May - 2015
SCRAPP! FIGHT MAGAZINE
18
As MMA fans, we can often
appreciate all forms of combat.
MMA makes the best possible
attempt to create a real world
fight, within the realm of safe-
ty and reason. Sometimes it
can be just as interesting to see
specific forms of limited com-
bat. Currently, boxing is by far
the most popular form of lim-
ited combat as we recently saw
with the huge hype and big
paydays following Pacquiao
and Mayweather.
In the same way that boxing is
limited combat, it’s a fight but
only uses one’s hands, Kick-
boxing and Muay Thai follow
similar agreements. But other
sports, such as wrestling, judo,
and Brazilian jiu-jitsu follow
the reverse position. These are
fights without strikes. While
this isn’t always as visually ap-
pealing, especially to the ca-
sual viewer, it has very spe-
cific advantages. Fighters can
compete in these events far
more often, as they generally
sustain far less damage than
athletes who takes multiple
strikes to the body and head
over the course of the com-
petition. These events are of-
ten far more cerebral than the
striking arts, and in many cases
the more intelligent competitor
can triumph over their athletic
superior.
Wrestling and judo have both
long had their place for ath-
letes to compete and show
their skills, as they are common
place among U.S. High schools
and colleges, in addition to be-
ing Olympic sports. Jiu-jitsu on
the other hand is very different.
Jiu-jitsu is still very young; it
was relatively unknown until
Royce Gracie showed it to the
world in the first UFC events.
This wasn’t pure jiu-jitsu of
course, striking was allowed,
but against such unprepared
opponents Royce was able to
dominate the fight without
extensive training in the other
arts. The UFC was largely cre-
ated to show the power of jiu-
jitsu, and several years later the
Pride Fighting Championships
followed a similar path when
it was created for Royce’s older
brother Rickson to showcase
the gentle art, which he did
with even more dominance
than Royce.
The effectiveness of jiu-jitsu
is nowhere near what it once
was, as fighters can no longer
train in a single discipline and
MMA’S MOST POWERFUL TOOL:
THE JIU JITSU EFFECT
Article By: Josh Souter
(Marcelo Alonso/Sherdog)
