Issue 001

March 2005

Whether it’s in a cage or a ring, using closed fists or open hand strikes, forcing quick stand-ups or allowing no closed guard on the mat, the question can always be asked:

One of the most fascinating aspects of the sport of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is the variety of rules and environments used from promotion to promotion. Even though MMA has been developing around the world for more than a decade, there are still rule variances that challenge a combat sport athlete and force him to tailor his training to fit the task at hand. 

Is this a good thing? Let’s look at other recognised professional sports. A pro boxer always knows he’s going to fight in a ring and his opponent will only be punching him. An athlete will always play football or soccer on a field, baseball on a diamond, basketball on a court and ice hockey in a rink. These environments never change. There is no additional preparation because a contest is being held in a different state or country either. So is it fair for MMA athletes to be forced to adapt their game based on promotion? 

It is a fact that the laws and surroundings that govern a fight can dramatically change the outcome. Some fighters depend on these differences and take advantage of them in battle. What about Dutchman Gilbert Yvel? He won the Rings Open Weight Championship and was quite successful in the promotion for many years. Yvel is dangerous with his flying knees and elbows in close but had no serious ground game until recently. The rules of Rings gave him the freedom to implement his striking, and with the emphasis on quick stand-ups it allowed him to either avoid being taken down or, if brought to the mat, bide his time and wait for a restart. This promotion was perfect for a fighter who was not a good enough kickboxer to compete at the top level in K-1 but enjoyed more open rules than kickboxing and Muay Thai promotions use. 

So the event allowed strikers to take part in a modified MMA format and excel with hardly any ground game to speak of. How would a fighter like Royce Gracie — circa 1993 when the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) first started — do in an event like this? Gracie is a master of the ground and his success was completely dependant on achieving a takedown to work his magic on the mat. Would the great Royce have been just another casualty of a striker’s promotion? Not likely, but we’ll never know for sure.

Back when we called it ‘No Holds Barred’

Royce came up in the early days of no-rules fighting. The Vale Tudo or ‘anything goes’ style of combat gained popularity in South America during the late 1980s but fights go back as far as the 1930s. The Gracie Challenge was an open invitation to all fighters of the day to compete against Brazil’s fighting family. The beauty of the Gracie Challenge was that there were no stand ups, no time limits and they took place virtually anywhere. 

It wasn’t long before public events were held that showcased the skills of fighters such as Ralph, Renzo and Rickson Gracie. There were few recognised rules and the events were held in a boxing ring. The mid-1990s brought Circuito de Lutas, The International Vale Tudo Championships (IVC) and other Brazilian events that also took place in rings. Very few competitions in Brazil have used a cage. The World Vale Tudo Championships, which helped mould the early careers of MMA stars Mark Kerr, Pedro Rizzo, Igor Vovchanchyn and Heath Herring, held some of their later events in a cage and the promotion called Universal Vale Tudo Fighting switched back and forth from ring to cage from event to event. 

An interesting fact about the IVC events and the Too Hot 2 Handle promotion in Holland: they both use a mesh netting on the lower section of a boxing ring. This net allows the aggressor to ensnare a downed opponent on the canvas and finish him off like a trapped animal. It makes for an interesting contest and can take the fight right out of the best competitor. Just watch Ebenezer Braga versus Brandon Lee Hinkle from IVC 6 and see what the net can do. Coupled with the barebones rules of no eye gouging, no fish hooking and no biting, the IVC events were bloody, brutal and not really the direction the ‘sport’ was headed in. Not to say the fights weren’t entertaining, just not politically correct. 

The (North) American way

In the United States, the Ultimate Fighting Championships led the way for MMA in 1993 and it still does today. They have competition from lower caliber shows like King of the Cage, Gladiator Challenge and numerous regional events but it is still considered the event to be in for a fighter in the States. BJ Penn’s ‘Rumble on the Rock’ is picking up steam on DVD and Pay-Per-View and with the backing of K-1 it may be a legitimate threat before long. What do they all have in common? Why it is the cage of course.

Some of the advantages of a cage are obvious. Like the opponent has nowhere to go if the fight is getting out of hand. An opponent’s mobility can be shut off and their options to avoid submission or heavy strikes are few and far between. The cage also provides a more stable surface to grip when trying to keep balance or pull one’s self up off the canvas. In most cage events elbows to the head and face on the ground are banned but knees are used freely on the mat. 

Fighting in the land of the Rising Sun

In the East we have the greatest variance of rules, environments and even equipment. In the old Rings-style and early Pancrase bouts only open-hand strikes were allowed. Although worked bouts were the norm for many years, people still got knocked out. It just took some fighters a while to perfect their palm strikes. Rings and Pancrase eventually went to straight shoot bouts and adopted grappling gloves. The Shooto organisation started in 1989 and is still one of the most highly respected MMA promotions in the world. There were no worked bouts here, just pure combat. And like most events in Japan, including Rings and Pancrase, it is held in a ring. And like Brazil, a cage was an uncommon sight for combat in Japan. Aside from the UFC Japan shows, a one-time event called U-Japan is the only one I can recall.

The most recognised MMA promotion in Japan, and in the world, is the Pride Fighting Championships (PFC). Pride has the most resources and in turn the top heavyweight fighters on the planet. In addition to the standard PFC show, they have introduced the Pride: Bushido event that caters to lightweight and middleweight fighters. Bushido replaced a short-lived ‘B Level’ promotion ironically called Pride: The Best. All of these promotions are fought in a ring but the setting for The Best was an octagon-shaped ring that can sometimes be seen in professional wrestling. It was more of an oddity and really didn’t seem to change the complexion of the fight. As for rules, Pride will allow elbows to the body and knees everywhere but you cannot kick an opponent in the head when he is face down on the mat. Now that just makes me say to myself ‘wow, they actually had to specifically rule that out?’ Now I’m not absolutely sure, but I don’t think you tear raw flesh from their strewn carcass and gorge yourself on it either. Whew!

You can also find a promotion called ZST (pronounced ‘zest’) in Japan. Like Pride: Bushido and Shooto, more emphasis is placed on the lighter weight categories but it also has some unique differences, like not allowing a competitor to close his guard on the mat and holding tag-team MMA bouts. However, it appears they will move to adopt the Rings King of Kings tournament rules (quick stand-ups and stressing the striking game) for most if not all of their bouts.

How the other half (of the world) does it

There are numerous events around the world today. From Combat Libre in Mexico to Neo Fight and Spirit MC in Korea, from the M-1 in Russia to shows like Cage Rage and Ultimate Combat (and we cannot forget Pride & Glory) in England, Mixed Martial Arts is a global sport now. They all subscribe to a blend of the common UFC or Pride rules regardless of cage or ring. And a ring, due to its multi-use, ease of construction and less expensive price tag, is the more common fighting background.

And the best environment to fight in/best governing rules to fight by is?

Entirely up to you. Both settings have their strong points. The cage will always have negative connotations and be equated to human cockfighting. Conversely, the ring gives the sport no unique environment and allows a competitor to potentially slide beneath the ropes and fall to the floor. Even the raised platform used in Frank Shamrock’s short-lived ‘ShootBox’ promotion was a novel idea and may resurface again. In reference to rule variations, fighters in general seem to prefer knees on the mat to elbows. This is due in part to the sharpness of the elbow and the rapid speed which an elbow can be fired by a competitor. In reality, knees and elbows are equally damaging in their own way when thrown by a fighter who truly knows how to use them.