The History of Mixed Martial Arts

In 648 BC, a martial art called Pankreation(Greek παγκράτιον), that means “All Powers” was introduced into the Greek Olympic Games, being a kind of mix between boxing and wrestling, with almost no rules in their competition, excepting biting, hitting lower-body and gouging the opponent`s eyes out. The Spartans were taught to use this ancient technique with the sole purpose of fighting and killing on the battlefield, for that reason, Spartans were not allowed to participate in any competition including other Greeks.

In the 1920s, the Gracie family started to promote the “Gracie Challenge”, an open invitation issued by some members of the family, to martial artists of other styles to fight them in a match of “Vale-Tudo”, meaning “everything allowed”. The purpose of these challenges was to prove the effectiveness of the Gracie style of BJJ. Challenges have been issued since Carlos Gracie first made one in the 1920s, with some becoming public events while others have remained private.

In 1993, the Vale-Tudo started to move around the world. After moving to United States, Rorion Gracie wanted to promote Jiu-Jitsu as the ultimate martial art, and to make it happen, he created the tournament Ultimate Fighting Championship, with the Vale-Tudo rules, and making the broadcast by pay per view reaching all the United States. Rorion put his younger brother, Royce Gracie, a skinny Jiu-Jitsu fighter, to compete in this 8 tournament fight, where he competed against fighters of other disciplines such as Muay Thai, Wrestling, Boxing, Karate, Judo and more.

Overseas, in Japan, the first Vale Tudo Japan tournaments were held in 1994 and 1995, with propose was to expose all martial arts in a competition and establish the superior discipline. The events started to develop, making rules, putting gloves, and starting to change it to create a new sport. Interest in mixed martial arts as a sport resulted in the creation of the Pride Fighting Championships in 1997.

Following this new system, and changing of owners, the UFC started to grow with Pride, and they became the biggest organizations of MMA in the world. The UFC is now the largest MMA promotion company in the world that hosts most of the top-ranked fighters in the sport and produces events worldwide. Based in the United States, the UFC has seven weight divisions and enforces the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts.

The History of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

Known as the “Smooth Art”, was born India and practiced by Buddhists monks. Created for self-defence the technics were based on the principles of equilibrium of the articulation system, mechanic advantages of the body and avoiding the use of brutal power and weapons. Along with Buddhism, jiu-jitsu traveled through the whole of Asia including Japan the place where it has developed and popularized.

At the end of the 16th century, some masters of jiu-jitsu migrated from Japan to other continents teaching and fighting.

Esai Maeda Koma, was one of these jiu-jitsu masters. After traveling with some disciples, fighting in many countries of Europe and America, in 1915 he arrived in Brazil and establish himself in Belem do Para, city where in the next year, he meets Gastao Gracie. Father of eight children’s, five boys and three girls, Gastao become a jiu-jitsu enthusiast, and introduced his old son, Carlos, to learn this martial art.

Eventually after becoming a master of the smooth art, Carlos Gracie saw in jiu-jitsu a good path to become a better man, respectful and self-confident. Taking the responsibility to prove the superiority of jiu-jitsu and begin a family tradition, he started to challenge the biggest fighters of his time, and started to manage his brothers fight career.

Facing challengers heavier than they, the Gracies became famous in Brazil, and started to geain attention from fighters around the world. After make a lot of changes in those Japanese martial arts, and transforming it in a grappling ground fight, making the submission as the final goal.

The smooth art remains still to be improving and developed by many other fighters today, making Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu an export from Brazil to all the countries around the world.