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Mixed Martial Arts are an essential part of the development of our society being as long as the history of mankind and being as important as the development of industries, from sheet metal forming to the production of sports equipment.

Mixed Martial Arts, MMA – sport and the category of martial arts, which includes various means and methods of defense and attack in close combat.

The basis of mixed martial arts is classic wrestling (Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling, judo, jiu-jitsu, etc.) and classical striking technique (boxing and kick-boxing, Muay Thai, etc.).

In contrast to the classical martial arts, most of which originate from the East, mixed martial arts do not carry a spiritual or religious pressure, preferring sports aspects.

Unified and effective mixed martial arts have become increasingly popular in today’s world.

Open competition in MMA – Fighting mixed style, or “ultimate fighting” – is particularly popular.

The most popular among regular competitions are the Absolute Fighting Championship (UFC), K-1 World Championship, Championship, Cage Rage, Fighting Championships PRIDE (before the collapse in 2007), Fight Championship RINGS (before the collapse in 2002) and others.

Pankration was an ancient form of unarmed combat, resembling modern MMA.

While various forms of unorganized, unarmed combat without rules precede the history, civilization, and even human varieties directly (even monkeys are fighting hand to hand), the earliest documentation of organized struggle with minimal rules was Ancient Greek pankration, which was introduced in Olympics in 648 BC.

Ancient Greek pankration later inspired strong Etruscan and Roman pankratsium, the case of demonstrations in Roman Coliseum. Just in the Early Middle Ages, statues were raised in Rome and other cities, to lift a wonderful pankratiasts of Rome.

Competition without rules reportedly took place in the late 1800’s, when wrestlers representing a huge range of fighting styles including various styles of fighting, Greco-Roman wrestling and many others met in tournaments and matches in the music halls throughout Europe.

Competitions in mixed styles such as boxing against jiu-jitsu were popular entertainment throughout Europe, Japan and the Pacific during the early 1900’s.

Professional wrestling died out after World War I and was reborn in two streams: “hunting”, in which the fighters really fought, and “show”, which evolved into modern professional Restling.

In the late 1960’s until the early 1970’s, the idea of combining the elements of a multi-martial arts was popularized in the USA by Bruce Lee through his system and philosophy of Jeet Kune.

In the MMA there are two basic strategies of warfare: shock technique – when the soldier tends to win by punches, elbowing, knees and kicks, and wrestling – when a fighter uses throws, grabs and pain / chokes. However, to improve the skills of warfare the martial arts are traditionally used.

* To improve the shock technique in the rack the most popular are boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, various forms of karate.

* To improve the control in clinch the most popular disciplines are freestyle wrestling, Greco-Roman wrestling, Judo, and Sambo, while Muay Thai is practically indispensable for mastering the technique of strikes in clinch.

* Finally, the pit is improved by studying Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Shoot wrestling, judo and sambo.

These martial arts are effective to learn how to be in a dominant position on the floor, and protection from it.

Particular attention is paid to the study of pain and strangling techniques. On the initial stages of the MMA, as a modern sport, pain and strangling techniques were extremely effective and allowed the men with unimpressive physical characteristics to win the victories over much larger opponents.

It should be noted that the limitations of the traditional form of many martial arts inevitably led to an adaptation to the conditions of the battle on mixed rules.

For example, traditional boxing stance is ineffective to counter-attack after a low-Kicks, Muay Thai because of its static nature it makes the fighter vulnerable to the passage in the legs, while in judo considerable emphasis is made on the use of ghee. As a result, many of the fighters train with the coaches of different styles under the auspices of a fight club.

* Approaches to the workouts vary to some extent in every club, however, they are invariably a combination of aerobic exercises and high-speed exercises, and strength training.

Pankration is the oldest style of fighting without weapons, resembling modern MMA. The ancient Greeks introduced this discipline in the Olympic Games in 648 BC.

Greek pankration then transformed into a more brutal Etruscan and Roman “pankratium”. The fighting in this style were shown in the Colosseum, and the statues of eminent fighters were subsequently established in Rome and other Italian cities.

Some public performances of battles took place in the end of XIX century. They represented different styles of fighting, including jujutsu, wrestling and other styles.

Competitions with mixed styles (e.g. a boxer against a wrestler) were very popular in Europe and in many countries in the Far East at the turn of XIX and XX centuries.

In England the martial art called “bartitsu” appeared, combining European and Asian studies.

Mention of bartitsu, in particular, is found in the books of famous English writer Arthur Conan Doyle, who attributed the possession of “deadly struggle of bartitsu” to his anti-hero – Professor Moriarty.

His expertise in this area Moriarty uses a melee fight against Sherlock Holmes, the representative of the School of English boxing, at the edge of the Reichenbach Falls.

After the First World War, the struggle was revived in the two main streams. First – was a real competition, called “shootwrestling”; second began to depend more on the planned choreographed show, which led to professional wrestling, now popular in the U.S..

In the late 60-ies the concept of combining elements of different martial arts was popularized by Bruce Lee, however, because of the “Iron Curtain”, in the USSR, these skills became widely known only in the late 70’s.

The philosophy developed by Bruce Lee, was called “JKD”, and one of its main principles is the ability to adapt successfully to a fighter of any style.

Exercise by Lee and, especially, movies with his participation influenced the MMA to such an extent that in 2004 UFC president Dana White called Lee “the father of MMA.” It should be noted that in addition to JKD since even more ancient times the mixed-martial arts such as karate and kadzyukembo INSEE Goju Ryu already existed.

In Russia, the predecessor of the MMA was Sambo – a system developed by the synthesis of many types of martial arts in the USSR in 1938, thanks to the order № 633 “On the development of freestyle struggle”.

Of all of existing martial arts, Sambo most closely resembles the MMA according to the arsenal of techniques used.

However, it should be noted that Sambo is divided into two main areas: sports and military, also founded in 1930s, but till 1991 it was available only to law enforcement agencies.

In the first case, the main task is to demonstrate the throwing techniques or techniques of pain sleight, the Combat Sambo is much closer to the MMA in its essence, as its primary ability is that the fighter should deprive the enemy of the resistance.

How are the mixed martial arts called in Europe?

There are different versions: mix fight, free fight, and others, but the essence is one. All of them belong to the MMA (mixed martial arts), and the names vary from country to country and there are some small differences in the rules.

How did you meet with Fedor Emelianenko?

I learned Fedor when he began performing in PRIDE.

I called him and offered to meet.

After talking with him, I realized that Theodore, as a champion of the world, should make completely different money.

In this “kitchen” I’ve been for a long time, so I understand the price of today’s market. We immediately found common language.

Fedor knew me a little from the words of other guys. At that time I already had contracts with Amar Suloev, Roman Zentsov, Andrei Semenov. They met with Fedor in tournaments in Combat Sambo.

It happened so that one organization offered me a very good contract. I offered good conditions to Fyodor, and he gladly accepted them. Thus our collaboration began.

How are mixed martial arts developing now?

We have already established branches in many countries and the tournaments ae held. In 2010 24 events are scheduled, not counting those where Fedor Emelianenko will participate. I try to attend maximum of the tournaments, but unfortunately it does not always work.

President of the League of mixed martial arts MIXFIGHT M-1, Vadim Finkelstein told about the birth of mixed martial in Russia. Vadim Dyachenko, in childhood and youth, you did not go in for any sport. How is it that you came to mixed martial arts and now you dedicate the most of your time to it? Rather, [...] - [Read more]

Mixed martial arts (often called the English acronym MMA – Mixed Martial Arts) – are martial arts, among people and in show business incorrectly called fights without the rules are a combination of many techniques, schools and trends.

MMA is characterized by a full contact battle with the shock and control equipment in the clinch, and in the ground floor. The term “MMA” was proposed in 1995 by Rick Blum, the president of Battlecade, one of the earliest organizations of MMA.

The roots of MMA goes back to the days before our era: the ancient Greeks at the first Olympic Games competed in Pancration, however, until 1990’s MMA could not boast of great popularity in the world.

Only with the formation and development of such tournaments as the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Pride Fighting Championship, etc., the popularity of MMA has risen sharply, the fall of boxing entertainment also contributed to this.

Originally the competition was organized to identify the most effective martial arts without weapons and having a minimum of rules. However, in connection with criticism of sport as a “massacre”, the promoters have introduced the additional restrictions to improve the safety of athletes and attract new viewers.

In Russia, the example of the national martial arts – is combat sambo – it is closest to the arsenal and the rules to the mixed martial arts, along with jujutsu and valetudo. Ukrainian version of mixed martial arts is free-fight.

Russian soldiers act successfully in world tournaments and are popular both in Japan and in America, where the MMA is very popular.

The most famous Russian representatives in this sport are Fedor Emelianenko, Aleksander Emelianenko, Sergei Kharitonov, Roman Zentsov, and Oleg Taktarov. Among the immigrants from the former Soviet Republics the most famous are Igor Vovchanchyn, Andrei Arlovski, Vladimir Matyushenko, Manvel Gamburyan and Karo Parisyan.

UFC 88 seems to be a card that Dana White threw together to keep the one-time UFC poster boys Chuck Liddell and Rich Franklin in the contender picture. Liddell will have his hands full with Rashad Evans, who should be able to control Chuck and win a decision. Liddell is a -260 favorite going in, but I would take the upset in this one.

Rich Franklin, a -230 favorite, should be able to handle Matt Hamill. He’s improved his take-down defense over the last year, and Hamill is essentially a punching bag during any stand-up stage the fight may be in. Look for Rich Franklin to get a TKO or submission via rear naked choke.

Other winners I’m picking include Rousimar Palhares, who brings a lethal BJJ game against the aging Dan Henderson, and Karo Parisyan, who should be able to Judo throw around Yoshiyuki Yoshida with ease.

UFC 88 is set for September 6 at the Phillips Arena in Atlanta. Fighting on the card will be a collection of has-beens, including former UFC poster boy Chuck Liddell (21-5 MMA, 16-4 UFC). He will fight the undefeated Rashad Evans (11-0-1 MMA, 6-0-1 UFC), who should be able to put a beating on Chuck if he doesn’t get the main-event jitters.

The other fights include washed-up former poster boys like Rich Franklin (23-3 MMA, 10-2 UFC) and Dan Henderson (22-7 MMA, 2-2 UFC). Franklin will fight fellow Cincinnati native Matt Hamill (4-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) in the night’s co-main event. Henderson fights Rousimar Palhares (8-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC).

The rest of the card includes:

- Karo Parisyan vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida
- Martin Kampmann vs. Nate Marquardt
- Kurt Pellegrino vs. Thiago Tavares
- Tim Boetsch vs. James Lee
- Matt Brown vs. Dong Hyun Kim

There are three people at the top of the MMA mountain: Fedor Emelianenko, Anderson Silva and Georges St. Pierre. For now, thanks to his unanimous victory over Jon Fitch earlier this month at UFC 87, St. Pierre has muscled his counterparts out of the spotlight.

Sherdog’s Jake Rossen has begrudgingly given St. Pierre the nod as the king of the cage, citing his quality and variety of opponents. Emelianenko doesn’t have the UFC promotional machine behind him, and the heavyweight division is pretty thin these days. Silva is ahead of St. Pierre on Sherdog’s most recent pound-for-pound rankings, but those were made two months ago. Rossen prefers GSP’s all-around game and points at Silva’s relative lack of wrestling skills to make his final decision.

We’ll get to see the next chapter on Oct. 25 when Silva headlines UFC 90 against Patrick Cote. Emelianenko has pulled out of the Oct. 11 Affliction event with a hand injury.

There would be no going against the script this time. Saturday’s big UFC 87 pay-per-view had some of the best fights of the year, and the favorite won all three of the marquee matchups.

It started with Kenny Florian (-145) beating Carlos Huerta by decision, winning every round 10-9 in a smart, technical display featuring some hard kicks and takedowns. Later in the evening, Brock Lesnar (-240) supplied the beatdown with another unanimous decision over Heath Herring. Lesnar was dominant, but patient, learning from his mistake in his UFC debut loss to Frank Mir.

The main event topped them all. Georges St. Pierre (-350) was never in danger against Jon Fitch, but the underdog showed a lot of heart and even had some good offense in the second and fourth rounds. In the end, St. Pierre remains the Welterweight champion by unanimous decision. Next up: a likely bout with Lightweight champ B.J. Penn.

The UFC has assembled the largest, deepest roster of MMA talent in the world. But when it comes to the heavyweights, seven of the Top 10 in the Sherdog rankings are plying their trade elsewhere. Fedor Emelianenko, Tim Sylvia, Andrei Arlovski and Josh Barnett were all part of last month’s Affliction: Banned event.

Part of the reason for this slowdown is the latest season of The Ultimate Fighter, in which interim Heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and No. 1 contender Frank Mir are acting as coaches. They won’t meet until December, after the series is done airing. But Emelianenko’s refusal to sign with UFC, and Couture’s subsequent defection, have kept what should be the biggest money fight in MMA out of the Octagon.

Into the breach steps Brock Lesnar. He’s a –230 favorite over Heath Herring (+180) at Saturday’s UFC 87 event in his home state of Minnesota. He’s big, and he’s popular, but is he ready to lead?

The money is piling up behind Georges St. Pierre for next week’s UFC 87: Seek and Destroy at the Target Center in Minneapolis. He’s up from –295 to –340 to beat Jon Fitch and retain the UFC Welterweight title. I predict he’ll do just that, but it’s difficult not to take Fitch at +260. All he’s done is go 8-0 in the octagon.

I have much the same feeling about Brock Lesnar (–270). Yes, he is exactly the kind of person you do not want to find yourself in combat with. But we saw in his UFC debut against Frank Mir that Lesnar needs to work on his defense. It’s enough to make me lean toward Heath Herring (+210) in their heavyweight bout, if only from a value standpoint. Lesnar should still win.

One upset I predict will happen: Roger Huerta (+125) over Kenny Florian (–155). Huerta hasn’t lost an MMA bout in over four years.

Aug. 9 is a little over a week away, but it’s not too early to gaze into the crystal ball for UFC 87: Seek and Destroy. As long as the “Octagon Girls” are inside. Mercy.

Welterweight: Georges St. Pierre (champion) vs. Jon Fitch (challenger). St. Pierre is the best there is. Fitch is capable, but moving way up in class.
Prediction: St. Pierre Pick: Fitch (+235)

Lightweight: Kenny Florian vs. Roger Huerta: Huerta is 6-0 in UFC and battle-tested before that. Florian is the public favorite.
Prediction: Huerta Pick: Huerta (+125)

Heavyweight: Brock Lesnar vs. Heath Herring: Lesnar was beating the tar out of Frank Mir before getting sucked into a kneebar. He needs to prove himself.
Prediction: Lesnar Pick: Herring (+210)

Lightweight: Manny Gamburyan vs. Rob Emerson: Odds were pending at press time. I like Gamburyan’s judo background and his attitude.

Middleweight: Jason MacDonald vs. Demian Maia: Maia’s impressive Brazilian jiu-jitsu skills should overcome the tough Nova Scotia veteran.

They’re pulling out all the stops for this Saturday’s Affliction: Banned show at the Honda Center in Anaheim. Megadeth will be there. So will Michael Buffer. The undercard is being shown on cable for free. And the main event features two of the top heavyweights in the sport: Fedor Emelianenko and Tim Sylvia.

Emelianenko was the –350 favorite at press time; he’s 28-1-1 in MMA action, with the only loss coming at a RINGS event in 2000 due to a very controversial referee stoppage. Sylvia (+275) is 24-4, with all four losses against top competition while fighting for the UFC Heavyweight title.

That competition level might be the difference in Saturday’s fight. Emelianenko hasn’t really been tested since beating Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic at PRIDE Final Conflict 2005. And this isn’t the first time Sylvia goes into combat as the underdog. He’s got all the betting value in this matchup, but if you ignore the odds, Fedor is the easy pick.

It would be even more shocking if we hadn’t seen it so many times before. Once again, an alumnus of The Ultimate Fighter series has pulled off a major MMA upset. Once again, a big-name fighter from PRIDE has lost in the UFC Octagon. But it’s still strange to see this: Forrest Griffin, Light Heavyweight champion.

Griffin had the fight of his life last Saturday at UFC 86 in Las Vegas, going to the wire with defending champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. The fight could have gone either way; in the end, Griffin won a unanimous decision that did not sit well with many fans at Mandalay Bay. A rematch seems inevitable.

Patrick Cote scored an even narrower victory over Ricardo Almeida in Saturday’s second most important bout, winning by split decision. Cote improves to 12-4 in MMA action and moves one step closer to a fight with Middleweight champion Anderson Silva.

We’ve missed you, Rampage.

Quinton Jackson will grace the octagon for the first time since September when he faces Forrest Griffin in the main event of UFC 86. Saturday’s big card at Mandalay Bay isn’t as hotly anticipated as you might expect, mainly because of the long layoff that allowed Jackson and Griffin to participate as a coaches in The Ultimate Fighter 7 series.

It also doesn’t help that Griffin is a +215 underdog. Although he upset Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 76, Griffin is expected to have his head handed to him by the indomitable Rampage. It isn’t that Griffin can’t stand up with the best of them – this is all about Jackson. His victories over Chuck Liddell and Dan Henderson showed the value of Jackson’s training with Juanito Ibarra. Any concerns about Jackson’s work ethic are ancient history now.

Griffin may still be the value pick, but Jackson isn’t likely to lose the Light Heavyweight strap this Saturday.

We’ll get that Chuck Liddell match eventually. The latest attempt to bring “The Iceman” back to the octagon will culminate at UFC 88 on Sept. 6, when Liddell and Rashad Evans are scheduled to meet in the main event at Phillips Arena in Atlanta.

This fight was originally supposed to take place at UFC 85. Liddell and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua were going to meet, but Evans stepped in for the injured Rua, and then Liddell tore a hamstring. UFC officials scrapped the whole fight at that point.

If things go as planned this time, this will be the first fight of 2008 for both men. Odds had yet to be posted at press time; the popular Liddell figures to be the favorite, but Evans has yet to lose a fight in his MMA career. The winner of The Ultimate Fighter 2 series is 11-0-1 with a win over Michael Bisping and a draw against Tito Ortiz.

Fight fans are looking forward to this Saturday’s finals for UFC’s “The Ultimate Fighter: Team Rampage vs. Team Forrest“. Amir Sadollah and C.B. Dollaway will square off in the championship match at The Pearl in Las Vegas; Dollaway is the favorite at –160, although he’s lucky even to be in Saturday’s fight. Sadollah upset Dollaway in the semis, but Jesse Taylor lost his spot in the finals after getting drunk and disorderly outside the Palace Station.

UFC will serve up Evan Tanner vs. Kendall Grove in the main event. Tanner is a heavy –200 chalk even though he hasn’t won a fight since 2006. The former Middleweight champion came out of semi-retirement to sign a four-bout deal with UFC; his return in March was a losing proposition at the hands (and knees) of Yushin Okami. Grove is also trying to get back into the win column after consecutive losses to Patrick Cote and Jorge Rivera.

Every athlete’s career has a beginning, a middle and an end. Tito Ortiz looks like he’s close to the end now.

Ortiz was the biggest name in MMA as recently as two years ago. Then he lost a chance to regain the light heavyweight championship versus Chuck Liddell, drew Rashad Evans, and lost to Lyoto Machida last month at UFC 84. By press time, Ortiz had fallen out of the Top 10 light heavyweights in the world according to the Sherdog rankings.

The “Huntington Beach Bad Boy” still has plenty of fight in him at age 33. But you can read the future on the T-shirts Ortiz wears to the octagon; against Machida, the shirt read “I Did It My Way.” This past week, Ortiz claimed in an interview with Maxim that UFC prez Dana White “made the biggest mistake of his career” by letting Ortiz “get away.” Then again, White’s career has yet to peak.

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Is Chuck’s latest injury the last straw?

We all love to see the athletes we admire age gracefully and pick the right moment to retire from their chosen sport. It’s entirely unfair to the athletes themselves, of course. And the pressure to retire sooner rather than later is magnified in combat sports. You can only take so much punishment.

Chuck Liddell’s career looked in grave danger of collapse after he lost to both Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Keith Jardine. Instead, “The Iceman” showed he could still deliver at age 38 when he beat Wanderlei Silva last December.

His next fight will be for big money. It was supposed to be this Saturday in London versus Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, but both fighters had to pull out with injuries – Liddell tore his right hamstring in training. It’s a serious enough injury to once again call into question his future in MMA. But, as Randy Couture has proved, there is life in the octagon after 40.

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