Mma-A Brief (american martial arts equipment) History
November 13th, 2007
It would be impossible to fully track every aspect of the beginnings of mma. The Greeks, Romans, Cavemen? I will try to bring to you a history of mma that impacted the United States as I believe it occurred, and what is now the growing popularity in this reality fighting. When I use the term reality fighting, it refers to actual full contact striking and joint wrenching submissions. It is not meant to disrespect the traditional martial arts. In Brazil there was a competition called vale tudo (Portuguese for anything goes) In the early nineties an elder son of a very respected Brazilian jiu-jitsu (bjj) master came to the United States. This elder son and his younger brother were giving Bjj lessons out of their garage. This elder son partnered with another man and began a very popular competition where fighters of different styles would fight each other abiding by only a few rules. The younger brother of the man you started this competition dominated the fighters that stood before him. Many of the fighters were of a standing style (karate,kung-fu,etc) when this young man would take them down and tie them in a pretzel they were at a loss on how to defend against it. At this time there were no time limits on rounds. This young man would hold on to his competitors like an anaconda; wearing them down and waiting for the right moment to apply a submission hold. It did not take long for future fighters to start training in this young mans style and start gaining there own submissions. One mistake was made though. Now they were getting knocked out. The new rules to this competition incorporated rounds, and if they were on the ground too long with no action the ref would stand them back up. Not exactly a grapplers desire. With these new rules in place a new breed of fighter emerged. Mma fighters had to find a new way to cope with the double threat of stand up and ground fighting. Many of these fighters started to cross train in both ground fighting and stand up. The world of mma in the United States would never be the same. It was no longer a matter of style versus style, but who had the better stand up OR ground game. Its very complex if you think about it. Say fighter A is stronger at stand up than on the ground. His competitor, fighter B is equal at both, maybe a little better at standing and just as good a fighter as A on the ground. This scenario can be a combination of a lot of variables. There is strategy in these fights. They do not just go toe to toe with a fighter. They study their competitor and try to exploit their weakness. Regardless where mma originated from, no one can deny the explosion this sport has seen, or the skill of these athletes. These are not brainless brawlers wanting to duke it out, they are skilled combatants with a strategy wanting to compete with other skilled fighters.
Shawn Sellen is the owner of the mixed martial arts website <A HREF="http://www.mmaarticles.com">mmaarticles.com</A>
So you want to start an MMA site
Are you looking to start your own MMA site or forum? Do you want some basic guidelines to get you started? Let me give you a few things I have learned over the past year of setting up my own site.
There are a few things you will need to get you started:
1. Domain name: Make sure you get a good catchy domain name that fits your subject matter, if possible get the .com or .net version.
2. Web hosting: Try not to use a free web host as many will place unwanted and unneeded advertising on your pages. There are hundreds of thousands of hosts out there, pick a reliable one. My sites are all hosted by resellerzoom/hostingzoom and I have had no problems and have received excellent support.
3. A basic vision of what you want to do with your site: Do you want a forum? A picture gallery? A directory? Get the basics of your site down and write out a plan for what to do with it. Start off small with a blog or a directory site. Use a free software for your site until you can afford to get your own custom design and or software.
Once you have got your site started you need to get people to it. Heres a few ways to go about it.
1. Link exchanges: Most sites will exchange links without a problem as it also helps them out when people find their site through you. The mma community is very helpful with each other in this aspect.
2. Directories: There are thousands upon thousands of free directories out there you can submit your site to. Use the list located at http://www.directorycritic.com/free-directory-list.html they provide over a 1000 directories that provide free submissions. The best thing about most directories is that they are a free link back.
3. Forums: Join the forums at the larger news sites and keep a link to your site in your signature.
Once you have found your audience you have to keep them coming back:
1. Make sure your content is updated: There are events all over the country that happen every day and every weekend. Gather event info and post the info and pictures on your site. Write your own short articles, do interviews with interesting people from the world of MMA.
2. Keep our site organized: Make sure it is easy to find your way around your site.
3. Write your own articles and submit them to article directories, the more they are published the more link you will gain to your site
I hope this helps those of you that this article reaches out to. If anyone has any questions feel free to contact me through my site and I would be glad to help out.
Brian Robertson is owner and operator of www.mmatoday.com . Born and raised in Oceanside, California
A Self-Defense Reality - A Reason to Study Reality-Based Martial Arts and Self-Defense
Imagine, if you will…
A woman walking across a dark parking lot late at night - perhaps on her way to meet her date. The lot, apparently occupied only by the vehicles parked there and the occasional cat hunting for an evening snack.
Then, as if from out of nowhere, she feels the hard, meaty arm slam into her throat from the front. While her mind races to determine exactly what’s happening, she becomes more and more aware that she is not in control - her world has just changed forever.
The woman feels her muscles contract and, though she tries to move, is aware that much of her own body won’t respond to her brain’s commands. As the adrenaline and other chemicals flood her blood stream in natural response to danger, she is overcome by a multitude of feelings and sensations that she has, quite literally, never experienced before.
As the initial shock response and wave of panic begins to ebb, she finds herself becoming aware of the sensation of her assailant’s body behind her and the fact that his arm is coming from over her right shoulder. She can now hear his hot, rasping breath in her ear and perhaps the fact that he is saying something to her; though she’s not quite sure what it is.
Since she’s taken a few self-defense classes, she remembers learning how to get out of this type of attack and reaches up to grab and pull his arm away from her neck. What she finds though, is that she cannot even begin to budge it in the least.
“Wait a minute,” she thinks in a moment of clarity, “this isn’t right.”
“This isn’t right!”
“It always worked in class.” “This guy’s holding me too tight!” “No one ever holds THIS TIGHT!”
She feels the next wave of panic start to grip her. Not because she is being attacked but…
…because she realizes that her defense doesn’t work.
“Why?” “What’s going on?!”
“It’s supposed to work!” “He said it would wo….”
As the darkness of unconsciousness overtakes her, she is left with the feeling of a warm blanket that is being pulled over someone who will sleep for a long while.
The preceding story, believe it or not, happens several times every single day in our country and around the world. To be certain, the details are different. Perhaps the victim…
…is a man - not a woman…
…never actually trained with anyone and just had their own assumptions…
…was attacked differently, but…
…the results are always the same.
Or, are they?
About the Author
Jeffrey Miller is the founder and master instructor of Warrior Concepts International. He is the author of “The Karate-Myth” and the Danger Prevention Tactics video, among others. For more info, subscribe to his ezine here.
Popularity: unranked [?]
