| Growing up we've all heard tales of great Roman | | | | often hear various slurs, like street fighting and |
| gladiators fighting until the death. These warriors | | | | human cock fighting, in association with MMA but |
| were trained fighters, in various disciplines, and | | | | these detractors couldn't be further from the |
| gifted athletes. The thing that separated them | | | | truth. The biggest misconception is that your |
| from all others was the courage and lack of | | | | average tough guy can enter one of these |
| regard for their own safety exhibited by these | | | | events and hold their own. Would people expect |
| fighters. They honored having the opportunity to | | | | your average golfer to be able to keep up with |
| fight for and entertain the fans and they had the | | | | Tiger Woods or your average basket ball hobbyist |
| utmost respect for the other combatants. You | | | | to stand a chance against Michael Jordan? The |
| may be asking yourself what this has to do with | | | | answer is no because these athletes are |
| MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) or any martial art for | | | | extremely trained and incredibly athletic. This holds |
| that matter. If you subtract the fighting until | | | | true for MMA as well. No, the fighters you see |
| death aspect you will see that MMA fighters | | | | competing in mixed martial arts are not street |
| exhibit many of the characteristics of these past | | | | fighters or thugs they are highly trained athletes. |
| warriors. You could even say they are our | | | | The average fighter trains for 1 hour a day each |
| modern day gladiators!What is MMA? Firstly it | | | | in boxing, jiu-jitsu and wrestling. They also do an |
| stands for Mixed Martial Arts and it is a relatively | | | | hour of cardiovascular training as well as an |
| new combative sport that combines wrestling, | | | | additional hour of strength training. That's 5 hours |
| boxing, karate, Jiu-jitsu and pretty much any | | | | of intense training in martial arts and conditioning. |
| other Martial art you can think of. Some events | | | | You're not going to find many other pro athletes |
| are held in a cage while others go the traditional | | | | with that much of a work ethic.Mixed martial arts, |
| combative sport route and use a ring. A match | | | | is becoming the fastest growing combat sport in |
| pits two competitors against each other usually | | | | the world with many representatives from every |
| for 2-3 five minute rounds. A fighter is allowed to | | | | continent. When you look at the fact that just 5 |
| use strikes consisting of elbows, kicks and | | | | years ago there weren't many mixed martial |
| punches and is allowed to grapple with their | | | | artists taking home more then ten thousand |
| opponent both while standing and while the two | | | | dollars a fight and now some of these same |
| are on the ground. A fighter can win a match by | | | | fighters earn 250 to 500 thousand dollars a fight it |
| either knocking their opponent unconscious, | | | | definitely shows how far this sport has come. |
| applying a submission hold and having their | | | | Boxing better make way because mixed martial |
| opponent submit or by going the distance and | | | | arts is here to stay. |
| having the judges decide upon the outcome.You | | | | |