Saturday, 22 December 2012

Blood Sport

Blood sport

MMA stands for mixed martial arts, and it is sport discipline where fighters can use wide range of techniques (actually competitors are allowed to use techniques from every martial art without using weapons).


source:http://www.fight24.pl/ufc-czy-wiecej-znaczy-lepiej/

MMA has its origins in antique Greek  Olympics, beside wrestling (pale) and boxing  (pygme) there were also pankration, which was connection of those two.  Then there was competition called vale tudo in 20’s of XX century. It was very popular in south America and it has had no limitations, which made that competitions highly dangerous. There were also some similar competitons to pankration in Japan an India in 70’s but they didn’t gain much popularity. Real boom on MMA has started with first UFC which stands for Ultimate Fighting Championships (U.S.A) and Pride FC  (Japan). After a while UFC has grown to biggest MMA organization      
and took over such organizations like Pride FC, Strike Force, Affliction. Nowadays Popularity of MMA is still increasing, and most famous events are organized at large arenas, for thousands of fans, it also gathers and another millions in front of the TV’s


source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1417417-ufc-154-results-azamat-gashimov-and-7-other-damaging-submission-losses

Fight take place either on boxing ring, or in the cage, which is better because it prevent fighters falling out of the fighting area. It connect stand up, ground game, Kicks, punches, throws, ground pounds, and submissions.  Initially fights had very few limitations, so competitors were pulling some dangerous stunts during the fight like hitting opponent back spine or back of the head. It was also a common thing to fight bare handed, but due to high risk of breaking hand they started to wear gloves.

source: http://www.victorymmasubmissionfighting.org/instructors.htm
Time past, organizations started to put more restrictions due to the pressure of authorities. Established weight divisions, most of roganizations set time of rounds  to three five minutes rounds for average fight and five five minutes rounds for the fight of the night, unlike in mid-90’s  when competitor were fighting until one of them either gave up or get knocked out. They forbidden to attack directly on any vital points of the body, most of the organizations also forbidden from kicking a competitor that is laying on the ground to the head, but in some organizations those techniques are still allowed.
Fight can be stopped before the bell ring by submission, knock out, or referee call. If it gets to the statutory time judges will set the decision.
MMA training is about developing three basic aspects of fight –
1. Stand up(boxing, kickboxing, thai boxing etc.)
2. Wrestling (Wrestling, Judo, Sambo, etc)
3. Ground game (Jiu-jitsu, Brazilian jiu-jitsu)
Also ability to quickly switch between those three elements is very important. It is complex sport, which requires from practitioners being all-round technically and physically strong,
Training MMA bears high risk of injuries, some of them can even cause long term brake in training and painfull rehabilitation afterwards. Apparently it’s safer than other popular martial arts like boxing. If we compare a death rate, we can see that 4 deaths (three of them on illegal competitions) during  70 years of MMA history isn’t even close to 1000 during 100 years of boxing. Due to the wide range of techniques in MMA, fighters take less punches to the head.















source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1399341-the-top-5-fan-favorite-mma-moves-and-how-to-do-them

1.    What do you think of MMA as a sport?
2.    Are you familiar with any Polish fighters or MMA organizations?
3.    For MMA fans, who is your favorite fighter?

I would also like to put some highlights of my favorite MMA fighter -  Anders Silva












12 comments:



  1. For me MMA and every similar to this are not sport. It is very silly way to ruin you health. Two men stands against themselves and hurt each other for money and to entertain other men.
    People! We are better than this! Does pictures on right looks better than these on left? http://www.ufunk.net/en/photos/les-boxers-avant-et-apr%C3%A8s-le-match-excellent-projet-photo-de-nicolai-howalt/

    I understand fight in defence, but I will never accept when someone is hurting their body for money. For me they are like prostitutes. :)

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  2. I know and I often watch it, because I prefer it to boxing.
    I know many fighters, of course only from TV, but I consider them to be examples of excellent warriors.
    My favorite MMA fighter is Mamed Khalidov, he's the best polish MMA fighter, undeniably making it's way to become a champion. As for the funniest MMA fighter, I think Marcin Najman is one, he's basically a laughing stock of mixed martial arts.

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  3. Natalia, your post is highly offecive and scornful. I train MMA, and I do fight on competitions. I have neither profits or fame out of it, so it make non-profit whore?
    I dont know any fighter that started to train incase makeing money in the future. All of them has started to train because it came out of their passion. It is about being true to your self and it is something rare nowadays. Also you said that this is not a sport. I think that you dont know what your talking about. Traininng MMA is about developing all of your physicall aspects, and complexity of techniques is far beyond your understanding (you wont know untill you try :)) it take years of hard work to achive anything in this sport. I was into a lot of sports and none of them was as demanding as MMA, physsicly, technically and mentally.
    Also violence, and need to stack up is a part of our nature and you can just supplant it, as it is part of our humanity. And if someone make money out of it, belive me, it came out of passion not greed. Of course there are some exceptions, but they are not real fighters, they are just boxing bags for opponents that let them beat their selfs up for money, still it is a rare thing in MMA.

    s7719 I wouldnt call Najman a mixed martial artist, he is a boxing bag that I've mentioned before ;) I recomend you to wath Marcin Held fight as he is incredible Polish fighter with lots of successes in the age of 20.

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  4. Personally, I think this sport is very dangerous and without true rules to be followed. As a young boy I used to practice Martial Arts-Kyokushin and was really fond of it. I practiced it for few years and learnt that there is more to it than just fighting. Martial Arts teaches young people about discipline,self-respect and obedience. Unfortunately, I do not see these values in MMA.They called it Mixed Martial Arts with rules and regulations but I can't justify it. I see young people harming themselves just for fun. It is yet another sport created to entertain audience at someone's price.
    Because I do not watch it,I am unable to answer about the Polish fighters and their stories.Simply I do not know who they are and I am not interested in knowing.

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  5. Me, personally, I do not watch this kind of sport because it just does not seem to be entertaining for me. What is more, I do not like to watch people’s fights, as it is kind of brutal. However, I understand that people like it because of the adrenaline they are provided with while watching the fights and because of the excitement that is unusual in our ordinary lives. I also understand that people may enjoy fighting, as it gives them some kind of relief. When it comes to MMA I think that it might be most interesting to watch, especially because of the fact that there are a lot of techniques that can be used by the participants, so it makes the fight more exciting and unpredictable- that is what the audience loves. Since I am not a fan of this sport, I do not know any Polish fighters which means I obviously do not have any favorite ones.

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  6. Combat sports are very different, some have a centuries-old history as Karate and others only a few decades as Krav Maga. I really like to watch this kind of fights, once trained krav-mage. I think they are a fantastic way to develop physical culture and self-discipline.

    MMA is a full contact combat, players can join in during the battle of good practice all the arts and techniques of fighting from boxing to the Karate. With such a diversity of players and techniques used in these fights are very interesting. What is surprising is how quickly experienced a martial arts fighters are defeated by less experienced players who know the other arts.
    I never had the possibility to participate in training or watch live MMA fight. Also I do not know any Polish clubs, I have heard, however, that we refer in this sport very successful.

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  7. MMA is a cool sport, unfortunately, very extreme. Developing as well as destroy us physically. Like any other sport in the long run cause injuries. For many, it is a passion for life that draws them out of the crisis and that life is not glorious. Is MMA is a beautiful sport? I think not. Beautiful is the box where the players represent the technique and form for many years. I trained MMA for over a year, I came home exhausted and battered. Would I recommend someone MMA? not because it is a sport that does not have brakes which I deleted for the sport as something of which we can be proud of and call it a hobby. Polish players? What country such players ...

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  8. I really like MMA. For me it's sport such as boxing but more exciting.

    The most exciting thing is that technique is more important than physical conditions.

    i.e this fight: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsqmsF6RDjw

    In Poland MMA federations are new thing and they are not recognized in the world as UFC but they are getting more popularity.

    Especially with famous people like Pudzianowski or Burneika. It's getting more tv watchers but IMO it kills MMA spirit.

    Friend of my friend is figthing professional MMA, he was in MMA Attack 2 and last KSW.

    I have no favourite fighters because I watch it occasionally but I have a big respect for Fiodor Jemieljanienko. He is one of the best fighters ever.

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  9. Hey, like most of us, i started to follow some MMA news because of the movement connected with Pudzian and the whole marketing thing. I watched the first fight with Najman and i thought, this strongman will be a killer in the octagone. Then i did some research about any other fighters, different leagues like UFC, Pride etc. Now we have just another topic to talk about when spending time with friends or sippin a beer. I must say i am not really a big fan of MMA, i'm just a follower, and most information i get from my friends not from watching fights or reading articles... My favorite fighters are Overeem and legendary Fedor Emelianenko. I feel sorry for these fighters actually, because there suffer from brain disfuctions after years of their career. Definitely if i had to mention my polish favourite fighter it would be Mammed Khalidov, this guy has a big heart and potiential, for real. He always stay calm after winning the next fight.

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  10. In my opinion MMA is very interesting sport, I like watching MMA and for me is better than simple boxing etc. It's very spectacular and sometimes surprising, so besause of it for me is interensting, but I'm not a big fun of MMA, so I watch it very rare. I don't know any names of MMA fighters, excluding my high school classmate Dominik Malinowski, who is now the beginer of Polish MMA.

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  11. I think that MMA is is a very interesting and very spectacular sport that is becoming popular also in Poland. Of course, I agree that the statement is not a safe sport because the fighters are exposed to a lot of injuries, but the same as in boxing or any other sports, and is much more spectacular than boxing. My favorite Polish Fighter is Mamed Khalidov because he is so amazing, talented and undefeated. Mamed Khalidov is the first and current Polish KSW Federation champion, the best MMA fighter in Poland and one of the best in the world.
    THE BEST MMA Fighter is FEDOR "THE LAST EMPEROR" EMELIANENKO

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  12. I'm not a fan of this type of sport. I do not understand sports like kickboxing, MMA, etc. Yet I admire all traditional martial arts such as judo or taekwondo. Also during my trip to Asia I went to Muay Thai (Thai Boxing) match and I must admit that I really liked it. What I like about Muay Thai is that is very traditional sport, the boxers respect each other and there is no or just a little blood during fights. When it comes to MMA, boxing, etc. there is always a large amount of blood during fights and I just cannot stand it.

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