Mixed Martial Arts F.A.Q (frequently asked questions)

[ninjashoes]

Mixed Martial Arts Frequently asked questions.

Everything you ever wanted to know about MMA. Please feel free to submit your own questions or answers.

Q.Why a FAQ?

A.Theres alot of new fans out there in fact theres more and more everyday. The best way to keep from having to listen to stupid chants and boos is to educate the casual fanbase.

Q.What makes you an expert?

A.I'm not at all, many people will be involved with this FAQ as well as lots of reputable sources being used in its creation. I am just a fan like you who probably stumbled upon MMA in a similar way as you. I became a fan and I hope we can help you learn the basics at least.

Q.Someone called me a noob, what should I do?

A.Just ignore them, everyone was new to MMA at some point. Its better to be someone who is new than to be an asshole sitting behind a computer talking shit.

Q.What is MMA?

A.It stands for mixed martial arts, the rules vary depending on whos running the show but the idea is to have a fight with as few rules as possible without risking death or permanent injury of any kind.

Heres a list of what you can't do in an MMA promotion held in the United Staes..

The Nevada State Athletic Commission currently lists the following as fouls:[27]

1. Butting with the head.
2. Eye gouging of any kind.
3. Biting.
4. Hair pulling.
5. Fish hooking.
6. Groin attacks of any kind.
7. Putting a finger into any orifice or into any cut or laceration on an opponent. (see Gouging)
8. Small joint manipulation.
9. Striking to the spine or the back of the head. (see Rabbit punch)
10. Striking downward using the point of the elbow. (see Elbow (strike))
11. Throat strikes of any kind, including, without limitation, grabbing the trachea.
12. Clawing, pinching or twisting the flesh.
13. Grabbing the clavicle.
14. Kicking the head of a grounded opponent.
15. Kneeing the head of a grounded opponent.
16. Stomping a grounded opponent.
17. Kicking to the kidney with the heel.
18. Spiking an opponent to the canvas on his head or neck. (see piledriver)
19. Throwing an opponent out of the ring or fenced area.
20. Holding the shorts or gloves of an opponent.
21. Spitting at an opponent.
22. Engaging in unsportsmanlike conduct that causes an injury to an opponent.
23. Holding the ropes or the fence.
24. Using abusive language in the ring or fenced area.
25. Attacking an opponent on or during the break.
26. Attacking an opponent who is under the care of the referee.
27. Attacking an opponent after the bell (horn) has sounded the end of a round.
28. Flagrantly disregarding the instructions of the referee.
29. Timidity, including, without limitation, avoiding contact with an opponent, intentionally or consistently dropping the mouthpiece or faking an injury.
30. Interference by the corner.
31. Throwing in the towel during competition.
32. Using a Foreign object in the ring to your advantage

Q.What about the other rules and time limits and stuff like that?

A.Pss you newbish bastad, look that stuff up yourself, heres a few places to start.

http://google.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFC
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixed_martial_arts

Q.What are the weight classes in the UFC?

A.Established on July 23, 2001, there are five weight classes approved by the Nevada State Athletic Commission:

- Lightweight - 145 pounds to 155 pounds
- Welterweight - over155 pounds to 170 pounds
- Middleweight - over 170 pounds to 185 pounds
- Light Heavyweight – over 185 pounds to 205 pounds
- Heavyweight – over 205 pounds to 265 pounds

Keep in mind different promotions have different weight classes.

Q.Where did the Octagon come from?

A.The UFC's usage of an octagon is widely credited to John Milius. A Hollywood producer, director & Screenwriter. He was a student of Rorion Gracie along with Art Davie, the brainchild of the UFC. Davie teamed up with Rorion to come up with the overall concept of the UFC. They brought in John Milius to be the Creative Director. He handled most of the visuals and entertainment aspects of the first events. Including coming up with the Concept of the 8-sided Cage now commonly referred to as "The Octagon".

Originally, SEG had trademarked The Octagon and prevented other mixed martial arts promotions from using the same type of cage, but in 2001, Zuffa gave their permission for other promotions to use octagonal cages (whilst reserving use of the name "Octagon"). Their rationale was that the young sport needed uniformity in order to continue to win official sanctioning.

The cage is composed of an eight-sided structure, the walls consisting of metal chain-link fencing coated with black vinyl, with a diameter of 11.5 m (38 ft), allowing 9 m (30 ft) of space from point to point. The fence is 1.83 m (6 ft) high. The cage sits on top of a platform, raising it 1.2 m (4 ft) from the ground. It has foam padding around the top of the fence and between each of the eight sections. It also has two entry-exit gates opposite each other.

Q.Who invented MMA?

A.It would be impossible to figure out when the very first no holds barred or multiple style fighting competions occured. The closest ancient evidence we have of MMA is Pankration.

The first known MMA organization is Shooto which started in 1985 in Japan. Shooto is known today for producing the best LW fighters in the world.

Q.What is the best style of fighting?

A.There is no best style of fighting. There are some that kinda suck ass but those are the kind that don't include any live action sparring against real human opponents.

Some people consider BJJ the best because of Royce Gracies dominace over other fighting styles in the first UFC. Since then though we have seen just about every fighting style that includes live sparring have some degrees of success.

Most fans consider BJJ, Judo, Sambo, Catch Wrestling, Muay Thai, Kyokushin Karate, Greco Wrestling, just about all other types of wrestling and Boxing to be strong styles. If you are a master of any of these you have a decent base to begin MMA training.

Q.Why was Royce Gracie so dominant in those early UFC's?

A.No other competitors were prepared for a full contact fight inside a cage like Royce was. If you read this you will have a better understanding of why

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFC
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_Jiu-Jitsu

Keep in mind the hardest competition for Royce was Ken Shamrock who was actually known as a very good Pancrase fighter. Ken actually tied with Royce in their second fight. The first UFC's were not designed to give Royce an easy time as some would have you believe.

Q.Where can I buy MMA videos like UFC events so I can learn more about what you guys talk about?

A.You might want to try searching sites like http://youtube.com and http://dailymotion.com for MMA fights. You can pick them up just about anywhere that sells videos/movies. Heres where I usually get mine.

http://www.sherdog.com/eshop/
http://www.ebay.com/

Q.Where can I find records of MMA fighters?

A.This is the most complete listing of MMA fighters records around..

http://www.sherdog.com/fightfinder/fightfinder.asp

Q.Why are they just laying on top of eachother?

A.One fighter probably does not have the grappling skill to get out from underneath the guy on top. The fighter on top is not trying hard enough to win the fight and thinks by being on top he is either tiring his opponent or winning points with the judges.

Is some cases the fighter on bottom might have a really strong gaurd and is holding his opponent hoping for a standup.

If the fight isnt from too long ago the ref should either deduct points or stand them up, if not he is not doing his job of making sure the fighters press the action.

Q.Why do standups occur?

A.For MMA to be popular and make money there needs to be action. If two fighters are choosing not to be active like you should in a fight then the ref will restart them standing hoping that it will either lead to some strikes being thrown or an exciting takedown. This is not always the case..

Q.The fighters were stood up but the fight is still boring.

A.The fighters are probably either stuck in some clinch postion or are being too cautious and just circling eachother.

Q.Where can I see some examples of exciting fights?

A.Off the top of my head..

Wanderlei Silva vs. Dan Henderson 1 and 2
Wanderlei Silva vs. Quinton Jackson 1 and 2
Takayama vs. Don Frye
Quinton Jackson vs. Kasushi Sakuraba
Quinton Jackson vs. Ricardo Arona
Kevin Randleman vs. Fedor Emelianenko
Mirko Filipović vs. Aleks Emelianenko
Bob Sapp vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Vitor Belfort vs. Tank Abbot
Vitor Belfort vs. Wanderlei Silva
Vitor Belfort vs. Scott Ferrozzo
Tank Abbot vs. Steve Nelmark
Don Frye vs. Gary Goodridge 3
Carlos Newton vs. Jose Landi-Jons
Takanori Gomi vs. Luiz Azeredo
Takanori Gomi vs. Nick Diaz
Evangelista Santos vs. Melvin Manhoef


and so many more, I'll keep adding to this list.

Q.Will MMA help me win streetfights?

A.It can help with self defense but if you end up fighting someone with a weapon or fighting multiple people your screwed. You can get your ass kicked from a cheapshot or just bad luck. The best thing you can have is street smarts combined with a good philosophy towards interacting with other humans. Having good self esteem and confidence in your fighting ability will help you avoid self image issues that lead to fights.

Sometimes its unavoidable and in that case MMA will probably prepare you the best along with gun/knife training and training meant for street situations.

Q.Why do people like MMA?

A.Its the most electrifying, complex and emotional sport I can think of. It can be a chess match or an all out brawl. Alot of people simply want to know who the best fighters in the world are.

Q.What does TBA stand for?

A.It stands for "TO Be Announced" meaning they havent picked the fighters opponent yet.

Q.What country has the best fighters?

A.Brazil, USA, Japan and Russia

We are starting to see more and more countries emerge as competitive in MMA. Great Britain, Korea, Holland and Canada are really starting to grow.

Q.Who is the best fighter in the world?

A.It would probably be the highest ranked HW since he competes in the largest division. The best pound for pound fighter is a complete different story. Usually it comes down to...

Dan Henderson
Norifumi Yamamoto
BJ Penn

All of them have beaten world class opponents who are significantly bigger than themselves.

Q.Does size matter in MMA?

A.Yes, a good big man will beat a good small man however size is just one part of the equation. A smaller fighter can win even if there is a big difference in size, its probably smart for him to try to use a submission or chokehold to win.

Q.What about Womens MMA?

A.Its gaining in popularity, we probably won't see alot of recognizable faces for another few years though.

Q.Whats an armbar? knee bar etc etc?

A.You might want to buy a book on moves, run a google/youtube search for instructionals or check out excellent movelist/instructional sites like this...

http://lockflow.com/techniques.php

Q.What is LnP mean?

A.It stands for "Lay and Pray" which is usually used as a derogative towards primarily wrestling based fighters who tend to "lay" on their opponents and "pray" for a decision.

Q.What does GnP mean?

A.Stands for "Ground and Pound" which is a style of groundfighting where opponents in the mount or guard "pound" on their opponents with fists and/or elbows, thought to hav been pioneered by Mark Coleman.

Q.What does BTT stand for?

A.It stands for Brazilian Top Team, they are known for being the first MMA team.

Q.What is this Tito vs. The Lions Den/Ken Shamrock stuff?

A.Your referring to probably the most famous fued yet in MMA history.

Tito's fued with the Lions Den started to bubble after Tito had lost to Lions Den member Guy Mezger and won a fight later on against Lions Den member Jerry Bohlander, it reached a boiling point March 5, 1999, at UFC 19: Young Guns in Bay St. Louis, Miss., after Ortiz rematched and battered Guy Mezger forcing stoppage of the fight. In the post-fight celebration, Tito donned a T-shirt parodying Mezger's name. The shirt said "Gay Mezger Is My Bitch" Which the whole Lions Den found very dissrespectful. Shamrock attempted to vault the Octagon fence. Tito gave the Lions Den the middle finger on both hands.

The would go on talking trash for years with Tito fighting Ken 3 times total with Tito being the victor in every encounter against the much older and past his prime Shamrock. Ken has to drop down to LHW to fight Tito while he usually fought at HW during his career, most attribute the losses to Shamrocks age and the fact that the game changed so much since he was successful. Tito and guy Mezger are tied 1-1, they were suppposed to have a tie breaker match at UFC 50 but Mezger had to pull out due to medical problems.

For the most part it seems to beef is squashed as of now, a potential tie breaker match with Mezger drifts further away from being likely as Mezger has seemed to have left the game for the most part.

Q.Who is Sakuraba and why is he important?

A.He was the first person to make the Gracie family seem beatable. Royce suffered a loss long ago against Wallid Ismail in a BJJ match but it was not well known at the time and the Gracies were considered unbeatable to most people who followed the sport. Sakuraba beat Royce, Ryan, Renzo and Royler. He was supposed to fight Rickson who is considered the best Gracie but Rickson lost a son in an accident around that time and obviously could not be expected to compete.

Sakuraba is known for fighting and beating much larger opponents and is considered a Japanese national hero to many fans. He was considered unbeatable until he fought and lost to Wanderlei Silva in his first fight since a rule change had allowed knees on the ground which heavily favored Silva who beat Sakuraba by that very method.

Sakuraba recently fought Royce in a rematch, the fight was pretty much even but it was awarded to Royce who we later found out tested positive for roids.

Q.Has Rickson Gracie ever been defeated?

A.Rickson Gracie holds a record of over 400 wins and has not lost a mixed martial arts match. However, he lost in a match with Sambo rules. Apparently, he didn't know the rules before hand and lost because of that. He was thrown and defeated by Ron Tripp in that match.

Q.Who is Randy "The Natural" Couture and why should I care?

A.He was the first UFC champ to ever hold world championships in two seperate weight classes, HW and LHW. He won his second championship, the LHW title at the age of 40 which suprised many fans. After Randy lost the belt and retired he would shock the world once again by coming back and defeating the much bigger and younger Tim Sylvia to recapture the HW title.

Q.What happened to Vitor Belforts sister?

A.She was kidnapped and murdered, many blame Vitors decline in MMA because of the emotional distress caused by this incident.

Q.What happened between Lee Murray and Tito Ortiz?

A.This is Murrays side of the story which varies slightly from person to person.

Lee Murray : We were all outside the club, I had a chat with Tito and Chuck Liddel before. One of Tito’s guy was messing around, he was on the back of Pat Miletich, it was just for fun I believe. Tony Frykland thought it was serious, so he came to help. Pat said it was all right, but the guy from Tito was also angry. Tony Frykland was pulled away but was still mad. A friend of mine (Paul) started to talk with the guy from Tito, they started arguing. Paul got in a fight and punched the guy, then Paul got punched so I punched him. Then Tito came right at me, he hit me right on my ear, we clinched, I punched him 2 straight ones, 2 uppercuts and then he went down and at I kicked him in the face. He didn’t went really KO I think, but he did go down. Matt Hughes jumped on Tito to protect him and Miletich pulled me away. That was it.

Pat Militech said it was actually Matt Hughes brother Mark Hughes who stopped the fight. Other than that his story matches up with Murrays. I have heard that when Murray kicked Tito in the head he told him "welcome to London bitch".

Q.How did Joe Rogan become UFC's color commentator?

A.Joe Rogan has been a long time fan of the sport and was an easy pick by Dana White to have Rogan as a part of UFC's broadcast team. Before being the host of Fear Factor, his roots with the UFC goes back farther, Joe Rogan interviewed fighters at UFC 17.

Q.I was watching Pride and noticed Bas Rutten is in the ring and announcing at the same time, how is this possible?

A.Early Pride events didnt have English announcers so Bas Rutten was cornering fighters before he became the announcer. They were later dubbed over with Bas and Steven Quadros.

Q.Has anyone ever died in MMA?

A.Yes there has been one death I can name and possibly another one or two that have I have heard rumors about.

The one I know about was Douglas Dedge when he fought Yevgeni Zolotarev in an unsanctioned fight in Russia. Douglas was told not to fight by his doctor and was not allowed to fight in the USA. He had a pre existing brain injury.

You can watch it here even though its very sad to see...

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...66&q=vale+tudo

Q.How did Antonio "Minotauro" Nogueira get that strange scar on his back?

A.He was hit by a truck when he was ten years old, he went into a coma for 4 days. During this time he lost a rib and part of his liver. As a result of the accident he has a large scar on his lower back that you can see when he fights. Its a good way to tell the difference between him and his brother.

Q.When is the next PPV or event on?

Here use this...

Current MMA Event Schedule

Q.Is there a way I can get an MMA history lesson?

Read this

http://ninjashoes.net/forum/showthread.php?t=26654

Q.Why does this faq seem so incomplete?

A.Because I am still working on it. Think of questions and put the answers and I'll add them, you can also add to existing questions and answers.

[Bruce Lee]

Who is Shane West?



What is with all the Tranny's?

[ninjashoes]

Originally Posted by Bruce Lee

Who is Shane West?



What is with all the Tranny's?

Q.Who is Shane West?

A.Shane West is a longtime poster at ninjashoes.net. Hes a nice guy with a learning disability.

Q.What is with all the Tranny's?

A.Trannies are popular because they feature the best of both sexes.

[dr.katz]

why do people keep calling ultimate fighting "mma"?

[SmokinGunz]

Originally Posted by dr.katz

why do people keep calling ultimate fighting "mma"?

hahahaha...noob...j/k

[GiantRobotDelux]

If Anderson Silva fought a hurricane (that was trained in muay tai) would he win?
What if the hurricane was named "the spider"?

Could any of them beat Chuck Liddell in an arm wrestling competition?






...stickying FAQs is exactly the kind of excellent logic that has made this my favorite forum! Go get em shoes!

[amanamagus]

Who was the most well conditioned, strongest and toughest fighter at any weight.?!?

Good FAQ btw.

[Pryor]

It's good.

[Perko]

why is mma better than boxing.....answer the fucking question NOW

[Cung-Le]

10. Striking downward using the point of the elbow. (see Elbow (strike))

I don't wanna bash anderson or ne thing (he is 1 of my fav fighers) but he is constantly using this kinda elbow......rite?

[ninjashoes]

Originally Posted by Cung-Le

I don't wanna bash anderson or ne thing (he is 1 of my fav fighers) but he is constantly using this kinda elbow......rite?

maybe it only applies if its actually downward meaning towards the ground like an elbow to the stomach or back when your standing and hes down

[Goodkidcc]

Q: Why does this look alot like sherdogs FAQ?

[ninjashoes]

Originally Posted by Goodkidcc

Q: Why does this look alot like sherdogs FAQ?

Sherdogs FAQ doesent even exist anymore, trust me I would copy their shit if I could.

[Aiden]

What does ''Clinch'' Mean? Definition: Term for when two fighters are leaning in on each other, either for defensive reasons, to crowd the other fighter, or to catch your breath. While most often a defensive position, certain offensive techniques are very effective from a clinch, such as knees, short punches, elbows and various locks.
Also Known As: being "tied up"

[Aiden]

How did Joe Rogan become UFC's color commentator?
Joe Rogan has been a long time fan of the sport and was an easy pick by Dana White to have Rogan as a part of UFC's broadcast team. Before being the host of Fear Factor, his roots with the UFC goes back farther, Joe Rogan interviewed fighters at UFC 17.

[Aiden]

What are the weight classes in the UFC?

Established on July 23, 2001, there are five weight classes approved by the Nevada State Athletic Commission:

- Lightweight - 145 pounds to 155 pounds
- Welterweight - over155 pounds to 170 pounds
- Middleweight - over 170 pounds to 185 pounds
- Light Heavyweight – over 185 pounds to 205 pounds
- Heavyweight – over 205 pounds to 265 pounds

[Aiden]

Has Rickson Gracie ever been defeated?
Rickson Gracie holds a record of over 400 wins and has not lost a mixed martial arts match. However, he lost in a match with Sambo rules. Apparently, he didn't know the rules before hand and lost because of that. He was thrown and defeated by Ron Tripp in that match.

[kermitthefrayer]

Sweet!

[amanamagus]

Who was the most well conditioned, strongest and toughest fighter at any weight.?!?


I still dont have answer to this question

[ninjashoes]

Originally Posted by ninjashoes

Sherdogs FAQ doesent even exist anymore, trust me I would copy their shit if I could.

nm its still there, I dont know what I was looking at. Its just really outdated.