Mixed Martial Arts: The New Fight Club

Punching, kicking, striking, grappling, elbowing, kneeing, clinching and throwing. No, it's not your uncles fighting over the last Thanksgiving turkey leg; they're all legal moves in Mixed Martial Arts, a sport that's been taking over the world as it gains notoriety as each month goes on.

Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is as it sounds, a contact sport that combines various martial arts such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, karate, wrestling and judo, among others. By bringing together so many different practices, it allows people from a multitude of martial art  backgrounds to participate and forces fighters to become specialized in one art, while becoming generalized in others.

Modern MMA was only recently created in the past few decades, with professional competitions taking place with the creation of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in 1993 and an international governing body, the International Sport Combat Federation (ISCF) in 1999.

Rules for the sport include putting fighters into weight classes similar to boxing with the lightest fighters being featherweight (145 -155 lbs.) and the heaviest fighters being heavyweights (206-265 lbs.) although some organizations also have a super heavyweight class (265 lbs. and over). In the ring, fighters are only allowed to wear approved shorts and must wear MMA sanctioned gloves that that are padded and open-fingered. This provides protection but still allows them to grapple.

MMA fights are usually three rounds, with title matches going five rounds. Each round is five minutes, and there is a one minute rest period between each round. Judges score each round with the winner receiving ten points and the loser usually receiving nine points, but the loser can receive less. Fighters can receive fouls for actions such as hair pulling, eye gouging and various other unsportsmanlike conduct.

Victory in MMA can be achieved several ways. Knockouts (KOs) occur when the opponent falls unconscious. Technical Knockouts (TKOs) occur when the referee must stop the fight due to an opponent no longer being able to defend him/herself, or has developed injuries too significant to continue fighting.  Defeat by submission occurs when a fighter admits defeat during a hold by tapping on either the other fighter or the mat. A technical submission occurs when the referee intervenes because the fighter has either become unconscious during a hold or has sustained a severe injury. If the match goes all three or five rounds, then the winner is decided by the judges.

The increasing popularity of MMA is becoming more apparent as time goes on. Since 2006, Pay-Per-View MMA fights have been grossing as much money as World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) fights. On top of this, renowned WWE wrestlers, such as Brock Lesnar and Ken Shamrock, have broken off of professional wrestling to show off their real fighting prowess as UFC athletes.

With how competitive and spectacular the sport is to watch, MMA is bound to become an enjoyable pastime for many. It has had such an astonishing evolution from its conception that even the United States Army has recognized the effectiveness of MMA by sanctioning it at their combative schools. If you're tired of seeing the same old fighting then turn on an MMA fight. You won't regret it.