Rich Hansen's Take
THE MMA BLOWTORCH: MMA for Newbs Part One - Introduction to MMA rules and (very) brief history of the sport
Jul 12, 2010 - 7:08:56 PM THE MMA BLOWTORCH: MMA for Newbs Part One - Introduction to MMA rules and (very) brief history of the sport

DISCUSS ALL THIS IN OUR NEW MMATORCH FORUM

...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!

By: Rich Hansen, MMATorch Contributor

Welcome to Part One of "So I'm Willing to Give Ultimate Fighting a Chance, but I Don't Know Anything About it and I Don't Particularly Know Where to Start." I realize that the name of the course is a little awkward, so let's just call this "MMA for Newbs." This revised title alone will actually provide our first two lessons.

1.) The term 'newb' is considered an insult online, but it shouldn't be. It is generally a term thrown around on the internet by people who insult other people who disagree with their opinions. As in, "you must be a newb because you don't agree with 100% of my thoughts." People who insult other people and dismiss them as 'newbs' are fascists, plain and simple. Ignore these people.

2.) MMA stands for Mixed Martial Arts. The sport, and yes, it is a sport, hasn't been called 'Ultimate Fighting' since it was nearly banned out of the USA in the late 1990s. MMA isn't the no holds barred blood spectacle that it was originally marketed as, and that's where we're going to begin.

So, in order to understand MMA even a little, we need to understand its roots. Keep in mind I'm only hitting the high points, and skipping all the minutiae here.

In brief, Mixed Martial Arts is the spawn of so-called Ultimate Fighting. Ultimate Fighting was essentially no holds barred fighting. It was marketed as a freak show, and was in reality little more than a freak show. Politicians would get wind of this as time went on and went to work to get the PPV providers to no longer broadcast the fights.

Eventually, the state of New Jersey regulated Ultimate Fighting, and it pretty much morphed into what we know as MMA. They developed the Unified Rules of Combat (to be fair, they were mainly written by the California Athletic Commission, but Jersey was the first state to ratify them, and to regulate the sport), which are the rules that MMA in the USA uses to this day.

At its core, MMA fighting is a combination of wrestling, striking, and submission grappling, fought inside three rounds, five minutes apiece. Title fights go up to five rounds. A fight can be won by submission (tapping out), knock out (or TKO if the referee stops the fight), or by decision using the ten point must system.

Unlike boxing, fighters will clinch and grapple with each other. Grappling is used extensively, and you can’t succeed in the sport without being able to grapple. Wrestling can be used both offensively (to take your opponent down), or defensively (to keep an opponent from taking you down if you want to keep the fight standing).

There is a whole world of striking styles. There are boxers, muay thai practitioners, karate fighters (and there seemingly are as many styles of karate as there are grains of sand), tae kwan do based stylists, etc. etc. You can throw punches, kicks, knees, elbows; hell, anything short of headbutts.

Also, you’re allowed to strike your opponent when he is on the ground. There are limitations to ground strikes. You can’t kick or knee a downed opponent in the head (under the Unified Rules), and you can’t use downward elbows to the head of an opponent.

When the fight is on the ground, a fighter can also use Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or catch-wrestling techniques to force his opponent to submit, or tap out. While you can’t legally manipulate fingers, arms and legs are fair game. A skilled submission artist can isolate an arm or leg with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu techniques in order to force a submission. Or, more commonly, there are dozens of chokes that one can apply. And if you’re in a choke and can’t wriggle free, you’ve got two choices: Tap, or Nap.

Some popular submissions include the rear naked choke, the arm triangle choke, the triangle choke, the guillotine choke, the armbar, the kimura, the knee bar and the heel hook. Of course, there are dozens more, but these are the most often seen submissions in MMA. At the conclusion of this series, I will be posting an appendix filled with youtube video examples of different submissions, striking styles, etc.

Inside this framework, the Unified Rules are applied. Since the sport is regulated by athletic commissions, there is a list of fouls. They include: (source: Wikipedia)

• Putting a finger into any orifice or into any cut or laceration on an opponent.
• Clawing, pinching or twisting the flesh.
• Grabbing the clavicle.
• Downward elbows to the head of an opponent. (...this is dependent on the organization providing the event.)
• Kicking the head of a grounded opponent.
• Kneeing the head of a grounded opponent.
• Stomping a grounded opponent.
• Spiking an opponent to the canvas on his head or neck. (see piledriver)
• Holding the shorts or gloves of an opponent.
• Spitting at an opponent.
• Engaging in an unsportsmanlike conduct that causes an injury to an opponent.
• Using abusive language in the ring or fenced area.
• Attacking an opponent on or during the break.
• Attacking an opponent who is under the care of the referee.
• Attacking an opponent after the bell has sounded the end of the period of unarmed combat.
• Flagrantly disregarding the instructions of the referee.
• Interference by the corner.


In short, fight clean, don't hit the back of the head, don't use 12 to 6 elbows, and don't kick a guy in the head when they have three points or more on the canvas.

Rules vary from organization to organization. In Strikeforce (the #2 in America), you can't use elbows to the head of a downed opponent. In Japan, they have no commissions, so they allow more (soccer kicks and stomps), but they also restrict some maneuvers that are allowed in the States.

Competitors wear four-ounce, open fingered gloves. The gloves are open for grappling purposes. Fighters must wear fight trunks, no shirts, and no shoes.

So that's the 101-level course on 'What is MMA'. Parts two through four will cover the UFC, other USA based organizations (past and present), and MMA in Japan, respectively.

And don’t worry; this part was destined to be very dry in style. It picks up from here.

Any questions, comments, or feedback, please email mmablowtorch@gmail.com.

RELATED: THE MMA BLOWTORCH: Introduction to a nine part "MMA Primer" for the Open-Minded non-fan: [CLICK TO READ FULL ARTICLE]