Ultimate Fighting: The Brains and Brawn of Mixed Martial Arts
Fans pack the arena to watch the Ultimate Fighting Championship 112 event in the United Arab Emirates in April 2010 VANVAVASTIMAYNAMA
INTRODUCTION WHAT IF What if What if a boxer and a wrestler stepped into the ring together Who would win What if a fighter skilled in the martial art of Brazilian jiu jitsu BJ tangled with an equally skilled foe in traditional judo Who would come out on top People asked questions such as these for decades Imagine a no holds barred bout between boxing legend Muhammad Ali and martial arts master Bruce Lee It would have been an amazing clash of styles But at the time it was just a fantasy The sport of mixed martial arts MMA didn't exist when these athletes were in their prime That changed beginning in the 1980s The new sport of MMA allowed fighters with very different skill sets to square off The sport allowed fans to answer that question what if And soon an entirely new style suited just for the Octagon cage of MMA would emerge Over the past three decades MMA has grown from a violent no holds barred sport into an international sensation Want to learn more about one of the fastest growing sports in the world Turn the page In the words of legendary MMA referee Big John McCarthy Are you ready Are you ready Let's get it on
Two stone young relief from men are 510 shown in wrestling Athens Greece on
One BATTLEGROUNDS FROM ANCIENT GREECE TO THE OCTAGON ombat sports are nothing new The term martial arts wasn't coined until the 1500s but the history of combat sports stretches back thousands of years The ancient Greeks made wrestling an Olympic sport in 708 B.C. Soon after an early form of boxing joined it in the Olympic Games As the Greeks watched wrestlers and boxers they must have wondered who would win a match between the two PANKRATION SUDDEN DEATH The 33rd Olympics in 684 B.C. introduced pankration This all strength contest featured two combatants in a nearly no holds barred match Only eye gouging and biting were outlawed Men could punch and kick Once on the ground they could use submission holds to attempt to get their opponents to give up the fight Some fights dragged on and on If a fight lasted until sunset it required the limax The fighters drew lots kind of like a coin flip to see who went first The first fighter delivered a strike His foe was not allowed to block If that strike didn t end the fight then the second fighter got his turn Very few turns were needed before the fight and sometimes a life ended
