A Historical Overview of MMA
A Historical Overview of MMA
Abstract
Mixed martial arts (MMA) has become one of the fastest-growing combat sports in the twenty-
first century, drawing millions of Pay-Per-View spectators since the inception of the ultimate
Fighting Championship (UFC) in 1993. Popular conceptions have credited the creation of MMA
to Bruce Lee. a Chinese-American actor and martial artist who became an icon in the 1970s and
who is still considered by many as a revolutionary figure in the field. This paper will present, in
chronological order, examples of ancient Chinese martial arts concepts preceding the creation of
modern MMA.
M;
ixed martial arts (MMA) is an
Leclectic combat sport combining
striking and grappling techniques—
extracted mainly from Muay Thai,
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ), western
wrestling, and boxing—which through
the Ultimate Fighting Championship
(UFC) banner has become one of the
fastest-growing sports in the world
(Trembow, 2007). It attracts an average
of 3.1 million Pay-Per-View spectators
and employs 270 fighters (Miller, 2008).
Dana White, the president of the most
popular fighting event in the west, acknowledges the importance of Bruce Lee's
training philosophy and the influence of his films to popularize Chinese martial
arts outside China's borders (Miller, 2008). Lee's background was mainly in wing
chun iyong chun), a fighting style that emphasizes short-range techniques; how-
ever, through his experience. Lee came to the realization that fighting requires
one to prepare himself in other areas that his physical frame and basic style
lacked. Hence Lee spent a great deal of effort researching different strength and
conditioning methods: hand techniques from western boxing; kicking tech-
niques derived from Muay Thai; French savate; and Korean taekwondo, take
downs from Japanese judo and wrestling, joint locks from jujutsu, and even west-
em fencing, to name a few influences (Lee, 1975).
Earlier Centuries of
Imperial China (221 BCE-1912 CE)
Many civilizations had their own
style of grappling, and China is no excep-
tion. The Chinese believed that head
butting ijiao di) was created by a god
named Chi You. He's also credited for cre-
ating metal weapons and for head butting
his enemies (Birrell, 1993). Head butting
might have developed over time from a
game to an early Chinese wrestling style.
By the Qin dynasty (221-206 BCE), HAN DYNASTY ORNAMENT (ABOVE)
Chinese grappling became an official mili- DEPICTING JUEDI, AND (BELOW) A
tary sport evolving both in technique as RUBBING DEPICTING XIANGPU.
well as terminology. Branches of grappling
arts became known as juedi during the Qin
dynasty, xiangpu during in the Tang
(618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties
(Henning, 2001), to shuai jiao in modern
China.
Parallel to the evolution of grap-
pling, striking methods were also practiced
and differentiated from grappling. The first
mention of a striking method, called bo (use of the hands to strike), was used as
early as the Warring States Period (475-221 BCE). This concept also appears in
early Qin dynasty (221-206 BCE) books to describe survival activities such as
hunting and fighting (Ma, 2000). In the Boole of Songs (Wikipedia, 2010), the
term bo shou was used to describe "fighting with animals" (Ma, 2000). The rela-
tionship between hunting and martial skills lies in the fact that hunting was con-
OUTLAWS
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opponent before being accepted to the program (Hsu & Chang, 2010). This cur-
riculum was a "mix" of several styles, such as eight extremes boxing, mind and
intent boxing, eight trigrams palm, chopping palms, supreme ultimate boxing,
Chinese wrestling, and several weapons. In addition to practicing the above
mentioned styles, the students had to demonstrate their skill in combat against
other students. One of the main testing grounds organized by the academy was
the institution of a national exam. Two national exams were organized, in 1928
and 1933, even though some provinces organized a similar examination at local
and provincial levels. During the examinations, participants faced each other in
matches of Chinese wrestling, empty hand, long weapons, and short weapons
fighting. Empty-hand fighting allowed striking as well as wrestling techniques
and was fought on an elevated platform (Ma, 2009; Chong, 1996). The acade-
my's instructors created several routines "mixing" different martial art styles. One
example is the complete forms of eight trigrams palm. This routine combines the
old eight palms form with elements of
xingjiquan, shuai jiao, and kicking
methods (Miller, 1992).
Additionally, during this peri-
od, renowned martial artist and schol-
ar Ma Fengtu (1888-1973) created
the "Connect AH" (Tongbei) system of
SHUAIJIAO MASTERS
IN TiANjiN CITY,
1930. LEFT TO RIGHT:
ZHANG LIANCHEN,
ZHANG HONGYU,
WANG WENHAI,
Bu ENFU,
MA WENPING,
AND
WANG HAIZHENG.
Inspiration for some grappling techniques could very well have been
passed on to Japan by Chen Yuanyun (1587-1671), who is credited by the
founders of the Kito-ryu school of jujutsu as the source of some of their skills
(Henning, 1999). Kano Jigoro (1860-1938), the Japanese master that founded
judo, was a student of Kito-ryu. Moreover, many ground-fighting techniques
found in modem BJJ were introduced to Brazil by Maeda Mitsuyo (1878-1941),
a Japanese judo master credited to have taught the Gracie family, who created
BJJ. A good example of the use of grappling techniques for police units, as prac-
ticed in China during the Republican period, is the book by Liu Jinsheng and
Zhao Jiang titled Seizing Skills (1936). This book contains several techniques sim-
ilar to those being used in modern MMA, such as the use of the guard to control
an opponent, submissions such as the rear naked choke, standing guillotine, arm
triangle, the "chicken wing," ankle lock, and knee and arm bar (Liu, Zhao, &.
Cartmell, 2007).
Modern Developments
On May 23, 2009, at UFC 98 Lyoto Machida, a fighter of Brazilian-
Japanese heritage, shocked the world after winning the light heavy weight title
via a knockout. Joe Rogan, the colorful commentator of the UFC, announced
Machida's victory as a "new era" in MMA. What made Machida's victory more
surprising is the fact that his martial background is a traditional version of
Shotokan karate or Machida karate. Up until that point, MMA was dominated
by fighters with a background in Muay Thai, BJJ, western boxing, and college
wrestling. However, Machida was able to climb the ranks using his karate, sumo,
and BJJ, combined with a short stint in Muay Thai to prepare himself against the
competition during his meteoric career in the UFC (Machida, 2009).
Conclusions
We have presented several examples from early sources, as well as literary
examples of an early eclecticism and cross-training mind-set in the practice of
Chinese martial arts. Ancient Chinese warriors were also aware of the need to
practice these methods in realistic ways in order to apply them correctly when
needed. These concepts preceded the creation of modern MMA and the theo-
ries made popular in the west by Bruce Lee in the seventies.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors wish to thank Stanley E. Henning
for his valuable insights and Tim Cartmell as well.
• chui hammer
•da hit
•fu ax
• ge trident; dagger-axe
• gong bow
• gou hook
• gun stick/staff
m,
• gun shue ke stick/staff training course
• he suo locking
• jian sword
• jian truncheon -151
• mao lance
• na capture/seizing
• nu crossbow
• pa rake
• pai shield
• qiang spear
• shuai throw/fall
•ti kick