Fresh Loaf

It would require possibly 10 separate blog posts to fully explain the long and complex history of Mixed Martial Arts. But consider this a crash course for the curious interested in learning about the sport’s past in a quick, convenient summary.

For those not in the know, MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) is an acronym for a rapidly growing combat sport that found its beginnings in 1993 when a family of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu specialists, known as the Gracies, hosted North America’s inaugural Mixed Martial Arts pay-per-view television event. Coined “The Ultimate Fighting Championship,” it was more or less an open challenge to martial artists of all styles from around the globe to attempt to defeat a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu specialist for a $50,000 grand prize.

Brawlers of all walks — from Sumo wrestlers to Karate experts — heeded the call, but in the end, the Gracie family dominated the event by way of one of its youngest family members at the time, Royce Gracie. Many longtime MMA fans and analysts often refer to the debut UFC event as an infomercial for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. And the event and the success of the BJJ style of fighting set the mark for future competition and laid the foundation for what we know today as professional Mixed Martial Arts.

The phenomenon America witnessed by way of Royce Gracie in Denver at the McNichols Sports Arena on Nov. 12, 1993, was a complex and historically twisted form of physical combat born from an even more confusing and international genesis. Ancient Greece, Japan, Thailand and Russia are but four of the many cultures that contributed to what MMA has evolved to in 2008. And it was originally a friendship between Scottish and Japanese immigrants in Brazil during the late 1800s that bridged the ancient Japanese fighting style of Jiu-Jitsu with the Western world, and laid the foundation for what the Gracie family unleashed on the international martial arts community in the early ’90s.

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Mixed-Martial-Arts is a sport. Yeah, you read it right. It’s a sport. Heck, it’s even a vastly popular sport. And it’s coming to Atlanta via Phillips Arena on September 6th by way of UFC 88 — which will be one of the organizations major pay per view events this year. For a large number of people, mixed-martial-arts is the primal definition of sportsmanship.

An evolved yet ancient form of hand-to-hand combat where two men of equal attributes battle one another until one falls and the other basks in the glory of cheer and admiration. And it’s every bit as much a chess match as it is a clash of fists. Often constructed from more physical intricacies than a typical team of men tossing rubber balls around, mixed-martial-arts still struggles somewhat to break through to a higher level of mainstream success where the sport is recognized by media and humanity alike as much more than just some gladiatorial blood spectacle or some sort of violent pornography.

Over the next few weeks, I will blog about the coming UFC event and serve (for lack of better words) as a local ambassador for those Fresh Loaf readers who possibly dislike or misunderstand the sport of mixed-martial-arts. Or even those curious few still sitting on the metaphorical fence. In the coming weeks leading up to the event, I hope to at least achieve the goal of transforming the often negative cliche of mixed-martial-arts and its fan base.
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