by Dreamer Writer

Created on: July 27, 2008

If you are a fan of television shows like Ultimate Fighter Championship and other martial arts combined with wrestling programs, then Mixed Martial Arts is for you. MMA as it is also called is a very exciting, energetic, and entertaining form of martial arts and for many reasons. Have you ever thought about the idea of being one of those stars on those television shows? All of the athletes you see on the Ultimate Fighter are trained experts in the world of Mixed Martial Arts. The following is a basic introduction to MMA.

What is MMA?

MMA is designed to bring together fighters of many various backgrounds into the ring together to find out once and for all WHO IS THE BEST!?! At any time you could expect to see fighters with backgrounds in boxing, wrestling, judo, Muay Thai kickboxing, and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu in the same ring at the same time. The years of dedication and practice that every performer needs to dedicate to the study of these skills is dedication second to none. These people are better prepared than even the highest trained members of the military.

The fights take place in an octagon (8 sided) ring surrounded with a chain-link fence like cage. A winner is determined by the man that knocks out his opponent or makes the other man give up the fight. "Tap outs" occur when the submitter taps his hand on the mat to indicate that he can no longer handle the pain and wants to end the match. In the event that a match fails to end with an obvious knock out or tap out decision, the three judges at cage side are the ones that decide on the outcome and the winner of the match. They make the decision based on who had control of the match longer and who was the more aggressive of the two men.

Overall MMA is traditional martial arts meets pro wrestling! While wrestling in more about acting and dramatically involved storylines, mixed martial arts is unscripted real and uncut all out balls to the wall aggression taken out between two men locked inside a twenty three foot cage. Oh and did you know that there are even women locking it up inside the eight sided cage in the terms of Ultimate Fighter? Its for real and its happening all over the country!
Skills needed to be a MMA fighter

Whereas boxers and kickboxers are trained in one specific form of fighting, MMA fighters are experienced in a wide variety of martial arts background as stated earlier. TO be successful in this sport, one needs to focus on two main areas:

Stand Up Game - This basically consists of a striking and

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