Where do you believe mma started

waterfordkick

I'm just interested on peoples views on where mixed martial arts started and who started the first mixed martial arts.
I put this in the sd and ma section to hear everyone's views

Ug Lee

waterfordkick wrote: »

I'm just interested on peoples views on where mixed martial arts started and who started the first mixed martial arts.
I put this in the sd and ma section to hear everyone's views

I think MMA as we know it today came about as a direct consequence of UFC1. Sure there were Vale Tudo competitions in Brazil before that but it was not worldwide and at any place and time before that there were always no hold barred competitions.

Boxing and wrestling used to be taught as one discipline and before that swordsmanship was taught with wrestling so the term MMA is a little subjective.

Yep, the Greeks did their thing but was it the start of MMA as we know it today. I would say not.

Furious-Dave

Ug Lee wrote: »

I think MMA as we know it today came about as a direct consequence of UFC1. Sure there were Vale Tudo competitions in Brazil before that but it was not worldwide and at any place and time before that there were always no hold barred competitions.

Boxing and wrestling used to be taught as one discipline and before that swordsmanship was taught with wrestling so the term MMA is a little subjective.

Yep, the Greeks did their thing but was it the start of MMA as we know it today. I would say not.

UFC is definitely the main influence on modern MMA, however, there has been long traditions of "free fighting" in Europe, Asia and of course South America. For example, Daido Juku was formed in 1981 with the intention of combining Knock-down Karate and Judo. In my opinion MMA as we see it today is just the natural result of the evolution of free-fighting, with it becoming a legitimate sport because of the UFC.

waterfordkick

I like the answers lads. When i googled mma all i really got was modern mma. Would never have known of the Greeks would have mixed it up.
in my mind I would have put Bruce Lee in there too. He studied a lot of various martial arts and too from each one and mixed it up !

arybvtcw0eolkf

Do your best MMA nerds :P

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RNCFAN

Pancration

cmb.

Ug Lee wrote: »

Yep, the Greeks did their thing but was it the start of MMA as we know it today. I would say not.

well, if we are looking at original ufc under vale tudo rules as the birth of mma - then surely we must look at original pankration as its natural predecessor. also many less commercial less structured, from an event/spectical point of view, fights events were taking place and well catalogued throughout the 20th century 9and no doubt previously) - do we ignore those gracie challenge fights, vale tude events, the martial art philosophy of bruce lee which was the essence of mma (being a mix of taking what actually works in real combat from any and every art) - what about the contribution of the ussr military in creating sambo?

obviously the ufc had a huge impact in dispelling many myths to a large audience and as i recall rogan saying many times that martial arts has evolved more in the last 10 years that in the previous millenium thanks to the ufc (hyperbole yes but the essence of his point is very valid) - for many we like a nice neat answer as to the creation of mma but the rerality is that combat started its sporting life as mma (in the form of pankration) and over time segmented into many single styles with an emphasis of one form and is now being reborn in some respect into what it originally was

if your interested, there are plenty of books that in part, deal with this topic - as i recall, a good solid history is in the opening chapter of clyde gentrys 'no holds barred' (a book on the history of the ufc - originally cataloging the first 7/8 years with subsequent reprints covering more recent developments - def worth a read)

Fozzy

cmb. wrote: »

if your interested, there are plenty of books that in part, deal with this topic - as i recall, a good solid history is in the opening chapter of clyde gentrys 'no holds barred' (a book on the history of the ufc - originally cataloging the first 7/8 years with subsequent reprints covering more recent developments - def worth a read)

I'd say that Total MMA by Jonathan Snowden is far and away the best book dealing with MMA history

The question has different answers depending on what you consider to be MMA. Pankration is one, if you want to just consider it as the mixing of two martial arts. If you consider it to be more to do with the modern ruleset then you could argue for the first UFC or Shooto, which was going for eight years before the UFC did a show. If you're just talking about the term "MMA", then you've got to look at Antonio Inoki, who first used it to describe pro wrestling matches that he was having against martial artists of various disciplines in the '70s

rovert

Fozzy wrote: »

I'd say that Total MMA by Jonathan Snowden is far and away the best book dealing with MMA history

+1

Fozzy wrote: »

If you're just talking about the term "MMA", then you've got to look at Antonio Inoki, who first used it to describe pro wrestling matches that he was having against martial artists of various disciplines in the '70s

Oh god think of the children before bringing that up again.

omen2323

One family.....

GRACIE

Pride Fighter

The series of matches between Gracies and Japanese judoka from the 1920's is the start of MMA IMO.

Fozzy

Pride Fighter wrote: »

The series of matches between Gracies and Japanese judoka from the 1920's is the start of MMA IMO.

What about the matches that Mitsuo Maeda was having 15-20 years before that and before he taught the Gracies?

Shooto and Pancrase, forerunners to Pride, both predate the UFC. I think MMA would have taken off in Japan with or without the UFC. The rivalry between Brazil and Japan, renewed by Rickson's victories at the Vale Tudo Open was the key element of MMA's growth in Japan.

roo1981

Few years after this I reckon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML1OZCHixR0