Rec and Sports

Decades before mixed martial arts became popular in the United States, events matching fighters of different fighting disciplines were very common in Japan. They weren’t called “mixed martial arts” at the time, but that’s essentially what they were.There’s an entire history of pro wrestlers fighting specialists from other martial arts (particularly judo) that were leaving out, but during the’70’s Antonio Inoki began to put the concept of “mixed martial arts” on the map with his matches against fighters from other disciplines.

Inoki billed himself as ‘World Martial Arts Champion’ and would frequently face other high profile fighters in contests that are generally believed to have had a pre-determined outcome similar to professional wrestling. Inoki faced a ‘who’s who’ of the martial arts world, but none were more famous than heavyweight boxing legend Muhammad Ali.

There’s still much speculation about how Muhammad Ali came to fight Japanese wrestling legend Antonio Inoki, and even more uncertainty about what happened immediately before and during the fight. Ali took the booking because he thought it was to be a big paycheck for little work. Most accounts suggest that his handlers agreed to the ‘worked’ finish without his knowledge, and once he found out that he was to ‘take a dive’ he refused.

Many conspiracy theorists have noted that these rules were never announced to the crowd on fight night, leaving many with the impression that they were being made up as they went along. Action in the fight would further validate this view, but there actually were rules that both camps agreed to heading into the fight. Not surprisingly, most of these were designed to protect Ali. In fact, they were so one-sided that if Inoki hadn’t been so concerned about preserving his big payday he would have been justified in not fighting. Inoki was prohibited from punching with a closed fist or striking Ali in the head (ostensibly since he wasn’t wearing gloves). Inoki was prohibited from using any sort of submission maneuver. The most absurd limitation was that Inoki was prohibited from “grappling or trying to take Ali to the ground”. A few observers noted that this was like not letting Ali throw a jab.

Despite the repeated howls from the media that the fight was ‘fixed’, it was anything but–it was a real fight and painfully boring. Ali did next to nothing, Inoki did whatever he could within the one sided rules. Eventually, Inoki spent most of the fight on the ground trying to throw kicks at Ali’s legs. The event ended up as a 74-74 draw. Both fighters got paid, and the fans got to watch a fight albeit a really, really bad one.

Some interesting trivia about the fight–the referee was former pro wrestler “Judo” Gene Labell, who is considered by many ‘the baddest man on the planet’ even in his 80’s. He could have very likely beaten up both men at the same time–a spectacle that might have been welcomed by the live crowd and closed circuit audience worldwide.

The fiasco didn’t hurt Inoki’s popularity in Japan whatsoever. Oddly, he became something of a hero for trying to take the fight to Ali despite the one sided rules. He would remain one of Japan’s most popular pro wrestlers and later serve in the country’s parliament. Inoki’s fights against other martial artists remained wildly popular, and are often credited as being the forerunner of PRIDE, RINGS and the major MMA organizations in Japan today.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and noted authority on price per head. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sportsbooks and offshore bookmaking sites. He lives in Las Vegas, Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and a kangaroo. He is currently working on an autobiography of former energy secretary Donald Hodell.

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What a question, eh? On one hand you have incredible athletic performances, filled with plotline and acting and dazzling kung fu masters. On the other hand you have the ultimate cockfight, man again man, brawny, trash talking tattoo heads putting it on the line in a mixed martial arts fight!

Well, perhaps I have gone a bit too far in my description, but we can live with that. There is enough truth in my sentences. And, the question, to be truthful, is a good one.

Mixed martial arts, or MMA, as as people call it, is the fastest growing sport on earth. While I love the spectacle, I have to be truthful, it is difficult to assemble the finer points of combat. Yes, there will be incredible examples of fisticuffs, and a distinct style of ring wrestling, or jujitsu, but there won’t be the fine study of classical martial arts technique.

A study of Kung Fu, or any classical martial art such as kenpo or taekwondo or karate or whatever, is a journey through endless fine points of technique. It is an education in physics unparalleled. It does not, however, except in specific instances, present a totally street combat science.

Look a little deeper, and we can define the difference between art and sport. An art is a demonstration of the spirit, a seeking within, a distillation of the human being into finer and nobler purpose. A sport, on the other hand, is the throwing of one human being against the other, and often to the point of badly bent ears, broken noses, and consciousness battered to the point of impairment.

Thus, there are good and bad points emerging from this comparison of the two disciplines. MMA results in vicious and effective street fighting abilities, be it at a cost. Kung Fu results in incredible knowledge, but is not always street applicable.

These strengths and weaknesses do, of course, depend on the quality of the sensei one has. In the hands of a good teacher MMA will not just be awe and popcorn, but will adhere to time honored concepts of fair play, strength of personality, and the enhancement of the human being. And, a good Kung Fu instructor will understand the aspects of real life fighting that are a must if one is to survive on the street.

Of course, the initial question to this piece was more than a mere comparison of art, it is a question of which you would rather do, watch a mixed martial arts fight, or watch a kung fu extravaganza. With that in mind, this writer makes choice for watching the kung fu, simply for reasons of learning. However, I believe readers will be split down the middle, and that is perhaps fitting and correct.

Want some Shaolin Kung Fu that is gr-r-reat for the street? Head over on over Over to Monster Martial Arts.

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I think the main problem with most modern gyms is that they’re just boring, I’m not surprised when people give up after only a month. For me the most important factor in any workout is that it’s fun. This is why I love boxing training because there’s always something new to learn, here’s a quick guide for beginners.

Shadow boxing is where you focus mainly on technique and form, you don’t have to worry too much about power/speed. Since you’re just punching air it’s a great way to loosen up your muscles at the start of the workout. Remember to practice any combo punches you know as it’s much easier to do here than on the bag.

It’s not immediately apparent why boxers do so much skipping but it’s one of the most intense exercises you can do, plus it really helps with balance which is important in all sports. You don’t want to skip for more than 3 min as you want to keep your legs fresh for the next stage.

For this part you need a good punch bag, I have a cool free standing punch bag in my house which is great because you don’t have to attach it to the wall. I usually work the bag in 4 minute intervals, also remember to move as much as possible as you hit as this is how real boxers fight.

The speed bag looks like a smaller punch bag on a spring and it’s not designed to improve power only accuracy and speed. Rhythm is really important when working it as you need to alternate your hands really fast to get it to bounce back right, practice makes perfect.

For this workout you don’t actually have to do all of those parts in that order, as long as you stretch out well before you start you’ll be fine. You also need to remember to break for at least 1-2 minutes before the next sector, this is the only way to get the most from your body.

If you’re looking for a quality punch bag then check out our new site

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The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) started the mixed martial arts (MMA) mania that swept the world of fighting sports when it held its very first tournament 18 years ago. To date, a number of other promoters hold their own MMA events around the world to cater to the growing fan base of supporters and enthusiasts. However, only a few do know and appreciate how UFC popularized MMA. Most of the younger generation of fans may not even know who the original fighters were and how matches were made at that time.

The 1st Ultimate Fighting Championship event was held on November 12, 1993 at the McNichols Sports Arena in Denver, Colorado through the collaboration of Art Davie and Rorion Gracie. Davie was an advertising executive who was inspired with the Gracies in Action video series which featured the Gracie jiu-jitsu practitioners defeating masters of various martial arts disciplines. He wanted to capture the same excitement by holding a tournament that pitted fighters with various martial arts backgrounds to see which one is the most effective fighting style in a real no holds barred fight. Through the help of investors and by partnering with SEG, Davie’s WOW Entertainment was able to organize the event. It was hosted by Bill Wallace and NFL Hall of Famer Jim Brown. Five-time kickboxing champion Kathy Long and Rod Machado provided ringside commentaries as well.

At this time, viewers and even the referees were not very clear with the rules and how the fights went as this was the first time such an event was ever organized. Although it was advertised that it was “No Holds Barred” and that there were no rules, no judges, nor time limits, eye gouging and groin shots were specifically mentioned during the event as prohibited. Eventually, rules were drafted and effected as they are today due to legislative requirements. But at that time, it did not matter and this lack of rules intrigued fans and contributed to the notoriety of the sport as violent.

In hind sight, the event was organized to showcase the dominance of Gracie jiu-jitsu over other martial arts. The producers originally wanted to have Rickson Gracie to represent the jiu-jitsu but Rorion picked their smaller brother Royce to fight in the event. It was said that Royce was chosen because he looked unimpressive and having him win using jiu-jitsu will serve to highlight its superiority.

The first match was between Teila Tuli and Gerard Goudreau. Tuli was a 6′2″ 420lbs former professional Sumo wrestler while Goudreau was a 6′5″ Savate heavyweight champion. After bull-rushing Goudreau, Tuli received some vicious hits which ended the fight in around 30 seconds only and losing several of his teeth. The second fight was between Zane Frazier and Kevin Rosier. Frazier was a 6′6″ 230lbs WKF super heavyweight Kenpo Karate champion while Rozier was a 6′4″ 265lbs ISKA and WKA super heavyweight kickboxing champion. Frazier and Rosier took turns having the upper hand with the latter finally winning after 5 minutes. The third fight was between Royce Gracie and Art Jimmerson who were the most diminutive among the fighters weighing 178lbs and 196 lbs only. Jimmerson was the IBF North American cruiserweight or light heavyweight champion and was best remembered for wearing a 12oz boxing glove on his left hand only. Royce made short work of Jimmerson by making him lose his balance and mounting him to force him to tap out. In this fight, Royce already showed the importance of executing ground maneuvers. The last elimination fight was between Ken Shamrock and Patrick Smith. Shamrock was the #1 Shoot fighter in the world while Smith was the 1993 Savate heavyweight champion and was both a Tae Kwan Do black belter and a skilled boxer. Still, Shamrock proved his superiority as an all-around fighter and placed Smith into submission in less than 2 minutes.

The first semifinal fight was between Goudreau and Rosier. Both have already suffered some injuries from their fights earlier with Goudreau having a broken hand and Rosier having a heavily swollen left eye. Goudreau dominated the fight by throwing a barrage of punches and a heavy stomp to Rosier’s ribs which ended the match in less than a minute. The second semifinal match was between Gracie and Shamrock. As expected, Gracie also made short work of Shamrock as the former secured a choke and forced the latter into submission. The final match was between Gracie and Goudreau. Gracie found it difficult to take Goudreau down as he was using the cage for his balance. Eventually, Gracie took him to the ground and took control of the fight. However, Gracie also suffered from a bite from Goudreau which left his ear bleeding. In less than 2 minutes, Gracie became the first UFC champion. He did prove the superiority of jiu-jitsu over other martial arts in spite of his size.

The UFC and its fighters would go on to evolve as it is today. Despite some snags along the road, UFC prevailed and the loyalty of its fans never wavered. Although the UFC1 barely resembled the UFC of today, it will always be remembered as a momentous event that placed MMA into the consciousness of many.

Want to find list your fighter profile, discuss fights, read about fighters? Check out www.fighterprofile.com.au

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I get bored very quickly when it comes to working out, especially when I’m in some boring gym. However when I discovered boxing training that all changed because not only is it an intense workout it’s a hundred times more fun than running on a treadmill. But what do you need to get started in boxing training?

There’s really no need to join a professional boxing gym if you’re just trying to lose weight so I want to focus on things you can buy for your home. To start with you want to get a heavy duty freestanding punch bag, this is the type with a bracket so you don’t have to drill holes in the wall!

Next you’re going to need some kind of protection for your hands as you will have some very sore knuckles otherwise. Bag gloves are cheaper than proper boxing gloves but are perfect for hitting the bag as they are much lighter. Invest in some hand wraps too to save your wrists.

Many people wonder why boxers spend so much time skipping as it doesn’t seem to be related to punching! Well for a start it builds up endurance even faster than running and it’s also great for overall co-ordination. So get yourself a good speed skipping rope to complete the workout.

All boxing workouts are based on intervals just like in a real boxing match. The idea is to tire out your lungs before your muscles and this is a great way to burn fat. So you need to do around 3 minutes on the bag then break for 1 minute before skipping for another 3 min. Do this circuit a few times and you should be exhausted.

I think the main reason boxing training works so well is that it’s so much more interesting than the average gym session. After all we all know that weight loss happens over weeks and months and unless you find a workout you can keep doing you’re never going to hit that goal. Remember to keep it intense but always fun!

For reviews of free standing punch bags check out my new blog for lots of free advice.

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Nick Diaz is a polarizing figure among MMA fans. Some are drawn to his ‘anti-hero’ persona while others are turned off by his petulance and lack of social graces. There’s no doubt, however, that he’s one of the best ‘pound for pound’ combatant in the world and last weekend added another victorious title defense to his resume with a first round stoppage of British striking specialist Paul ‘Semtex’ Daley. Diaz prefer to pit his superior technical boxing skills against his opponent’s heavy hands and survived a first round knockdown to make a first round TKO victory.

If there’s a lawful rap against Diaz it could be that he never makes things simple for himself-inside or outside the cage. He’s often his own worst adversary in terms of his public relations and has a maddening tendency to ‘fight his opponent’s fight’ when he’s got the skill set to attack weakness rather than try to match strength against strength. This tendency was on display against Daley from the outset of the fight-Diaz stood in the center of the cage, dropped his hands and started ‘trash talking’. It was a near fatal error in judgment as he was floored by a Daley power shot and had to survive a cruel onslaught from the challenger.

Afterwards, Diaz proposed it was no big deal:

“I just had stuff to say, so I said what I was going to say. I think it threw him off a bit. I didn’t ever really feel like I was in trouble. I was probably better off on my knees anyway. He couldn’t hit me once I was down.”

Diaz regained his senses and started to pick Daley apart with his very superior technical boxing aptitude. He soon floored Daley and appeared on the verge of victory only to see the feisty challenger improve and mount another onslaught that once again had the champion in trouble. Diaz once again responded to the challenge, forcing the action back to the cage while landing punches. With time expiring in the round Diaz followed up with some ‘ground and pound’ which induced the referee to call a stoppage at 4:57 of the opening round.

Diaz admitted that he would have liked to have won in more impressive fashion:

“I figured it was probably close to the end of the round but I wasn’t sure. I knew we had been fighting for awhile. It could have gone a little cleaner for me.”

MMA enthusiasts that backed Diaz as a -200 favorite likely contribute to share that sentiment having seen their fortunes reverse radically a couple of times in the five minute fight. The eventually cashed their tickets, but had to ’sweat it out’. Daley’s ‘economic backers’ suffered the same emotional roller coaster with the +170 underdog.

Daniel Scott is a freelance writer and noted authority on bookmaking software. He loves boxing club and his project writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports books and price per head sites. He lives in France, Paris in a expensive house, next to his own boxing club.

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While David Haye has been named the Haye-maker, he didn’t throw many haymakers on the 3rd of July as he proved to be more bark than bite against Champion Wladimir Klitschko. David Haye has repeatedly mocked the Klitschko brothers, claiming that they didn’t deserve the title belts they hold and even wearing a shirt where he holds the decapitated heads of the Klitschko pair as he stands triumphant.

The Klitschko brothers have always complained about Haye’s behavior, stating that while they admire him as a fighter, that as a person, he is impolite and disrespectful. This has not stopped the yammering of Haye though as he carried on his barrage on the Klitschko brothers, claiming them as sub-par fighters and frequently predicting himself as the next heavyweight boxing champion. His talk has been relentless while Klitschko said that on the day of the fight, he would let his fists do his talking.

On July 3rd their boxing match was fought in Germany and Haye proved that he, indeed, was all talk. Fighting almost exclusively defensively, David Haye never really made a move to the inside or made use of his quickness the way that most of his proponents had anticipated he would. Instead, on boxing forums and boxing social networks, many now have come to the conclusion that his strategy was to up the take on the fight to a fifty/fifty spread and then cash in on the promotions for the fight.

It’s a sad end to a boxing career that defied many odds and promoted the British boxer to the top of the boxing world. However, while Haye has not yet retired, he has consistently said that once he reaches the age of thirty one, which he has just recently reached in October, he would finish the sport.

If David Haye does retire, he will retire with an impressive record of 25 wins and 2 losses, with 23 of those wins ending with a KO. It would be an anti-climactic end to an amazing career and all boxing fans are hoping that Haye comes back for a more brilliant performance in the boxing ring.

John Casson is the contributing writer of the Imagine Sports Network which details baseball, tennis, and boxing news. He has written on the circuit in multiple sports and has followed boxing matches for many years. Also he has posted on boxing blogs as well as boxing forums for years.

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The sport of mixed martial arts seems to be taking North and South America, Europe and Japan by storm. It is not a new sport by any means; the modern round of popularity for mixed martial arts goes back about 20 years. So, it has been bubbling under for quite a time, but now every city and town seems to be offering training in MMA to one degree or another.

The sport of mixed martial arts seems to be taking North and South America, Europe and Japan by storm. It is not a new sport by any means; the modern round of popularity for mixed martial arts goes back about 20 years.

So, it has been bubbling under for quite a time, but now every city and town seems to be offering training in MMA to one degree or another.

There are gyms specializing in mixed martial arts and other gyms are providing it as one of their repertoire of martial arts and fitness regimes. However, learning MMA is not like studying other fighting skills, because MMA incorporates, or may incorporate, all the other skills. Mixed martial arts is not a sole fighting skill on its own like say, karate or aikido is.

At the end of the day, this means that a disciple of MMA has to learn say, boxing, wrestling, karate, jiu jitsu and Thai boxing which naturally takes a great deal of dedication on behalf of the acolyte.. So why would you want to learn mixed martial arts?

The reasons why individuals do some things are extremely personal, but two of the most popular factors cited for wanting to learn MMA are to remain fit and to be able to protect oneself.

MMA demands a high level of fitness and endurance, but it also increases one’s self-confidence and powers of concentration. This latter benefit seems to help children (and adults) with ADD and ADHD, but all children benefit from elevated confidence, fitness and the capacity to defend themselves from bullies.

All recognized, formal fighting skills have blind-spots when it comes to a real street brawl. In a street brawl, usually the bigger guy wins. Training can reverse this, giving the smaller individual with superior skills the edge.

However, say you learn boxing to protect yourself and you are picked on from behind one night; you are knocked to the ground and a big man gets on top of you. Your boxing abilities are not a lot of use now, are they?

Or say that you studied wrestling, but the other guy is very fast and he keeps nipping in and hitting you, wearing you down and you simply cannot get a hold of him. Or say he has a knife?

Aikido is fantastic for disarming opponents and karate and Thai boxing give you a better reach by teaching you to fight with your feet. In this manner, mixed martial arts provides a more rounded method of self-defence and attack.

Part of the skill in learning mixed martial arts is choosing which martial arts to learn. Tae kwon do is a very athletic style involving high kicks and jumps. A weighty person would not take to tae kwon do readily, but may prefer Brazilian jiu jitsu. Luckily, your teacher will know which combinations of sports will be best suited to your personality and your body type.

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Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on a range of subjects, but is now involved with Mixed Martial Arts Training Gyms. If you would like to know more, please go to our web site at Mixed Martial Arts Quotes

Source: http://www.articletrader.com
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Why Would You Want To Learn Mixed Martial Arts?

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Have you ever watched a mixed martial arts bout? There are plenty of mixed martial arts (MMA) bouts on TV, but in some countries, most of them are on Pay-Per-View (PPV). MMA is a very violent and aggressive sport in which almost anything goes

Have you ever watched a mixed martial arts bout? There are plenty of mixed martial arts (MMA) bouts on TV, but in some countries, most of them are on Pay-Per-View (PPV). MMA is a very violent and aggressive sport in which almost anything goes. Most of the fights in America are organized by the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

MMA started around 2,000 years ago when it was a sport in the early Olympic Games. It passed out of the games for some unknown reason, but it found a resurgence in Europe in the late Nineteenth Century.

Again, it died out, but came back with the Kings of the Square Ring in which Muhammad Ali took part in about 1980.

Again, MMA, which it was not called then, waned. In those earlier matches, the idea was to find out which was the best martial art, so they would pit a boxer against a wrestler or a boxer against a student of karate. In the early 1990’s, the emphasis shifted to finding out who was the best combatant, not which was the best discipline.

Fighters were permitted to use any techniques they knew. ‘Vale Todo’ (‘Everything Goes’) from Brazil was important in this development. In fact, lots of if not most of the modern MMA fighters have trained in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. The Gracie family from Brazil was (and still is) central to MMA.

In the Nineties, there were no rules really and everything went. Surprisingly, this appeared to hamper MMA’s increase in popularity, because as more rules were added to (marginally) limit the brutality, so MMA has boomed.

MMA is still very belligerent and brutal and broken limbs are not uncommon. Fortunately, the death rate in the ring is far below that of some other martial arts like boxing, in which fighters concentrate more on the head than the body.

In modern Mixed martial arts, a fighter is permitted to use his or her body as a weapon according to any martial art they have studied. Most top fighters have learned three of four and are still learning more.

The most popular starting point appears to be Brazilian jiu jitsu, followed by boxing, wrestling, Thai boxing, karate, judo and aikido.

Since there are so many martial arts disciplines, it means that no two fighters are likely to have the same approach. This has the potential to make MMA more interesting than say, boxing, because MMA includes boxing, but boxing is just boxing.

Wrestling injured the image of television bouts with its asinine, choreographed dances known as fights. It did not fool a lot of fans and it was more of a joke than a serious sport. MMA is categorically not the same.

It is not scripted, although a branch of scripted MMA may form, who knows? The sport is still in its experimental days, despite having such ancient origins. Maybe it will even become a sport in the Olympic Games again.

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Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on a variety of subjects, but is now involved with Mixed Martial Arts Training Gyms. If you would like to know more, please go to our website at Mixed Martial Arts Quotes

Source: http://www.articletrader.com
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What Is Mixed Martial Arts?

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Mixed martial arts is hugely well-liked now. It is as popular as wrestling was in the Seventies and Eighties

Mixed martial arts is hugely well-liked now. It is as popular as wrestling was in the Seventies and Eighties. The difference is that everybody knew that wrestling was sketched, whereas mixed martial arts (some fans call it cage fighting) is not. Mixed martial arts is for real and for very high stakes comparable to those of world championship weighty weight boxing championships.

Mixed martial arts or MMA used to be completely unregulated and that put a lot of individuals off in the late Eighties and Nineties, but now that there are safety rules (some, anyway), this extreme sport has become more mainstream. There are now two styles of MMA though, sport and street. The former is more governed than the latter where almost anything goes.

Despite the growing popularity of mixed martial arts, there is still no real governing body for the sport, although there are quite a number of organizations vying for the privilege on both sides of the Atlantic. Britain has at least three businesses attempting to become the regulator of MMA in the UK. The USA roughly the same.

One of the top organizers of MMA bouts, if not the top organizer, is Ultimate Fighting Championship or UFC. They put on pay-per-view bouts on cable television which can pay top fighters nearly a million dollars a fight! This merely goes to show how well-liked mixed martial arts has become.

Aside from revenue from pay-per-view and national television, there is a colossal amount being taken from spin-offs like videos, DVD’s and T-shirts. There are also collectibles, dolls and board games to say nothing of documentaries and books. Web sites on mixed martial arts abound as do blogs and forums. Most contestants also have Twitter and Facebook accounts.

This has provoked youths of both sexes to join a gym and take up martial arts. This can only be a good thing. Training frequently will counteract the tendency in Western children towards obesity and will also help tackle bullying and street violence. Trained fighters rarely become bullies or muggers.

The fad for MMA appears to be fairly recent, but that is not the case. Inter-disciplinary martial arts fighting was popular in the 1890’s in Europe. Then there was the documentary film ‘Kings of the Square Ring’ featuring Muhammad Ali in around 1980. The contemporary craze took off in the early Nineties, but it is in full swing now.

Mixed martial arts, or pankration, was an Olympic sport 2,000 years ago and supporters tried to reinstate it as such in 2004, although the movement failed, but who knows what the future will bring? A lot of powerful legislators believe that the sport is too violent and that it needs to be regulated more tightly. The fans and the fighters disagree, so we will have to wait and see which faction wins out.

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Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on a variety of topics, but is now involved with Mixed Martial Arts Training Gyms. If you would like to know more, please go to our website at Mixed Martial Arts Quotes

Source: http://www.articletrader.com
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Mixed Martial Arts: Some Details

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