MMA Organizations
When they first came out, the Ultimate Fighting Championship UFC proclaimed itself as a “no holds bar” competition and the tagline was “There are no rules!” It was somewhat misleading because there were some rules such as no biting and eye gouging, but there was some truth behind that tag line. Everything else that is a rule today in the UFC used to be just frowned upon. For example, hair pulling and groin strikes were merely frowned upon. It wasn’t until later in the evolution of the Ultimate Fighting Championship UFC where those fouls and others were stated as rules.
UFC History
The Ultimate Fighting Championship UFC originated from a man named Art Davie. Davie worked as an advertising executive in Southern California and he co-created Ultimate Fighting Championship UFC with someone from the infamous Gracie family. Art Davie also is responsible for later bringing K-1 kickboxing from Japan to the US in 1998.
The Gracie family are known as the founders of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. It is this combat sport that focuses on grappling and ground fighting, which is very widely used today in fighting organizations such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship UFC. Rorion Gracie became a teacher of Art Davie in 1991. In the following year, Davie was inspired by a video series that showed the Gracies’ defeating martial arts masters who have mastered their niche of martial arts. This video showed members of the Gracie family defeating, for example, karate masters and tae kwan do masters. Davie proposed a tournament with 8 people in a single-elimination type bracket.
Octagon UFC
This tournament was called War of the Worlds (WOW). It eventually became the Ultimate Fighting Championship UFC and the birth of the “Octagon” was created. The “Octagan” is the ring in which the fighters fight which is in the shape of an octagon, which is a polygon with 8 sides (the same shap as a stop sign).
UFC Rounds
There are five rounds for title matches at 5 minutes each. Non-title matches are also 5 minutes each but only last three rounds.
UFC Weight Divisions
There are five weight classes: Lightweight (145 - 155 lbs.), Welterweight (156 - 170 lbs), Middleweight (171 – 185 lbs), Light Heavyweight (186 – 205 lbs), and Heavyweight (206 – 265 lbs).
A UFC match can end usually 4 ways: Submission, Knockout, Technical Knockout (TKO), or Judges Decision.
• A submission is usually done using a jiu-jitsu move and the other opponent has to tap out.
• A knockout happens when the fighter is unconscious and not able to continue the fight.
• A TKO or Technical Knockout is when the referee, doctor, or cornerman has to stop the fight.
• The fight is also scored by the judges and it may end as an unanimous decision, majority decision, split decision, unanimous draw, majority draw, or split draw.
o Unanimous decision is where all three judges score a win for one fighter.
o A majority decision is with 2 judges scoring for one fighter to win and the third judge scoring a draw.
o A split decision is where 2 judges score a win for one fighter and 1 judge scoring a win for the other fighter.
o Unanimous draw is with all 3 judges scoring a draw.
o Majority draw is with 2 judges scoring a draw and 1 judge scoring a win for one of the fighters.
o A split draw is with 1 judge scoring a win for one fighter, the 2nd judge scoring a win for the other fighter, and the 3rd judge scoring a draw.
