Mixed Martial Arts

About the Tutorial

Mixed Martial Arts include various types of fights in which a winner can be declared
within a few seconds to a few minutes. It is an action-packed sport filled with striking
and grappling techniques from a variety of combat sports and martial arts. In this
tutorial, we will get to know some amazing facts and interesting details of this
fascinating sport.

Audiences
This tutorial is meant for anyone who wants to learn and participate in Mixed Martial
Arts. It is prepared keeping in mind that the reader is unaware about the basics of the
sport. It is a basic guide to help a beginner understand this sport.

Prerequisites
Before proceeding with this tutorial, you are required to have a passion for Mixed Martial
Arts and an eagerness to acquire knowledge on the same.

Copyright & Disclaimer

 Copyright 2016 by Tutorials Point (I) Pvt. Ltd.

All the content and graphics published in this e-book are the property of Tutorials Point
(I) Pvt. Ltd. The user of this e-book is prohibited to reuse, retain, copy, distribute, or
republish any contents or a part of contents of this e-book in any manner without written
consent of the publisher.

We strive to update the contents of our website and tutorials as timely and as precisely
as possible, however, the contents may contain inaccuracies or errors. Tutorials Point (I)
Pvt. Ltd. provides no guarantee regarding the accuracy, timeliness, or completeness of
our website or its contents including this tutorial. If you discover any errors on our
website or in this tutorial, please notify us at contact@tutorialspoint.com.

1
 Mixed Martial Arts

Table of Contents
About the Tutorial ........................................................................................................................................... 1

Audiences ........................................................................................................................................................ 1

Prerequisites.................................................................................................................................................... 1

Copyright & Disclaimer .................................................................................................................................... 1

Table of Contents............................................................................................................................................. 2

1. MIXED MARTIAL ARTS – OVERVIEW ................................................................................. 3

2. MIXED MARTIAL ARTS – RULES .......................................................................................... 5

3. MIXED MARTIAL ARTS – COMBAT FORMS ...................................................................... 9

4. MIXED MARTIAL ARTS – TECHNIQUES ........................................................................... 11

5. MIXED MARTIAL ARTS – INJURIES ................................................................................... 13

6. MIXED MARTIAL ARTS – LOCAL BODIES ........................................................................ 14

7. MIXED MARTIAL ARTS – CHAMPIONSHIPS ................................................................... 17

2
 Mixed Martial Arts
1. Mixed Martial Arts – Overview

Mixed Martial Arts is an action-packed sport filled with striking and grappling techniques
from a variety of combat sports and martial arts. During the early 1900s, many different
mixed-style competitions were held throughout Europe, Japan and the Pacific Rim.

CV Productions Inc. showed the first regulated MMA league in the US in 1980 called the
Tough Guy Contest, which was later renamed as Battle of the Superfighters. In
1983, the Pennsylvania State Senate passed a bill which prohibited the sport. However,
in 1993, it was brought back into the US TVs by the Gracie family who found the
Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC) which most of us have probably heard about on
our TVs.

These shows were promoted as a competition which intended in finding the most
effective martial arts in an unarmed combat situation. The competitors fought each other
with only a few rules controlling the fight. Later on, additional rules were established
ensuring a little more safety for the competitors, although it still is quite life-threatening.

A Brief History of Mixed Martial Arts

The history of MMA dates back to the Greek era. There was an ancient Olympic combat
sport called as Pankration which had features of combination of grappling and striking
skills. Later, this sport was passed on to the Romans.

An early example of MMA is Greco-Roman Wrestling (GRW) in the late 1880s, where
players fought without few to almost zero safety rules. These were also called as no-

3
 Mixed Martial Arts

holds-barred matches. In these matches, consistent winners like William Muldoon were
slammed to defeat in just two minutes!

The popularity of professional wrestling sports diversified after the First World War. It
split into two main genres – shoot and show. In shoot, the players actually had to
compete. Show is what developed into the modern professional wrestling.

The concept of combining the elements of several martial arts was popularized in the
late 1960s by Bruce Lee with his technique of Jeet Kune Do. Bruce Lee believed that
the best fighter isn’t any boxer or judo-fighter or karate-fighter. The best fighter was
one who could adapt to any fighting style.

The famous match of Muhammad Ali vs. Antonio Inoki was fought in Japan in the year of
1976. It ended up in a draw as both of them refused to follow each other’s style. In the
fight, Ali’s legs were badly damaged and he was hospitalized for three days.

4
 Mixed Martial Arts
2. Mixed Martial Arts – Rules

Since the early days of UFC 1 and shoot wrestling etc., the rules of MMA have changed
quite a lot. The audience came to know more about the fighting styles and saw the
danger and wanted more reasonable rules. This perception barbarism and lawlessness
was to be changed and MMA had to be recognized as a legitimate sport.

The new rules which were established included the introduction of weight classes. In
MMA, there are nine different weight classes according to the Unified Rules of Mixed
Martial Arts (URMMA). These include:

 Flyweight – Up to 56.7 kg

 Bantam weight – Up to 61.2 kg

 Featherweight – Up to 65.8 kg

 Lightweight – Up to 70.3 kg

 Welterweight – Up to 77.1 kg

 Middleweight – Up to 83.9 kg

 Light Heavyweight – Up to 93.0 kg

 Heavyweight – Up to 120.2 kg

 Super Heavyweight – No upper limit

The Fighting Area

MMA competitions are held in a ring or a fenced area according to the rules and
regulations of UFC. If fenced, it should be round or have a minimum of six sides. If
caged, it should be an octagon shaped cage (8 sides).

5
 Mixed Martial Arts

Protecting the Fists

To protect the fists, small open-fingered gloves were introduced so as to reduce the
possibilities of cuts on fists and rather increase the confidence of the fighter to strike
better leading to a more exhilarating match.

In most of the professional fights, players have to wear 4 oz gloves. In some other
styles, amateurs have to wear 6 oz gloves for better protection of fists and wrists.

Avoiding Lengthy Fights

To avoid lengthier fights with quite less action and unpredicted airing of live events, time
limits were established. In most of the professional fights, there are three rounds of 5
minutes each. In championships, the fights are normally five rounds of 5 minutes each.

A Japan based organized, Pride Fighting Championships, held an opening 10-minutes

round which was then followed by two shorter 5-minutes rounds. A fighter can stomp,
kick, and can use knee strikes to the head, but cannot strike with the elbow on the head.

The rules may differ from championships to championships. In a Singapore based

organization, the ONE Championship allows kicks and knees to head and also elbow
strikes to the head, but prohibits from head stomps.

Victory
A fighter is declared as the winner, either by the judges or a stoppage by the referee in
the following cases:

 If a fighter isn’t able to defend himself

 By the fight doctor if there is some injury

 If someone submits himself

 By a competitor’s corner man throwing in the towel

 By knockout

6
 Mixed Martial Arts

Knockout (KO)
If a fighter strikes the opponent and the opponent is not able to continue anymore, the
striker wins the round and the fight is stopped so that the fallen fighter doesn’t get
further injured.

Submission
A fighter can submit himself (accept defeat) by the following gestures:

 Tapping out, on the floor or the body of the opponent

 Saying it out loud that he quits

There is technical submission as well, where the referee stops the fight if the fighter who
is caught in a submission hold and is in danger of being injured. This submission usually
happens when a fighter gets choked to unconsciousness or when a bone breaks due to a
submission hold.

Technical Knockout (TKO)

A referee declares a technical knockout in case of the following situations:

 Unable to defend – A fight can be stopped if a fighter cannot defend himself

and takes a lot of damage from the dominating fighter.

 Losing Consciousness – A fight can be stopped if a fighter appears to be losing

his or her consciousness

 Serious Injury – A fight can be stopped if a fighter appears to have a serious

injury like a broken bone or severe cut.

7
 Mixed Martial Arts

 Doctor Stoppage – A fight can be stopped in case a fighter gets injured and
needs immediate doctor’s attention. The other fighter will be declared as the
winner. But if there’s any illegal action by that fighter, he will be disqualified.

 Corner Stoppage – The corner men of a fighter can throw in the towel and stop
the fight if they feel their fighter is taking too much damage and could result in
severe injuries.

 Retirement – A fight can be stopped if a fighter can no longer fight due to

exhaustion or nausea.

 Forfeit – A fighter forfeits the match before it begins, resulting in the winning of
the opponent.

 Disqualification – If a fighter commits an illegal action or a foul, he will be

warned by the referee. After three warnings, the fighter is disqualified.

 No Contest – In case both the fighters commit illegal actions, or one of the
fighters cannot continue to fight due to illegal action(s) by the opponent, then the
fight is declared as no contest.

 Technical Decision – According to the unified rules of MMA, if a fighter cannot

continue due to unintentional illegal actions near the end of the match, a
technical decision is given by the judges based on who was better on their
scorecards. A majority of the rounds must be completed before declaring a
technical decision, like 2/3 rounds must be completed in a three round match and
3/5 rounds must be over in a five round match.

Ranking of a fighter
All the MMA fighters are ranked according to their performance and their results against
the competition they had to face. Various sorts of ranking portals are used for these
rankings. Some of the most popular ones are as follows:

 Fight Matrix – The top 250-500 fighters of the world are ranked for every
possible divisions of male and female

 Sherdog – Here, the top 10 fighters worldwide are ranked for the available UFC
divisions.

 SB Nation – The top 14 male fighters of the world are ranked here.

 UFC – The UFC ranks the top 15 contenders signed by them as per their
directions.

Clothing
The male typically wear shorts and nothing else. Female fighters wear shorts and sports
bras or similar tops. Both of them have to wear mouth guards as a safety measure.

The clothing needs to be durable, comfortable and flexible as the fighter will be using his
legs a lot. There are a range of short brands which make MMA clothing and casual wear
available to the public.

8
 Mixed Martial Arts
3. Mixed Martial Arts – Combat Forms

Traditional Martial Arts has certain disciplines and training on improving one’s fighting
style. Some of the popular disciplines are as follows:

 Stand-up: Kickboxing, Muay Thai, Boxing, Kyokushin Karate, Taekwondo,

Sanshou and Combat Sambo are trained to improve stand-up strikes.

 Clinch: Judo, Sambo, Sanshou, Jujutsu, Freestyle and Greco-Roman Wrestling

are trained in order to improve clinching, takedowns and throws.

 Ground: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Sambo, Submission wrestling, Judo and some other
arts are trained in order to improve ground control and position of a fighter, and
also to use submission holds to defend against them.

Most of these styles are inherited directly or indirectly from their traditional forms.

Initially, MMA was practiced only by competitive fighters but it is no longer the case. The
sport has become more mainstream and taught all over the world. People learn one or
other form of MMA for safety and fitness, regardless of their age.

Boxing
Boxing is a very popular combat form and it is widely used in MMA. Majority of the
strikes during the stand-up fights are boxing punches. Many boxing punches account for
the most number of knock downs and knockouts in MMA competitions.

Many aspects of boxing like kicks, combinations, and blocking techniques like slips etc.
are highly valuable to MMA. Some fighters who use boxing in MMA are Cain Velasquez,
Junior dos Santos, B.J. Penn, Dan Hardy, Nick Diaz, and Shane Carwin.

Muay Thai
One of the best technique for striking in MMA is combining Muay Thai with boxing. Its
versatility is its vital characteristic. Kicks, throws, clinch holds etc., according to long
range, middle range and short range! One can learn all these techniques in Muay Thai.

As the name indicates, it originated in Thailand. Muay Thai is also referred to as “Art of
eight limbs” as it makes use of the legs, knees, fists and elbows.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu got most of its popularity in the early 1990s when its expert Royce
Gracie won both the second and fourth UFCs, against fighters who practiced other larger
styles like boxing, karate, taekwondo. Since then it has become a popular fighting style.

Karate
Karate is also known as Kyokusin and Full Contact. It has been very effective in the
sport of MMA. It has the core foundations of kickboxing and in striking techniques. Styles
of karate are practiced by some of the popular MMA fighters like Chuck Liddel and Bas
Rutten.

9
 Mixed Martial Arts

Taekwondo
Taekwondo, also called as TKD, is used extensively by some of the MMA fighters.
Anderson Silva, in his book admitted that TKD had influenced in largely in his style at the
beginning of his career.

10
 Mixed Martial Arts
4. Mixed Martial Arts – Techniques

The techniques used in MMA are put in two categories, striking and grappling techniques.
Striking techniques include kicks, knee strikes, punches, and elbow strikes. Grappling
techniques include clinch holds, pinning holds, submission holds, sweeps, throws, and
takedowns.

Some of the famous strategies used by many fighters in MMA are as follows:

Sprawl-and-Brawl
This is a stand-up strategy used mostly to defend against takedowns. This technique is
mostly used by boxers, kickboxers and karate fighters to avoid takedowns and to keep
standing.

Ground-and-pound
In this strategy, the opponent is taken to the ground with a takedown or a throw, and
the fighter gets on top and with a grappling position, strikes the opponent with fists,
elbows and hammerfists. This strategy is mostly used before performing a submission
hold.

Submission-seeking
This is a strategy where a fighter takes down his enemy by a takedown or a throw and
then tries to get him into a submission hold, forcing him to submit. Submissions are an
important part of many disciplines like Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Judo, Sambo etc. These were
popularized in the early events of UFC.

11
 Mixed Martial Arts

Score-oriented fighting
This technique is mostly used by fighters who have a strong wrestling background and
are facing a skilled Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu opponent or other stand-up fighters.

With this technique, the fighters take down their opponents to score. They land clear
strikes and try to control the octagon. Contrary to the technique, for one to win, he
should master defence techniques of MMA in order to avoid getting taken down.

Clinch-fighting
In this technique, the fighter uses a clinch hold to prevent the opponent from getting
into distant enough outside the striking range, while at the same time the fighter keeps
striking by knee strikes, punches, elbow strikes, stomps, and attempt to takedown the
opponent. This technique is mostly used by wrestlers and judo fighters in MMA matches.

12
 Mixed Martial Arts
5. Mixed Martial Arts – Injuries

Since the first UFC in 1993, MMA competitions have changed a lot mainly because of the
introduction of the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts. Things can get really dirty inside
the cage when both the fighters get to the farthest of their skills, sport, and spirit.

Rate of injuries
Recently in a meta-analysis which showed injury data in MMA, it was found that:

 Incidences of injuries were estimated to be about 228.7 injuries in every 1000

fights.

 This data is greater than that of judo (44/1000), taekwondo (79.4/1000),

amateur boxing (77.7/1000), professional boxing (118 to 250.6/1000).

Patterns of injuries
The injury pattern in MMA is quite similar to that of professional boxing. The most
commonly injured body part is the head, then the wrists, then fractures, and the least
are concussions.

Mental health of fighters

It has been found out that fighters with more than 6 years of experience in these types
of fights, were observed to have reductions in their size of hippocampus and thalamus
and fighters with more than 12 years of experience in the same were observed to have
reductions in memory and alertness as a result of reduction in their hippocampus and
thalamus.

Fatalities
Till date, there have been seven known deaths in and due to MMA. All these cases are
incidents after 2007 as before then there were no documented cases of deaths in MMA.

From 2007 to 2010, two fighters had died because of the fights, Sam Vasquez on 30 th of
November in 2007 and Michael Kirkham from South Carolina on June 28 th of 2010.

13
 Mixed Martial Arts
6. Mixed Martial Arts – Local Bodies

Australia
In Australia, MMA is sanctioned in all the states and territories by various organizations.
Although there was a debate about the cage, which was banned in the state of Victoria in
2007 but it was again legalized in 2015.

Belgium
In Belgium, MMA is not supported, but they do tolerate it enough to be legalized there.
The Belgian MMA Federation or BMMAF was the third member of the IMMAF.

Brazil
The Brazilian MMA Athletic Commission joined the IMMAF on 17 th January 2013. The
commission is known as the Comissao Atletica Brasileira de MMA or CABMMA in
Brazil. It represents state federations all across Brazil.

Bulgaria
MMA was professionally introduced in Bulgaria around 2008-2009. It is growing quite
rapidly with an established strong wrestling and boxing culture. It was not regulated
there until the Bulgarian Federation for Mixed Martial Arts was elected to be the national
federation to represent Bulgaria under IMMAF in October 2014. It is also a non-profit
organization established in November 2013.

Cambodia
The Cambodian Mixed Martial Arts Association or CMMAA was created in January of 2013
under the Cambodian Martial Arts Federation. Until then, there were no MMA events
organized there.

Canada
MMA competitions were illegal in Canada for many years. Canada formally decriminalized
MMA with a vote on June 5, 2013.

China
The Ranik Ultimate Fighting Federation or RUFF hosted the first MMA event in
Shanghai, sanctioned by China’s governing body for combat sports called the Wushu
Sports Management Center of the General Administration of Sport in China.

Denmark
MMA is not legally regulated in Denmark although it is supported by a federation called
the Danish Mixed Martial Arts Federation.

France
MMA is illegal and is banned in France under their Pancrase Rules and its variants.

14
 Mixed Martial Arts

Ireland
The Irish Martial Arts Commission does not recognize MMA among its sports. The Mixed
Martial Arts Federation Ireland (MMAFI) is intended as a federation for amateur MMA
clubs and is still gaining the prospect of getting recognition.

Japan
MMA competitions are legal in Japan since the mid 1980s. There are many MMA related
organizations like RIZIN FF, DEEP, Pancrase, Shooto, and ZST.

Malaysia
The Malaysia Mixed Martial Arts Association or MASMMAA was formally announced as the
official national governing body for MMA in Malaysia in July 2013. It is registered under
the Malaysian Sports Development Act 1997 and recognized by the Commissioner of
Sports.

Norway
MMA and boxing are illegal in Norway. There is an elected body called the Norwegian
MMA Federation by the IMMAF, which represents 49 member gyms across Norway. The
fighters have to travel abroad in order to compete.

Portugal
MMA is legal in Portugal. The Federacao de Mixed Martial Arts de Portugal or FMMAP was
founded in a collaborative effort by six existing non-profit organizations in 2012. Portugal
needs at least three associated non-profit groups and they already have six, hence it is
legal.

Romania
MMA is legal in Romania. The Romanian Mixed Martial Arts Federation (RMMAF) was
established in 2012 under the Ministry of Youth and Sport in Romania as a non-profit
federation.

Russia
MMA is legal in Russia. MMA was given the status of National Sport in Russia in
September of 2012. On the same day, fighter and M-1 Global promoted Feddor
Emelanenko was appointed to carry the role of Russian MMA Union President.

Sweden
MMA is legal in Sweden under the Swedish Mixed Martial Arts Federation or SMMAF
which was formed in 2007. It has been overseeing MMA events and governing the sport
of MMA as a whole in Sweden since 2008.

South Africa
MMA is legal in South Africa under the purview of the Professional Mixed Martial Arts
Council or PROMMA Africa. It was founded in 2010 to regulate MMA at larger
promotions like EFC Worldwide etc.

15
 Mixed Martial Arts

Thailand
MMA was banned in Thailand in 2012 but the same ban was removed on September 12 th
of 2013. They banned it on the first place as they speculated that MMA could potentially
take away business from the Muay Thai industry.

United States of America

MMA is legal in the US. Professional MMA is looked after in the US by the Association of
Boxing Commissions. According to them, professional MMA competitions are allowed all
over the US.

16
 Mixed Martial Arts
7. Mixed Martial Arts – Championships

There are hundreds of MMA promotions around the world that organize MMA events.
Other than UFC, some other major MMA promotions are:

 Bellator MMA

 ONE Championship

 World Series of Fighting

 Invicta FC (All female MMA)

International MMA Federation

The International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF) was founded on February 29,
2012, to bring international development, support and structure for MMA across the
world.

The IMMAF was launched with the support of the UFC. IMMAF is a non-profit and
democratic federation to ensure that MMA gets the same recognition as all the other
popular sports.

At present, there are 39 members in IMMAF from 38 countries –

Austria Greece Pakistan

Belgium Iceland Paraguay
Brazil India Poland
Bulgaria Ireland 30. Portugal
Cameroon Italy Romania
Canada Jordan Seychelles
Czech Republic Lebanon South Africa
Denmark Lithuania Sweden
El Salvador Malaysia Switzerland
Estonia Nepal Tajikistan
Finland Netherlands Ukraine
France New Zealand United Kingdom
Germany Norway USA

The federation held its first Amateur World Championships from June 30 th to July 6th,
2014, in Las Vegas, USA.

17
 Mixed Martial Arts

World Mixed Martial Arts Association

The World Mixed Martial Arts Association (WMMAA) was established in 2012 in Monaco.
The WMMAA has 43 members under it:

Afghanistan Greece Senegal

Albania India Serbia
Armenia Iran Slovakia
Austria Italy South Korea
Azerbaijan Kazakhstan Spain
Belarus Latvia Switzerland
Belgium Lithuania Tajikistan
Bulgaria Macedonia Trinidad & Tobago
Canada Moldova Turkey
Croatia Mongolia Ukraine
Colombia Netherlands Uzbekistan
Czech Republic Poland Venezuela
France Portugal Monaco
Guatemala Romania
Georgia Russia

The first world MMA Championship was held on October 20th 2013 in St. Petersburg,
Russia.

WMMAA Pan-American Division

The World MMA Council merged with the WMMAA on July 4 th of 2014. The first even Pan-
American Division for the World MMA Association was established under the leadership of
business magnate Tomas Yu, during the 2014 WMMAA Congress which was held in
Amsterdam, Netherlands.

18