MMA: First, a brief history
Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2013 3:17 pm
I've practiced jiu jitsu for years and I've been following MMA since the first UFCs, watched the sport develop through its various stages. For awhile, Pancrase had existed in Japan, vale tudo in Brazil, and all the best fighters in the world were from those two countries, but due to stylistic limitations, the sports hadn't developed as quickly as they might have in those countries. It was only with the UFC, and the bringing together of different styles, that the art of freestyle fighting really took off. It's not a stretch to say that 1v1 unarmed martial arts have developed more in the last 20 years than they had in the last 2000.
The first UFCs were the brainchild of the Gracie family of Brazil. Inventors of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and undisputed top dogs in Brazilian submission fighting and vale tudo, they wanted a showcase in the US to show people what their art could do. As their avatar for the first couple events, they selected Royce Gracie, a younger member of one of the branches of the Gracie family, not known as their strongest fighter. Part of the reason that he was selected was that he was a rail-thin 160 lbs, and they wanted to show what he could do against much bigger opponents (his older brother, Rickson, grand champion of the Gracie family and undefeated in jiu jitsu and MMA competition would have simply rolled everyone, but he looked like a Greek statue and the Gracies didn't want that... although Royce used to joke, "You guys had better not beat me... if you do, my brother gon' come..."
Part of the appeal of the first UFCs was that they pitted style against style: specialists in a particular discipline like boxing, jiu jitsu, tae kwon do, kung fu, etc who had little to no knowledge outside their own discipline. After all, martial arts schools had been marketing themselves for years as one stop shops for defeating any conceivable opponent. We found out many things in those first UFCs. The first was that most traditional martial arts are simply not built for the chaos of an actual fight. X-degree black belts were attempting to block punches from toughman-style street fighters and getting KTFO when the punch would have too much momentum and simply go through their forearm block and cave in their heads. We also found out that almost all fights eventually hit the ground, and if you don't know how to defend yourself or improve position once the fight hits the ground, you're doomed. Today, the mount is a transitionary position in MMA; people get mount all the time, use it to attack via strikes or submissions, and often lose the position or else move out of it themselves to try something else. But back then it was not uncommon for fighters not accustomed to ground fighting to simply tap out as soon as they got mounted because they assumed the fight was over and nothing could be done. And we found out that even knowing how to fight on the ground without panicking (like a wrestler) gets you nowhere if you don't know how to defend submissions.
Needless to say, little Royce won all of his fights in the first two tournaments, allowing much larger and more violent men to take him to the ground as he used all parts of his body to choke them out or threaten their joints with destruction. Occasionally he would throw a strike to get someone to defend and open up a submission attack, but for all intents and purposes he won all his fights in both the first two UFCs without throwing a punch.
After Royce retired and let the sport start to move on, we began an era where high-level wrestlers became totally dominant. Muslcebound freestyle and Greco wrestlers like Mark Coleman and Dan Severn were way too much for anyone to deal with. Nobody could stop their takedowns, and once they were on top, no one short of a Royce Gracie could get them off or submit them; but Royce had moved on and no one else had the submission skills to deal with these powerful wrestlers.
That all changed when Maurice Smith, a pure kickboxer, endured the seemingly unstoppable (at the time) Mark Coleman's ground attack long enough for Coleman to wear himself out. When they got back to their feet, Smith teed off, throwing the first effective leg kicks in UFC history, and taking a decision as Coleman stumbled around the ring trying to catch his breath and lift his arms to defend himself. It became apparent that MMA was not going to turn into a glorified wrestling tournament.
From that time on, the UFC repeated that cycle: someone would come in with something new, dominate for a time, then the sport would evolve to account for the new tricks. But mostly people were still sticking to their original disciplines and only dabbling in skills outside their primary area of expertise. Fighters like the dominant wrestler Matt Hughes come to mind: early on, he dominated with his wrestling and ground and pound, but he stayed on top because he developed a fairly formidable submission game and enough of a striking game to at least defend himself until it got to the ground. However, he began to take losses when he tried to fight a submission fight against a submission fight, or a stand up fight with a striker. Occasionally fighters like BJ Penn would emerge who were truly ahead of their time, almost equally proficient in all areas of fighting: striking, wrestling, submissions.
This continued through dark ages of MMA, when only fanatics like me watched and it was banned in most states and being attacked by politicians as human cock fighting. Once Zuffa and Dana White took control and worked with the athletic commissions to develop unified rules that states could live with, things came together again; and by this time there were a few other brilliant competing promoters, like Pride Fighting Championship in Japan which put on some of the best shows and fights ever. Some of my favorite MMA memories are staying up til 3 am to watch Pride fights with my friends (they were broadcast live from Japan) and jumping up and down as their fantastic roster of fighters did their thing. To this day, Kazushi Sakuraba is one of my favorite athletes in any sport.
More recently we have seen MMA really come into its own as a sport. For the most part, you do not see one-sided stylistic matchups: everyone knows how to fight on their feet, on the ground from the top and bottom, and how to wrestle. The style of fighting that has proven itself (so far) to be the ultimate one-on-one unarmed combat style is a mix of Muay Thai/American boxing, wrestling, and jiu jitsu. Even fighters known for being highly proficient in one discipline and leaning heavily on it for their success are at least at a level in the rest that most people would consider expert. Anderson Silva, for example, the best striker in the history of MMA probably, wins almost all of his fights with his striking, but is an accomplished black belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu.
Speaking of Anderson Silva...
A short time ago, he lost for the first time in his seven-year UFC career. A young wrestler knocked him out while Silva was clowning for the camera or taunting his opponent... with Silva you never really know. The rematch will be probably the biggest fight in UFC history, and is taking place December 28 at the MGM Grand. I'll be there, and I'll be staying in Vegas at the Mandalay Bay for a week, including New Year's. Anyone wanna come?
The first UFCs were the brainchild of the Gracie family of Brazil. Inventors of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and undisputed top dogs in Brazilian submission fighting and vale tudo, they wanted a showcase in the US to show people what their art could do. As their avatar for the first couple events, they selected Royce Gracie, a younger member of one of the branches of the Gracie family, not known as their strongest fighter. Part of the reason that he was selected was that he was a rail-thin 160 lbs, and they wanted to show what he could do against much bigger opponents (his older brother, Rickson, grand champion of the Gracie family and undefeated in jiu jitsu and MMA competition would have simply rolled everyone, but he looked like a Greek statue and the Gracies didn't want that... although Royce used to joke, "You guys had better not beat me... if you do, my brother gon' come..."
Part of the appeal of the first UFCs was that they pitted style against style: specialists in a particular discipline like boxing, jiu jitsu, tae kwon do, kung fu, etc who had little to no knowledge outside their own discipline. After all, martial arts schools had been marketing themselves for years as one stop shops for defeating any conceivable opponent. We found out many things in those first UFCs. The first was that most traditional martial arts are simply not built for the chaos of an actual fight. X-degree black belts were attempting to block punches from toughman-style street fighters and getting KTFO when the punch would have too much momentum and simply go through their forearm block and cave in their heads. We also found out that almost all fights eventually hit the ground, and if you don't know how to defend yourself or improve position once the fight hits the ground, you're doomed. Today, the mount is a transitionary position in MMA; people get mount all the time, use it to attack via strikes or submissions, and often lose the position or else move out of it themselves to try something else. But back then it was not uncommon for fighters not accustomed to ground fighting to simply tap out as soon as they got mounted because they assumed the fight was over and nothing could be done. And we found out that even knowing how to fight on the ground without panicking (like a wrestler) gets you nowhere if you don't know how to defend submissions.
Needless to say, little Royce won all of his fights in the first two tournaments, allowing much larger and more violent men to take him to the ground as he used all parts of his body to choke them out or threaten their joints with destruction. Occasionally he would throw a strike to get someone to defend and open up a submission attack, but for all intents and purposes he won all his fights in both the first two UFCs without throwing a punch.
After Royce retired and let the sport start to move on, we began an era where high-level wrestlers became totally dominant. Muslcebound freestyle and Greco wrestlers like Mark Coleman and Dan Severn were way too much for anyone to deal with. Nobody could stop their takedowns, and once they were on top, no one short of a Royce Gracie could get them off or submit them; but Royce had moved on and no one else had the submission skills to deal with these powerful wrestlers.
That all changed when Maurice Smith, a pure kickboxer, endured the seemingly unstoppable (at the time) Mark Coleman's ground attack long enough for Coleman to wear himself out. When they got back to their feet, Smith teed off, throwing the first effective leg kicks in UFC history, and taking a decision as Coleman stumbled around the ring trying to catch his breath and lift his arms to defend himself. It became apparent that MMA was not going to turn into a glorified wrestling tournament.
From that time on, the UFC repeated that cycle: someone would come in with something new, dominate for a time, then the sport would evolve to account for the new tricks. But mostly people were still sticking to their original disciplines and only dabbling in skills outside their primary area of expertise. Fighters like the dominant wrestler Matt Hughes come to mind: early on, he dominated with his wrestling and ground and pound, but he stayed on top because he developed a fairly formidable submission game and enough of a striking game to at least defend himself until it got to the ground. However, he began to take losses when he tried to fight a submission fight against a submission fight, or a stand up fight with a striker. Occasionally fighters like BJ Penn would emerge who were truly ahead of their time, almost equally proficient in all areas of fighting: striking, wrestling, submissions.
This continued through dark ages of MMA, when only fanatics like me watched and it was banned in most states and being attacked by politicians as human cock fighting. Once Zuffa and Dana White took control and worked with the athletic commissions to develop unified rules that states could live with, things came together again; and by this time there were a few other brilliant competing promoters, like Pride Fighting Championship in Japan which put on some of the best shows and fights ever. Some of my favorite MMA memories are staying up til 3 am to watch Pride fights with my friends (they were broadcast live from Japan) and jumping up and down as their fantastic roster of fighters did their thing. To this day, Kazushi Sakuraba is one of my favorite athletes in any sport.
More recently we have seen MMA really come into its own as a sport. For the most part, you do not see one-sided stylistic matchups: everyone knows how to fight on their feet, on the ground from the top and bottom, and how to wrestle. The style of fighting that has proven itself (so far) to be the ultimate one-on-one unarmed combat style is a mix of Muay Thai/American boxing, wrestling, and jiu jitsu. Even fighters known for being highly proficient in one discipline and leaning heavily on it for their success are at least at a level in the rest that most people would consider expert. Anderson Silva, for example, the best striker in the history of MMA probably, wins almost all of his fights with his striking, but is an accomplished black belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu.
Speaking of Anderson Silva...
A short time ago, he lost for the first time in his seven-year UFC career. A young wrestler knocked him out while Silva was clowning for the camera or taunting his opponent... with Silva you never really know. The rematch will be probably the biggest fight in UFC history, and is taking place December 28 at the MGM Grand. I'll be there, and I'll be staying in Vegas at the Mandalay Bay for a week, including New Year's. Anyone wanna come?