First off, I am aware that some of you don’t know that I am a huge mixed martial arts fan. Surprise! But even fewer of you know that I actually train at least three times a week on various components of “the game” of MMA. I have been for two years now and will continue to for quite some time. I will give you some background on the sport and then explain why it is that I participate as well as watching it.

To start, I’d say needless violence is not something I enjoy seeing. This would include all of those videos where bullies beat the crap out of kids who stand their ground on YouTube. That is not what MMA is about, though its origins begin there. Basically, everything we have evolved in to comes from Brazil and one family in particular: the Gracie family. They were taught the ground fighting sport of jiu jitsu from Japanese settlers decades ago. Having no “respect” for tradition, and I mean that in a good way, they began to modify the techniques and soon developed their own system of Gracie Jiu Jitsu (or Brazilian Jiu Jitsu as it is known primarily today.) One member of the Gracie family in particular is responsible for the majority of the techniques, a naturally small guy name Helio Gracie.

Helio was originally not allowed to practice the art as he was, in the doctors of that times own words, “sickly”. He modified the moves he saw his brothers using and with the power of leverage created what we see today. The Gracie family, thinking that they had the secret sauce to all combat, sent letters around the world to challenge fighters in nearly all disciplines. They won virtually all of the contests. No one knew in that day how to continue fighting once the fight reached the ground.

Fast-forward to the 1990’s in America. The Gracies wanted a showcase to display their art to Americans. A little venture began called the Ultimate Fighting Championship (later truncated to UFC.) Their prize student at that time was a modest looking fellow named Royce Gracie. He dominated the tournament-style matches fighting 5 times in one night! He only participated in the first 4, and won UFC 1, 2, and 4 before leaving the octagon. (While Royce did not win UFC 3, he did not loose but merely fatigued while fighting a man a solid 100 lbs. heavier than himself.) The idea behind the contest was trying to mimic a street fight. No rules or time limits, and the reason for the octagonal cage was simply that there were no corners to back in to. The Gracie family left the UFC after UFC 4 for reportedly philosophical objections to the direction the UFC was going. They began to add time limits and weight classes and this experiment began to take on the identity of a sport.

One thing the UFC ultimately proved was that no one martial art was supreme. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu dominated early on, but once more proficient collegiate wrestlers and other ground-gamers come on board, the playing field was leveled. Now, to succeed in the UFC you would not only need a ground component, be it wrestling, Jiu Jitsu, or whatever, you would also need some striking components as well.

The sport all but disappeared in the early part of 2000, but people watching the videos on the Internet kept the flame going while morons like John McCain continued his crusade against alleged violence. (He has changed his stance on this by the way.) The UFC was bought by the Fertita brothers for $2M in the early 2000’s and they put a friend of theirs in charge by the name of Dana White, and while loosing millions for many years have turned this thing of MMA in to a gold mine for millions of sponsors worldwide.

The athletes in MMA have turned from rough-neck hoodlums in to world-class athletes. (National Geographic did an awesome piece on this, for a preview, check this out.

My wife and I began training in early 2008, initially in Krav Maga and kickboxing at KBX in Atlanta, but later we incorporated more groundwork, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in particular here in Orlando at Gracie Barra (pronounced like baja.) It is by far the best cardio you will ever get and something about one on one sparring is primal and satisfying at the same time. Here are my recommendations for both self-defense and MMA: For straight self-defense, do NOT take any MMA classes. Actually, any training is good, but for self-defense there are no rules like there are in the UFC. For this, I would recommend Krav Maga. It is an Israeli martial art that combines many different styles of fighting to effectively disable, or kill, an attacker. And yes, it does tech lethal attacks like eye gouges, throat punches and elbows to the base of the neck. It is not for professional fighting. As for MMA, you will need two things, something while standing and something when the fight goes to the ground. I chose Muay Thai for stand up (which is kickboxing with knees and elbows allowed) and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for the ground. Almost all title holders in the UFC use some combination of this, and those who don’t know how to defend the common attacks from these disciplines. As for Tae Kwon Do, I’d say if it is your only option where you live, it is somewhat effective. It contains virtually no ground components and teaches to kick with the ball of the foot where I believe the shin is the most effective, but to each his own. I am the proud parent of a 9 year-old green belt in ATA Tae Kwon Do. It also has encouraged a great deal of sparring which I like. Any question of comments, please feel free to leave them below.