MMA – which stands for mixed martial arts – has recently exploded on the scene. As a sport, it’s popularity is growing every year, and right now it’s probably the most popular combat sport, surpassing boxing.
The reason it’s called “mixed” is because the competitions feature fighters that study different arts. In the beginning, MMA had fighters from nearly every discipline including Taekwondo, Judo, and Karate, but over time, the fighting approach has been whittled down to a set of core techniques that work well in the competition environment. This includes techniques from Brazilian jujitsu, western wrestling, boxing, and kick-boxing.
In the early competitions, grappling arts dominated, because fundamentally it’s easier to wrestle a man down than it is to stay standing against a wrestler. Over time, rules changes and style adjustments have allowed strikers with backgrounds in boxing and Muay-Thai to do much better.
In the beginning, most fighters didn’t use any equipment. Broken knuckles were one of the most common injuries in the early days of MMA, and fighters started wearing small gloves to protect their hands. These MMA style gloves come in a variety of styles, and can be found at reasonable prices. They allow for easy use of the fingers for grappling, and the light padding is more focused on protecting the punching hand from injury than protecting the person you are punching.
Because of the extreme nature of MMA training, there has also been an influx of excellent new equipment. This equipment allows for very aggressive physical training without injuring yourself or your partner. There are new kinds of facial masks with cages to protect against punches, along with body suits that allow for full-contact sparring. No matter what price range you’re looking for, it’s pretty easy to find a great set of MMA training equipment, so you can work with a partner and learn through realistic action. Almost any art can benefit from using this training equipment, and even non competition based arts have started taking advantage of it.
MMA is changing the face of martial arts. These days fighters are more focused on live training, and people are learning how to use the ancient techniques against real opponents. Some artists have criticized MMA for emphasizing a competition approach, but most have come to recognize the value of realistic training methods. The martial arts today are definitely more effective than they were before MMA, and practitioners are the beneficiaries of this revolutionary change.
