ combined with the other form of martial arts could beat traditional Brazilian Jujitsu in a full contact fight. Many of the fighters would take boxing lessons, muay Thai kick boxing classes, jujitsu classes and Greco roman wrestling classes. Today more and more MMA schools are popping up all over the world as they teach multiple forms of styles to create a well-rounded fighter. MMA has grown in popularity day by day. History has shown us that man has always strived to prove who the best is at combat sports.
One of the fighters that really stand out to me is Anderson Silva best known as The Spider. Silva really came up from nothing and now he’s one of the best fighters in the world. Silva’s family was really unable to afford expensive lessons in Brazilian Jui Jitsu early on. Despite this, Silva’s supportive family did find the money to pay for his Tae Kwon Do lessons at the age of 12. Silva then moved onto Capoeira before settling on Muay Thai by the age of 16. Through Silva’s indications one of his first losses was with Fabricoi Marango, but this fight does not appear on his official record.
Silva joined Brazil’s famed Chute Box Academy, the training camp that Wanderlei Silva, amongst many others, had once been a part of. Chute Box had simply been impressed with his raw talent. Along with this, he developed a reasonable ground game while with them and continued on the course to becoming one of the most feared strikers in the game.
Silva's MMA career took a nice turn when he won nine straight fights between 2000-03. Along the way, he defeated the well-respected Hayato Sakurai by decision to become the Shooto Middleweight Champion. Silva’s long limbs work perfectly with pinpoint accuracy and his power strikes. He is a well-rounded kick boxer great punches, kicks, knees, and clinch along with an excellent guard and deadly Brazilian Jui Jitsu. Silva is known to be one of the most proficient strikers to ever complete in MMA. Anderson Silva really stands out to me as a fighter and a person. In my opinion he is one of the best fighters in the world. The thing that really stands out to me is that his family couldn’t afford to pay for his MMA lessons and he still turned out to be one of the best well rounded fighters. Silva is one of the best well rounded in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighters.
The history of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu goes back through the Gracie family to their original teacher, Mitsuyo Maeda and his training in the Kodokan, the home of Judo. Judo is the creation of Jigaro Kano (1860-1938). Jigaro Kano was a highly educated man, he is considered the founder of the modern Japanese educational system, which sought to combine and preserve the ancient martial arts traditions in Japan. Kano refined the techniques he had learned primarily from two traditional systems. The majority of the ancient Jui-Jitsu styles based their training on pre-arranged sequence of attack and defense known kata. He also realized the absolute necessity of learning the arts and to apply techniques in the most realistic manner. Kano’s new style was put to the test in the famous tournament of 1886, hosted by Tokyo police. Of the 15 matches Kodokan Judo fighters against other fighters and styles of Jui Jitsu, the Kodokan won 13 matches and tied the two others. Kano fighting style and techniques had proven most effective.
For several years Kodokan Judo reigned supreme. Then about the turn of the nineteenth century a monumental event took place when a man named Mataemon Tanabe challenged the Kodokan. Tanabe was the head master of an obscure system of classical Jui Jitsu best known as the Fusen Ryu. The Fusen Ryu was unlike the other Jui Jitsu styles that had sought to test their techniques against the Kodokan. Fusen Ryu fighters were all expert at fighting on the ground. Mitsuyo Maeda 1878-1941 was a martial arts prodigy and master who eventually became one of the greatest fighters in the history of Judo. Maeda originally practiced classical styles of Jiu Jitsu, Eventually entering the kodokan to study Judo. After remaining undefeated in the Judo tournament competition, Kano sent Maeda to the U.S.A, in 1904 to spread the word about the Kodokan Judo. Over the course of his career Maeda fought on over a hundred of matches. During his travel Maeda fought in the United States, Great Britain, continental Europe, Cuba, Mexico and Brazil. Throughout his career as a professional fighter engaging in over 1,000 free fights Maeda retired without ever losing a match.
Mitsuyo Maeda finally settled in Brazil and opened an academy of Jui Jitsu. One of his youngest student’s named Carlos Gracie. After studying with Maeda FPR several years Carlos opened his own academy in 1925. Carlos and his brothers established a solid reputation by issuing the Gracie challenge. All challengers were welcome to fight with Gracie in no holds barred matches. The Gracie fighters emerged victorious against fighters of all different backgrounds. The Gracias continued to develop there fighting strategies and techniques they learned from maeda. Brazilian Jui Jitsu although similar in many ways to judo an other traditional mixed martial arts systems of Japanese Jui Jitsu, it differs in some fundamental ways from all other related systems of fighting. Judo was originally designed as a powerful system of self-defense that also included a sportive component and the idea of self-cultivation and the mutual benefit of members of society. During the course of the last century of the last century the rules of judo began to emphasize the means of achieving victory in competition that did not really reflect the conditions of all in fighting. For example a Judo match may be won by a throw or a pin hold without a submission. These rules and limited groundwork that forbids many of the original submission holds found in the early Judo somewhat limit direct applicability to street fights. Other styles of classical Jui Jitsu are still Plagued by the original problem Kano addressed with his emphasis on randori, namely, technical training is limited to kata practice.
Brazilian Jui Jitsu has followed a different course in the last 80 years. The Gracie challenge and participation in countless free fighting events has led to a different emphasis in fighting strategy and the development of the unique rules for BJJ sport competitions. Brazilian Jui Jitsu is divided into three broad categories each mutually supportive of the others; self-defense including striking techniques and unarmed techniques against armed opponents, free fighting competition (commonly referred to as “vale tudo” or as “anything goes” events, now called MMA), and sport grappling with and without the gi the matches that include a wide range of submissions holds, but no striking. Even the rules of sport grappling matches are designed to ingrain the proper strategy’s to be applied in the street. For example in a sport BJJ match, points are awarded based on achieving superior positions, positions from which not only grappling techniques can be more readily applied to the other fighter, But also from which strikes may be applied or defended. Students naturally seek the positions that will generate the most points for there fights, thereby constantly reinforcing the most efficient strategy for real life confrontations. This position submission strategy has proven to be the most effective for real life confrontations. The overall fighting strategy of Brazilian Jui Jitsu is designed to equip a physically smaller or weaker opponent with an effective method of defending against a larger and stronger attacker. When applying BJJ techniques, leverage is paramount, as leverage is the secret to the amplification and most efficient use of force. BJJ also has the most developed methods of fighting while on one’s back, a position weaker fighter will often find themselves when attacked by the stronger fighter.
The MMA sport is more than just savagely beating up your opponent there’s more to it than most people seen and think. Every fighter has their reason for why they do this sport but almost every fighter does it because they love the sport. And you might ask why this sport and every fighter is going to tell you they do it because its just you and your opponent one on one you have to win by your self no team to help you to win. Many fighters are taught that even if they have been training for many years that a fighter is not made a fighter is born many fighter have tried to make it big many succeed and many of them fail. But the sport is constantly looking for different types of styles and fighters because of this reason. And when a fighter does make it big he experiences a lot of ups and downs in his MMA career. Many of the fighters experience a lot of difficult things in there fighting career many fighters have perm nit brain damage many get face deformity another well known thing almost every is face with is column flour. When a fighter chooses to take this farther and make a career out of is he sacrifices a lot of things and, that’s what most people don’t see behind the television. Most people just see the fighters when there fighting they don’t see what a fighter has to go before the fight or even after the fight all fighters have to sacrifice a lot to do what they like and people really need to see that not just the part when the fighters beat the crap out of each other. There’s more to this sport than what the people see. It really takes heart and guts to do this as a carrier because it affects you mentally and physically after your carrier and people really need to see that.
There is no limit to what an MMA fighter can do with no rules or fear.