Fighting
techniques have
been a part of the
human experience ever since man strived to develop more efficient and
effective ways to bring an opponent down.
Practiced competitively, the
earliest known instance of unarmed combat fighting was in the Olympic
games of 648 B.C. when pankration first made its appearance, although
it was probably practiced long before then.
Today a wide variety of fighting techniques
are utilized in the various armed and unarmed martial arts and
competitive sports such as karate, judo, jiu-jetso and many others.
Even street fighting has evolved to develop slightly more codified
methods.
While all of these combat sports have their
own distinctive techniques, they also have a lot in common. Kicking for
example is a technique that is shared among many different martial
arts, as are boxing and grappling styles.
The recent popularity of
mixed martial arts as a competitive sport has given fighters who
practice multiple disciplines a platform in which to use all their
knowledge in a competitive arena.
An intense and often brutal
discipline, mixed martial arts employ a variety of striking and
grappling styles and techniques that have been practice for hundreds of
years, in addition to some that have evolved naturally over the course
of the sport’s development.
Although it may seem to many that mixed
martial arts is a sport where anything goes, there are a number of
techniques that are not allowed.
Among these are eye gouging, biting,
fish hooking and techniques that involve manipulation of the small
joints. Strikes to the groin are typically no longer allowed in
virtually all events, and there are a number of techniques that are
disallowed in some events but allowed in others. Among these are head
butting, elbow strikes and spinal locks.
There are also many fighting techniques that
involve the use of other equipment such as staffs, swords, spears,
nunchuks and many others. With a history that is at least as old as
unarmed combat, all of these require an added degree of training and
discipline, and in the hands of a highly skilled combatant, they can be
effectively used to deliver potentially lethal force.