The Greatest Martial Artist of All Time

[Yogi]

modern MMA was helped/started by the gracies from Brazil who have done those tournaments even before bruce lee became a cultural icon

Speaking of the Gracies, where does Maeda fit into the big picture of greatest martial artists of all-time?

[TomRiddle]

modern MMA was helped/started by the gracies from Brazil who have done those tournaments even before bruce lee became a cultural icon

I did not know Jiu Jitsu form is called "Mixed Martial Arts".

[BigmoneyMikes]

Speaking of the Gracies, where does Maeda fit into the big picture of greatest martial artists of all-time?

i dont know much about Maeda. and i dont know how much he taught to the gracies and how much the gracies developed themselves

[TomRiddle]

MMA History


One of the earliest forms of widespread unarmed combat sports with minimal rules was Greek pankration, which was introduced into the Olympic games in 648 B.C.[1] Some no-holds-barred events reportedly took place in the late 1800s when wrestlers representing a huge range of fighting styles including various catch wrestling styles, Greco-Roman wrestling and many others met in tournaments and music-hall challenge matches throughout Europe[citation needed]. The first major encounter between a boxer and a wrestler in modern times took place in 1887 when John L. Sullivan, then heavyweight boxing champion of the world, entered the ring with his trainer, the Greco-Roman wrestling champion, William Muldoon, and was slammed to the mat in two minutes. The next publicized encounter occurred in the late 1890s when future heavyweight boxing champion Bob Fitzsimmons took on European Greco-Roman wrestling champion Ernest Roeber. Reportedly, Roeber suffered a fractured cheekbone in this bout, but was able to get Fitzsimmons down on the mat, where he applied an arm lock and made the boxer submit. In 1936, heavyweight boxing contender Kingfish Levinsky and the veteran professional wrestler Ray Steele competed in a mixed match, which Steele won in 35 seconds. In all three of these 'mixed-matches', the wrestler won.[2]
Pankration was an ancient form of unarmed hand to hand combat resembling the mixed martial arts of today.
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Pankration was an ancient form of unarmed hand to hand combat resembling the mixed martial arts of today.

The vogue for professional wrestling died out after the First World War, only to be reborn in two major streams: "shoot", in which the fighters actually competed, and "show" which became increasingly dependent on staged combat and evolved into modern professional wrestling. Some authorities credit an ex-football player turned wrestler, Gus Sonnenberg, by using flying tackles and billy-goat butting, with ushering in the new style of sports entertainment wrestling.[3]

Modern mixed martial arts are rooted in two interconnected movements. First were the vale tudo events in Brazil, followed by the Japanese shoot wrestling shows. Vale tudo (meaning 'anything goes') began in the 1920s with the famous "Gracie challenge" issued by Carlos Gracie and Hélio Gracie and upheld later on by descendants of the Gracie family.[1] In Japan in the 1970s, a series of mixed martial arts matches were hosted by Antonio Inoki, inspiring the shoot-style movement in Japanese professional wrestling, which eventually led to the formation of the first mixed martial arts organizations, such as Shooto, which was formed in 1985.[4]

Moreover, the emergence of Bruce Lee in the late 1960's and early 1970's paved the way for further studies of hybrid fighting through his theories on Jeet Kune Do. Lee believed that traditional martial arts were limited to fixed positions from which to strike; a "fancy mess" that strongly inhibited many fighters/practitioners. Lee borrowed facets of Wing Chun, western boxing, fencing, Muay Thai, karate, Jiu Jitsu, Filipino Martial Arts, and even wrestling in order to come up with a fighting style that allowed relaxed movement and effective blows.

Mixed martial arts gained real international exposure and widespread publicity in the U.S in 1993, when Royce Gracie won the first Ultimate Fighting Championship, sparking a revolution in the martial arts.[5] In 1994, Frederico Lapenda became the first non-Japanese to promote a mixed martial arts event in Japan, the Vale Tudo Championship.[1] In Japan in 1997, the continued interest in the sport eventually resulted in the creation of the PRIDE Fighting Championships.[6]

In the early 1990s, three styles stood out for their effectiveness in MMA competition: Amateur wrestling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Shoot wrestling. This may be attributable in part to the grappling emphasis of the aforementioned styles, which, perhaps due to the scarcity of mixed martial arts competitions prior to the early 90s, had been neglected by most practitioners of striking-based arts.

Even though fighters combining amateur wrestling and striking dominated the standing portion of an MMA fight, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu stylists had a distinct advantage on the ground. Those unfamiliar with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu proved to be unprepared to deal with its submission techniques. Shoot wrestling practitioners offered a balance of amateur wrestling ability and catch wrestling based submissions resulting in a generally well rounded set of skills. The shoot wrestlers were especially successful in Japan, where the martial art initially dominated other arts.

As MMA competitions became more and more commonplace, those with a base in striking became more competitive as they began to acquaint themselves with takedowns and submission holds, leading to some notable upsets against the dominant grapplers. Subsequently those from the various grappling styles learned from each other's strengths and shortcomings and added striking techniques to their arsenal. This overall development of increased cross-training resulted in the MMA fighters becoming increasingly multi-dimensional in their skills.

[Yogi]

I did not know Jiu Jitsu form is called "Mixed Martial Arts".

The Gracies earlier Vale Tudo matches weren't just them pitted against other jiu-jitsu players, my friend, as they most often pitted their style against other styles of prominance in Brazil...Plenty of Jiu-Jitsu vs. Capoeira (then Brazil's two most famous & practiced styles) matches can be read about, as can information on the Gracies pitted against other styles in Vale Tudo matches.

[BigmoneyMikes]

I did not know Jiu Jitsu form is called "Mixed Martial Arts".

MMA is just a modern term for the sport.(UFC,Pride)
the MMA in brazil was a tounament used by the gracies to challenge other Martial artist/styles to prove who has the better techniq. based on their performance on those fights, they made adjustments to their style.

[leow]

he used to really fight for money back then in hong kong there is very little footage of his fights, it's been said he was undefeated from what i seen he owned 2 or 3 guys (not at ounce), there is footage of him sparring with other jeet kundo guys it's kinda like watching RJJ he's just like 3 time faster then all of them...

[deuce_drop]

bruce leroy.........................shonuff!

[Brockton Lip]

People need to show respect, this is a birthday thread .
Happy birthday.

[hugh grant]

I didnt even realize it was his birthday. Normally there is something on the television to mark the day but nothing this time. Happy belated birthday Bruce!