Beginning Mixed Martial Arts

This session was the first of a proposed 10-lesson course in Mixed Martial Arts for martial arts cross-training. The title might seem a little superfluous to some. MMA, by definition is martial arts cross-training. However, I contend that MMA has become a system unto itself just as ancient Greek Pankration was its own respective discipline. The dynamic of a match fight where a wide range of grappling and striking techniques are both permitted differs considerably to any of the constituent combat sports that make up MMA’s whole. The fact that MMA isn’t widely accepted as a style by many martial artists sums up a lot of its strengths. Please see my article “Mixed Martial Arts and the Quest for Integrity”, revised and updated as a chapter in my book “Mordred’s Victory and Other Martial Mutterings”. Even when two fighters engage at the stand-up striking range, their manoeuvring, choice of stances and style of hand positioning differs from conventional Western Boxing, Kickboxing, Muay Thai, Sanda or any other strike-based combat sport. Movement changes because the fighter needs to defend against takedowns. The depth of the stance changes between high and low to accommodate pre-emptive striking or grappling. The hands change because fighters do not wear boxing gloves and do not have as much padding to guard against attacks. The peek-a-boo guard becomes the cover. When it comes to clinch, fighters need to think about applying boxing type close-range punching tactics, Muay Thai clinch-work and wrestling holds together. Just as the Thai clinch is an art unto itself so the same is true for MMA clinch work. Fighters need to be able to manipulate and move each other whilst delivering and defending against close range strikes, takedowns, locks and a wide range of dominating positions. Finally, the ground changes because of the introduction of strikes and the allowance of wrestling-type slams. This makes for a faster paced ground-fight, but also one that tends to be fought with tighter defences, at least from the underneath position. A further element that we don’t tend to see in combat activities outside of self-defence pressure testing is the use of the wall or cage. This aspect makes up a large amount of MMA fighting, with combatants wrestling for control from standing and grounded positions against the cage. The cage provides good cornering and trapping opportunities without the defender being able to use rope-a-dope tactics. It also allows a grounded fighter an advantage for escape by using the cage for increased leverage. We began with some footwork. Using the agility cones as our guide, I went through stand-up, clinch and ground agility/manoeuvrability exercises. This was to introduce my student to an understanding of the three ranges of MMA. Later warm-ups will include transitioning through these ranges whilst moving around the cones. My client, in this instance, was familiar with transitioning through different ranges due to his self-protection course with me and having returned to self-defence four times for the last two lessons of each of his previous courses. The technical section began with a look at the jab from stand-up. This was used at high and low ranges. We jabbed high and we jabbed low as a combination. The principle of this movement was then applied to jabbing high and dropping low for a lowline takedown. The MMA fighter needs to defeat prediction and a key element of not telegraphing a technique is to deliver different techniques seamlessly from the same stance. Following from here to the ground position in guard, we looked at striking. This was done both from a kneeling position, beginning in “safety position” and then breaking out into striking, and also from stacking the opponent against the cage.  We then reversed the situation and looked at taking the arm-bar and both leg and arm-triangle from guard whilst defending against strikes. The session was then finished with asymmetrical ground fighting – looking at using the long guard against a standing, striking opponent.