HISTORY OF MMA

While different forms of unorganized, no-rules, unarmed combat predate history, civilization, and even the human species itself (even apes fight hand-to-hand), the earliest documented, organized, minimal-rules fighting event was the ancient Greek pankration, which was introduced into the Olympic Games in 648 B.C. Greek pankration later inspired the more violent Etruscan and Roman pancratium, an event showcased at the Roman Colosseum. Even as late as the Early Middle Ages, statues were put up in Rome and other cities to honor remarkable pankratiasts of Rome.

No-holds-barred events reportedly took place in the late 1800's 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. In the USA the first major encounter between a boxer and a wrestler in modern times took place in 1887 when John L. Sullivan, then heavyweight world boxing champion, entered the ring with his trainer, Greco-Roman wrestling champion William Muldoon, and was slammed to the mat in two minutes.

The next publicized encounter occurred in the late 1890's 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 armlock and made the boxer submit. In Europe, around the 19th century, the Italian Giovanni Raicevich, skilled in Greco-Roman wrestling defeated Akitaro Ono, a Japanese heavyweight fighter skilled in Jujutsu, Judo, and Sumo, throwing him on the mat by one-arm shoulder throw.

In 1936, heavyweight boxing contender Kingfish Levinsky and veteran professional wrestler Ray Steele competed in a mixed match, which Steele won in 35 seconds. Another early example of mixed martial arts combat was the martial art of Bartitsu, founded in London in 1899, which was the first martial art known to have combined Asian and European fighting styles, and which saw MMA-style contests throughout England, pitting European and Japanese champions against representatives of various European wrestling styles.

Mixed style contests such as boxing vs. jujutsu were popular entertainment throughout Europe, Japan and the Pacific Rim during the early 1900s. In Japan these contests were known as merikan, from the Japanese slang for "American [fighting]". Merikan contests were fought under a variety of rules including points decision, best of three throws or knockdowns, and victory via knockout or submission.

Professional wrestling died out after World War I and was reborn in two streams: "shoot", in which the fighters actually competed, and "show," which evolved into modern professional wrestling.

In the late 1960s to early 1970s the concept of combining the elements of multiple martial arts had was popularized in America by Bruce Lee via his system and philosophy of Jeet Kune Do. Lee believed that "the best fighter is not a Boxer, Karate or Judo man. The best fighter is someone who can adapt to any style."

The history of modern MMA competition can be traced to mixed style contests throughout Europe, Japan and the Pacific Rim during the early 1900s; the Gracie family's vale tudo martial arts tournaments in Brazil starting in the 1920s; and early mixed martial arts matches (known as Kakutougi in Japan) hosted by Antonio Inoki in Japan in the 1970s. The sport gained international exposure and widespread publicity in the United States in 1993, when Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighter Royce Gracie handily won the first Ultimate Fighting Championship tournament, subduing three challengers in just five minutes, sparking a revolution in the martial arts.

The movement that led to the creation of the UFC in 1993, followed by the IFC in 1996, was rooted in two interconnected subcultures. First were the vale tudo events in Brazil, followed by the Japanese shoot wrestling shows. Vale tudo began in the 1920s with the "Gracie challenge" issued by Carlos Gracie and Hélio Gracie and upheld later on by descendants of the Gracie family.

In Japan in the 1970s, a series of mixed martial arts matches were hosted by Antonio Inoki, a former star of New Japan Pro Wrestling; this inspired 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.

As a result of an increased number of competitors, organized training camps, information sharing, and modern kinesiology, the understanding of the combat-effectiveness of various strategies has been greatly improved. The early years of the sport saw a wide variety of traditional styles - everything from sumo to kickboxing - but the continual evolution of the sport saw many styles prove ineffective, while others proved successful on their own.
In the early 1990s, one style stood out for their effectiveness in competition: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu,. This may be attributable in part to the grappling emphasis, which was, perhaps due to the scarcity of mixed martial arts competitions prior to the early 90s, unknown to most practitioners of striking-based arts. Fighters who combined amateur wrestling with striking techniques found success in the standing portion of a fight, whilst Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu stylists had a distinct advantage on the ground: those unfamiliar with submission grappling proved to be unprepared to deal with its submission techniques.

As competitions became more and more common, those with a base in striking became more competitive as they acquainted themselves with takedowns and submission holds, leading to notable upsets against the then dominant grapplers. Subsequently, those from the varying grappling styles added striking techniques to their arsenal. This overall development of increased cross-training resulted in the fighters becoming increasingly multi-dimensional and well-rounded in their skills.

In 1996 the IFC created the first true set of rules for the sport and began the process of seeking government sanction for the sport in the United States. Those rules have since evolved into the Unified Rules for MMA and they have now been adapted in 38 US states and several other countries. The IFC also was the first to require the use of gloves which were specifically designed for MMA.

The sport reached a new peak of popularity in North America in the December 2006 rematch between then UFC and former IFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell and former champion Tito Ortiz. Today, MMA out grosses any other ring sport on PPV. It is the fastest growing ring sport in the world today.

HISTORY OF MMA IN QUEBEC (IF YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW THE HISTORY OF MMA IN QUEBEC........WELL HERE IS THE WHOLE TRUTH, AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH)

All the world's a cage Montreal is becoming a key stop on the no-holds-barred fighting circuit. A look at the cutting edge of sanctioned human combat

By PHILIP PREVILLE with photos by JASON FELKER

If there is a School of Hard Knocks, then Travis Fulton is Professor Emeritus. "I've had more professional no-holds-barred fights than anyone in the world," he says. Professor Fulton gives a math lesson: "I've had 92 fights in five years. My record is 66 wins, 16 losses and five draws. I hold the record for the shortest fight--I knocked a guy out in six seconds once. And I hold the record for the longest fight, which lasted 52 minutes."

Fulton, a 22-year-old native of Cedar Falls, Iowa, is the fifth-ranked heavyweight in the IFC, or International Fighting Championships. He was in Montreal last weekend to fight local boy Christophe Midoux, ranked number three. The Fulton-Midoux matchup was the main event at Battleground 2000, a no-holds-barred extravaganza last Saturday at the Kahnawake Sports Complex.

"'No-holds-barred' is really just a name designed to attract attention," explains Fulton, a mellow and easy-going midwestern farm boy outside the cage. "It's actually a bad name for the sport. You can't bite, you can't eye-gouge. Those are holds, kind of. But they're barred. So it isn't really no-holds-barred. See?"

Also known as extreme fighting, the sport is described by enthusiasts as "mixed martial arts fighting," where trained combatants meet in a fenced hexagonal cage and duel under minimal restrictions. And while it remains banned in many jurisdictions, including Canada's other nine provinces, in Quebec it is--like boxing--a legal combat sport.

It's also a sport whose audience is growing fast, and Montreal is quickly becoming a key stop on the North American no-holds-barred circuit. My assignment: to see what all the fuss is about. "What you're going to see," says Fulton, "is a kickboxing match, except with a lot more ways to win."

Mohawk-made

No-holds-barred fighting is a nascent sport, and the IFC is only one of many fighting organizations. It has an official-sounding name, like boxing's WBA, and it has a Commissioner, like major league baseball. But the IFC is also a fight promoter and a production company, owned by the Mohawks of Kahnawake. Last Saturday's card was the IFC's third Kahnawake event since no-holds-barred was fully legalized in 1998. The IFC is putting together a "supercard" event, for later this year, hopefully to be held at the Molson Centre or Verdun Auditorium.

It wasn't always this easy. When the IFC held its first event at Kahnawake in 1996, nine people were charged with staging an illegal prize fight. But all charges were later dropped, and the IFC pushed the government into negotiations on the issue. Did the Kahnawake Mo-hawks capitalize on strained relations with Quebec City to make no-holds-barred legal? No one will put it so bluntly, but everyone happily admits that the Mohawks made it happen.

"This is part of the Quebec government's agreements with the native community, and our relations with them are excellent," says Mario Latraverse, who handles all combat sports for the Regie des alcools des courses et des jeux, Quebec's gaming commission. Latraverse insists that no-holds-barred is perfectly safe; the negotiations were mostly a matter of educating the government about martial arts combat. "The idea was to turn these combats from illegal pit-fights into a regulated sport. Many jurisdictions are opening up to it, and other provinces are using our regulations as a model."

"Those negotiations actually established a relationship between Quebec and Kahnawake that reaches beyond the sport," says IFC President Mike Thomas. "Other bridges were built as a result of that agreement, and the reserve got a brand new martial arts centre out of it." Quoth Thomas, fight promoter extraordinaire: "It just shows that if people are willing to sit down and talk, you can overcome any obstacle. If I die tomorrow, I can say that I've had a positive impact on this world I live in."

Extreme cable

There is another angle to Quebec's acquiescence towards no-holds-barred combats: native self-sufficiency. As a native-owned business, the IFC is a massive entrepreneurial venture. And if this is the sport of the future, then thanks to the Mohawks, Quebec will be a net exporter in the global no-holds-barred economy.

The IFC regularly holds fights across the United States. As in Quebec, they spearheaded the drive to get the sport sanctioned in Mississippi and elsewhere. They also produce television broadcasts of their events for cable sports networks, including the Reseau des sports. RDS has broadcast 10 IFC events since September, all on Monday nights after 11:30 p.m. when the kids are asleep. The events have averaged 40,000 viewers, but the most recent broadcast two weeks ago pulled in over 100,000 viewers--its biggest audience so far, and impressive numbers for a bad time-slot on a French-language specialty cable channel.

"It's very hypocritical," says one media observer who requested anonymity. "When the controversy erupted in 1996, we all looked down our noses at the brutish Mohawks. But now everybody loves it."

"People have a hard time believing that this is a legitimate sport, but that's a misconception," says Thomas. "In any combat sport, there is a desire to test your skills at the highest level. For martial arts, this is the vehicle to do that." As a martial artist himself, Thomas fought in illegal pit-fights while he was with the U.S. Marines. "The history is rich, though no one wants to talk about it that much," he says. "The fights were always safe because we were trained. We knew what we were doing." In addition to being IFC President, Thomas operates a Tae Kwon Do school on the reserve.

"Athletes today are reaching a whole new level in their ability to train in multiple disciplines," says Thomas. "In these fights, we're already seeing the development of a whole new form of hybrid martial art."

Human punching bags

Fully primed and pumped up with hype, I take my seat for Battleground 2000. "The pageantry of wrestling with the excitement and drama of boxing," says the promotional material. Fifteen fights on the card, most consisting of two eight-minute or 10-minute rounds. Bikini babes are on hand to escort the fighters into the cage. There are about 2,000 people in attendance, including Mike Thomas' young Tae Kwon Do students, all escorted by an adult.

If this is a new hybrid martial art, it might as well be called Ay Dun No. There is much gnashing of teeth and grappling on the mat. Many fights last mere seconds, ending for no apparent reason; the announcer later explains that the victor has triumphed by means of the "heel hook" or the "guillotine choke."

Most combats feature a fighter from Team Strike Force, a group of 12 Montreal martial artists who train together and support each other. Most of the fighters are perfect physical specimens, but some are overweight to the point where they look like human punching bags. They all prove to be just that, taking a pounding but never falling down.

Even though it's a martial arts showcase, few kicks are thrown. And as for those who do kick (and I say this knowing that I wouldn't last five seconds in that cage against anyone, but nevertheless as an interested spectator), well, as we used to say in the playground, they kick like girls.

"These fighters are trained in the martial arts, but they're not fully disciplined," says another spectator who teaches Tae Kwon Do. "As things get rough, that training goes out the window."

And that's part of the fun. No-holds-barred fights are regulated by the government and officiated by a competent referee. Even so, they still push the envelope of sanctioned brutality. No-holds-barred fighting suffers from--or perhaps the word is showcases--a lack of grace and an absence of mercy. It's raw and it's mean. That's why it's controversial.

The Main Event

That's also why it sells. In wrestling, the punches are fake and the loser merely lies flat for a three-count. In boxing, a "knockout" is when a fighter can't get up after a ten-count. But when Travis Fulton enters the ring to fight Christophe Midoux for the $2,500-purse main event, he gives a workshop on the true meaning of the word. After grappling with Midoux on the mat for about eight minutes, Fulton finally gets a leg up on his opponent. He straddles Midoux and starts punching him in the head. He lands a solid fist. Midoux's head bangs against the mat and bounces back up. Fulton lands a second direct hit. Another bounce, a third fist to the head. The fight is over. Travis Fulton wins. Christophe Midoux remains flat on the mat for 20 minutes, going in and out of consciousness, before finally staggering to his feet.

"He blocked my punches pretty good at first," Fulton says after the fight, "but I got a good one in and he went loopy. I enjoyed beating up on him after that. Midoux was undefeated before tonight and he's been going around saying he's the best. What's hurt most on him right now is his pride."

That's not what it looked like to me, but then again, this is Fulton's fourth fight in seven days, so I assume he knows what he's talking about. His record improves to 67 wins, 16 losses and five draws, and he figures he'll be fighting on the extreme circuit for at least another decade. "I'm still beating the best in the world. I've already had more fights than Muhammad Ali and I'm doing just fine. If I were a boxer with 16 losses I'd be washed up."

Says Fulton: "People die skiing. Brain damage is common in football, not to mention boxing. In tennis people get stabbed. Figure skaters get their kneecaps popped by thugs with crowbars. No-holds-barred is the safest sport in the world." :