Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), as the name itself describes, is a mixed form of martial arts. Today, MMA is the fastest growing professional sport in the world. Its popularity is growing each day as compared to any other professional sport in the world.
MMA empowers the practitioner to use combinations of different martial arts like Boxing, Judo, Muay Thai, Wrestling, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ), etc. in a single fight. MMA fighters struggle it out for three five-minute rounds, using techniques from these distinct forms of fighting, inside an eight sided or a circular fight cage. The fighter wins if he knocks out the opponent or forces him to tap-out implying submission or succeeds as per the decision of the judges. The fight can be intensive and it’s the referee’s job to stop it if one of the fighters is no longer able to defend himself thereby avoiding severe damage to the fighter.
MMA Techniques:
MMA gives the fighter freedom to use the striking and grappling techniques, in which he has specialized in, with minimum restrictions. For example, if a striker is fighting with a grappler, the striker will try his best to do stand-up fighting since that’s his specialty and on the other hand the grappler will try his best to use his grappling skills to take the striker down on the ground and try to beat him via submission.
Stand-up Fighting in MMA (source: NakMuayThai's YouTube Channel)
One MMA Fighter in a Grappling position and the other one in a Stand-up position (source: NakMuayThai's YouTube Channel)
Grappling in MMA (source: NakMuayThai's YouTube Channel)
To become a good MMA fighter, I personally recommend having a very good base of Muay Thai and BJJ. Muay Thai is the most effective stand-up fighting art that uses maximum (eight) contact points and all the contact points are allowed and used in MMA fights. BJJ gives variety of grappling options in terms of locks and chokes which are very effective on the ground.
Training for MMA competitions demands hours of dedication and practice. It may take several years for a practitioner to learn the various MMA techniques and their use in actual MMA fights. Novice MMA practitioners start as Amateur MMA fighters and slowly work their way towards becoming Professional MMA fighters by maintaining a good track record.
MMA Fight Gears:
MMA Fight Gears for Amateur MMA Fights include Head Gear, Shin Pads, Mouth Piece, Groin Guard and specially designed MMA Gloves in which fingers open up allowing the MMA fighters to use their hands for seizing their opponents and effecting submission. Head Gears and Shin Pads are not used in Professional MMA Fights.
MMA Fight Gear (source: Streetgangstyle.com)
MMA for Fitness:
MMA is a challenging sport which needs the highest levels of fitness. A MMA Fighter needs to have a good combination of:
1. aerobic (cardio vascular) endurance for fighting three rounds of five minutes each,
2. muscle endurance for constantly delivering kicks, punches and grappling for three rounds,
3. muscle strength that generates explosive muscle power for slam down throws, heavy punches and kicks, and
4. flexibility
MMA workouts are designed to cover all the above important factors of fitness thereby resulting in a great workout regime that can help achieve the personal fitness goals of people who are looking out for a challenging and complete workout regime for fitness. Moreover, these workouts can improve their self-confidence and self defence skills.
Useful Links:
1. Mixed Martial Arts on Wikipedia
2. Ray Elbe vs Alan Fernandez MMA Fight
Please do comment or give me your feedback below if you like this post.
________________________________________________________
If you are interested in joining Group Sessions for Muay Thai Kickboxing and Mixed Martial Arts, you can come over for a free introductory training session at the following centres of Bala Shetty’s Total Combat Fitness Academy in Mumbai, India:
(i) Dadar East Centre – Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday – 7:30 am to 9:00 am
(ii) Kandivali East Centre – Monday, Wednesday & Friday – 7:30 am to 9:00 am
TCF also offers Private and Corporate Training Sessions. For more information, call on (+91) 9833216866 or mail at email@kickboxingbala.com or visit www.totalcombatfitness.com
TCF Channel on YouTube
TCF Fan Page on Facebook
TCF on Google+
TCF on Twitter
BJJ-Asia.com
MagicalRay.com
ONEFC.com
Weekly Martial Arts
Muay Thai India (MTI) National Federation
Hi Bala,
The training you make us go through at the Dadar E Centre, has indeed been very useful, and the variety that each session offers makes it much more interesting than a boring session at the gym!
hey vikram thanks for your comment. yes thats true our workout is never the same we at TCF always try that boredom never sets in our trainees thats the reason we try and give new workouts every class which also results in complete shake to your body and fast results.
Hey Bala, this is Shiv. I trained with you for Muay Thai Kickboxing at Infy Pune. That was an amazing session and wish you will come back some time.
Seems you have added more laurels to your kitty. All the best for your continued success. Liked all your blogs
Shiv
hey shiv yes i remember thank you for the comment brother. if you visit mumbai by any chance please do come to our centre to visit us.
regards bala shetty
are there any muya thai style which is karibo karbong
Muay Thai and Krabi Krabong are two separate martial arts, though both are from Thailand. Krabi Krabong is a weapon-based martial art (Krabi = Sword, Krabong = Staff) whereas Muay Thai has descended from Muay Boran (ancient Thai Boxing).
Some believe that the ancient Thai military created Muay Boran as an unarmed form of Krabi Krabong, but others claim that both martial arts were created at the same time.
But Krabi Krabong definitely has an important influence on Muay Thai if you consider the movements in Wai Kru Ram Muay – the ceremonial dance performed before a Muay Thai fight.