Mixed Martial Arts encompasses any moves or techniques learned in any of the martial arts, in order to defeat your opponent. It is difficult to really place a date on the emergence of this in history. The very first emergence of martial arts in recorded history is Pankration, which evolved in Greece around 648BC, it was included in the Olympic Games. Pankration, while it was the first, it was too early a form to have any direct influence on the martial arts of today.

In the late 1800s, wrestling and boxing became popular, when no holes barred matches were held, it was not uncommon to see someone with a wrestling build and background win the competition. One of the biggest driving forces and supporters of the creation of Mixed Martial Arts was Bruce Lee. Bruce Lee had his own style as he mixed styles from Karate, fencing, boxing, Jiu Jitsu and even wrestling. He combined all of these disciplines into his own creation that he found was the best for him. As time goes on, this style of fighting is becoming more and more popular in both forums and shows no signs of waning interest. Students are learning many different disciplines in order to compete successfully in the current day ring

Nobody likes to gas out, or watch fighters gas out during a fight.

A lot of people think that to train for endurance for any sport, you have to run…long and steady.  I’m talking about running for 10 or more miles at a slow and steady pace.
Well, according to Chad Waterbury (and just about every strength and conditioning coach) this sort of training probably won’t help you too much for a sport like MMA, and will actually make you weaker overall.

Waterbury developed a system called the Hammer Down Endurance (HDE) Program designed specifically for MMA.

Check out his article on T-Mag.

It seems as though this year a lot of the “old school” UFC fighters are returning to the MMA fight scene.  There’s Frank Shamrock, Royce Gracie, and now it’s Bas Rutten!

He’ll be fighting Kimo at WFA: King of the Streets on July 22, 2006.

I’m sure he’ll beat Kimo, hopefully by a liver shot.

Check out the World Fighting Alliance press release below:

Kimo Makes it Personal, Reacting to Rutten’s Decision to Target Him For His Return

LOS ANGELES, May 30th, 2005 – Following months of public speculation regarding a potential comeback to the sport he once dominated, the World Fighting Alliance (WFA) today announced the return of mixed martial arts (MMA) superstar Bas Rutten. The former UFC Heavyweight Champion and 3 x King of Pancrase has officially signed to fight for the WFA and will make his return to the cage at WFA: King of the Streets on July 22nd at the Forum in Los Angeles against infamous Huntington Beach street-fighter Kimo in a bout that’s nothing short of personal.

After more than a six-year hiatus from competitive fighting, highlighted by work as a color commentator and network studio analyst for FOX Sport’s Pride fighting broadcasts and his involvement as a coach in the newly formed IFL, Rutten began to feel the competitive itch to get back in the cage. The recent announcements of the revitalized WFA, its impressive list of MMA stars and its first event at the Forum in Los Angeles on July 22nd provided Rutten the added motivation to make his comeback official.

“Speaking with WFA CEO Jeremy Lappen about his plans for the WFA and seeing the incredible fighters that are signing with the WFA had me very motivated about returning to the cage,” said Rutten. “I’ve managed to stay pretty close to “fighting shape” amidst my involvement with the IFL and my broadcasting work, and I’m confident that my skills will be sharp as ever when I face Kimo on July 22nd.”

Rutten will return to face a formidable opponent in Kimo, in a fight fueled by animosity, stemming from rumors over the past month of Rutten’s return and his specific decision to target Kimo as his first opponent fresh out of retirement. In an interview during a WFA production day in Los Angeles, Kimo was outspoken regarding his feelings about Rutten’s decision.

“I’ve helped this sport come from bare knuckles, no rules and no excuses to where it is today, and for this man to select me specifically as the target for his comeback is an insult to everything I’ve accomplished,” said Kimo. “This will be the shortest comeback of all time, and Bas will regret the day he chose me for his return to the cage.”

According to those present at the WFA production day, Kimo and Bas had a heated discussion away from the rest of the group. Both Bas and Kimo seemed noticeably upset throughout the afternoon and avoided being around each other for the remainder of the day.

“The day of the production shoot, I was pretty sure I wanted to return to fight for the WFA, but I had yet to make a final decision,” said Rutten. “Kimo’s comments and behavior certainly made that decision an easy one, providing me a whole new level of motivation.”

Rutten’s return to fight for the WFA is yet another in a recent series of announcements, reinforcing the WFA as a legitimate force to be reckoned with in MMA. The announcement comes on the heels of the WFA’s signing of MMA superstar Quinton “Rampage” Jackson – the man who destroyed reigning UFC Champion Chuck Liddell. The WFA also announced the WFA: King of the Streets on July 22nd at the Forum in Los Angeles, an event featuring arguably the greatest U.S. fight card ever assembled.

“A recent MMA fan poll showed that fans preferred our King of the Streets fight card over the UFC 60 card, and this was before we announced Bas’ return to fight Kimo,” said Lappen. “With this incredible fight and the incomparable fight card we’ve already announced, this will clearly be a historic evening for the sport of mixed martial arts.”

Tickets for “WFA: King of the Streets” at The Forum are available at all Southern California Ticket Master outlets (Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernadino and Ventura Counties), online at Ticketmaster.com or charge by phone at (213) 480-3232, (714) 740-2000, (661) 322-2525 or (805) 583-8700. The event will also be shown live on pay-per-view television via iN Demand (additional details for satellite television pay-per-view to be announced). For more information on the WFA, WFA fighters or WFA: King of the Streets, visit www.wfa.tv.

From Canadian MMA:

Dear CanadianMMA Fans,

The CBC is doing its first ever television segment on Mixed Martial Arts this Sunday, May 28th. It’s a 30 minute segment mainly profiling Georges St-Pierre and David Loiseau in their fights at UFC 58: USA vs Canada.

The latter portion of the segment will feature an interview with yours truly, Marco Antico, speaking about the impediments of legalizing MMA in Ontario and a rebuttal from the Ontario Athletic Commissioner, Ken Hayashi.

The news program will be part of CBC News Sunday. It will air in the morning at 10am and then repeat in the evening at 10pm. An extended 60 minute version is also planned for the summer time.

It is encouraging to see a highly respectable news agency such as the CBC do a feature on MMA and it was truly my pleasure to be involved with this project. Raising the public’s awareness on this issue is very important in achieving our ultimate goal. Therefore, please feel free to pass this information along to anyone you know who may be interested.

Sincerely,
Marco Antico
www.CanadianMMA.com

It’s been many months of anticipation for the much hyped about fight between Royce Gracie and Matt Hughes at UFC 60, and tonight, we’re going to find out who the better man is.

Personally, I don’t think Gracie stands much of a chance.

Matt Hughes is way too strong, is a more well-rounded fighter, and has more experience in MMA than Royce Gracie.

Hughes is a farm boy who hauls around haystacks all day long.  He could probably suplex a horse if he wanted to.

Royce looks malnourished.  If I didn’t know he was a fighter and saw him on TV, I probably would think that it was a show about starving people of a third world country, and I would be inclined to pull out my credit card to get ready to donate money to him for food.

Even though Gracie is coming into this fight billed as the “old man” and “MMA Legend”, if you compare their professional mixed martial arts record, you’ll see that Hughes has over twice as many fights as Gracie.

Chronologically, Royce is older, but based on fight experience, I would say Matt Hughes is over 2 times older than Gracie!

The caliber of fighters Matt Hughes has fought is much higher than the people Royce Gracie fought too.  The last few of wins for Hughes was against Joe Riggs, Frank Trigg and George St. Pierre.  As for Gracie, he beat Chad Rowan (AKA Akebono), Nobuhiko Takada, and Dan Severn (which happened in 1994 at UFC 4!).

For the fight itself, I think it’s going to end in one of 3 ways:

1.    Matt Hughes knocking Royce Gracie out on the feet in the first round
2.    Matt Hughes beating Royce Gracie to a pulp via ground and pound so his corner will throw in the towel, or
3.    Matt Hughes winning via unanimous decision over a long, drawn out and boring fight where Gracie’s only offence is holding onto Hughes in Gracie’s guard, and heel strikes to the kidneys.

Of course there’s always an outside chance for any underdog to win a fight, so Royce might pull out a fluke submission out of nowhere…but again, it’s an outside chance.

My money’s on “old man” Matt Hughes.