MMA Mixed Martial Arts

MMA mixed martial arts is usually referred too as cage fighting and ultimate fighting; it is a full contact and combative sport that makes use of a wide variety of fighting techniques and incorporates various fighting skills and methods from a myriad of other combative sports. MMA mixed martial arts allows the competitors to both strike as well as grapple and to resort to various techniques of its kind; all of these can be done in the competition whilst standing and while lying on the ground a well.

The origins of MMA mixed martial arts can be traced back to Europe , Japan and the Pacific Rim during the early 1990’s , the current sport is an evolution of a variety of mixed fighting combative sports that took place in the above regions during that time. The combat sport known as Vale Tudo or better known as No holds Barred is a combat sport that has a very few rules and allows maximum contact between players was a popular sport in Brazil since the 1920’s, it was introduced to the Unites States by the Gracie Family during early 1993, the sport proper was established in that year with the founding of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, which conducts most of the MMA mixed martial arts tournaments to date.

In today’s competitions’ of MMA mixed martial arts the UFC has relegated the sport from what was practiced by the more dangerous Vale Tudo by initiating more additional rules ,thus the form of MMA mixed martial arts seen today goes by more safer standards more so than their predecessors.

The name MMA mixed martial arts was first coined by Rick Blume , the CEO of the Battlecade back in 1995, the sport gained wide acclamation after 1993 when, a Brazilian fighter, Royce Gracie won the first Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in the same year. He won the tournament by defeating three fighters within in a space of just five minutes to ignite a fascination and the sudden popularity of the sport and this was marked by a revolution in the arena of martial arts tournaments. The international Sport Combat Federation (ISCF) was created in May 1999, this body became the worlds international sporting body to sanction MMA mixed martial arts; with this a new era of MMA mixed martial arts entered in to the arena of combative sport and furthermore gained recognition internationally as a true competitive sport.

The transition of MMA mixed martial arts to a recognized sport was further aided by the addition of certified game officials and a well developed code of conduct and rules and regulations, all of which was developed by the International Kickboxing Federation (IKF), the sister organization of the (ISCF). In 2005 the US Army began to sanction MMA mixed martial arts by incorporating the sport in to the Army Combative Championships, which is conducted by the US Army Combatives School.