Fans of MMA in Mumbai have been waiting for MMA to make it’s debut in India for a long time now and many martial artists have been cross-training to learn how to win in Mixed Martial Arts. When you consider that many martial artists are one trick ponies i.e. are comfortable in one range only, this is a mammoth task. It is however an undertaking that will help in their evolution of a martial artist. Learning how to box for a karateka can be a jarring experience when coming from a strict background of ‘pull back and punch’ or a boxer may be completely unnerved when he has to lift his leg up to kick to reach what his hands can’t. Grapplers are used to walking straight in and rolling to the ground, but what happens when your opponent is reluctant to get on the mat? Numerous such situations arise and the best a fighter can do is to become well-rounded and master the basics of all ranges while maintaining his proficiency in any one range. Learn Boxing, Kick Boxing, Wing Chun Kung Fu, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Krav Maga, Muay Thai and exclusive MMA techniques at the Academy of Combat Arts and become a well rounded fighter.

But not many are convinced that training in Mixed Martial Arts is good. See the video below for a checklist on why MMA is bullshit! Who says martial artists have no sense of humor? Laugh it up and then join our MMA class in Mumbai if you want to really learn how to fight and win in the cage!Disclaimer: We donot in anyway take this video seriously and it is just a comedy web series about the world of American martial arts schools by Enter The Dojo

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Submission Moves and Techniques from BJJ (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu) are used often in MMA (Mixed Martial Arts). Submission holds can be grouped into joint locks and chokes. BJJ is very popular amongst the youth across the world today. Joint locks involve isolating the limb and creating a lever with the body position to force the joint to move past its normal range of motion. Pressure is increased in a controlled manner and released if the opponent cannot escape the hold and signals defeat by submitting.

Tap-Out: Opponents can indicate submission verbally or they can tap out (either tap the opponent or the mat). A choke hold, disrupting the blood supply to the brain, can cause unconsciousness if the opponent does not submit or tap out soon enough.

Competition Techniques: Competitions ban or restrict some or all joint locks involving the knees, ankles, and spine. Joint locks that require a twisting motion of the knee like twisting knee locks or twisting knee bars, or techniques such as heel hooks, and toe holds are also usually banned in competitions because successfully completing the move nearly always results in permanent damage that requires surgery. Manipulating the spine is barred due to the inherent danger of crushing or mis-aligning cervical vertebrae. Leglocks are allowed in varying degrees depending on skill level, with straight ankle locks being the only leglocks allowed in the beginner division, straight kneebars being allowed in the intermediate division and toeholds with the pressure applied inwards are allowed in the advanced division. Some competitions also ban submissions involving the crushing or compression of muscle tissue.

Distractions: However, most joint locks involving the wrist, elbow, shoulder or ankle are permitted as there is a great deal more flexibility in those joints and those locks are safe to use under tournament conditions. Also, some fighters practice moves whose sole purpose is to inflict pain upon their opponent, in the hope that they will tap out. This includes driving knuckles into pressure points, holding their opponent’s head in order to tire out the neck and putting body weight on top of the sternum, floating ribs, or similarly sensitive bones. These moves are not true submission moves and used as distractions in lower levels of competition. At upper levels, they are avoided or aggressively countered.

Chokes and Strangles: Often referred to as “air chokes” and “blood chokes”, chokes and strangles are a common forms of submission. In BJJ, the chokes that are used put pressure on the carotid arteries are very fast acting with victims typically losing consciousness in around 3–5 seconds. In contrast, an air choke can take up to two minutes, depending on how long the person can hold their breath, and may cause serious damage to the throat.

Compression: A less common type of submission hold is a compression lock, where the muscle of an opponent is compressed against a hard, large bone such as the shin or wrist, causing pain to the opponent. These types of locks are usually not seen in competition due to the risk of tearing muscle tissue. This type of lock often also hyper-extends the joint in the opposite direction, pulling it apart.

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I recently read a feature article on whether children must be allowed to train in MMA. What sparked the debate was a Tapout commercial featuring the Ruffo brothers training. What marked this different from any other training montage was that the brothers were aged 8 and 9 respectively. And believe it or not, they started training at 18 months of age. Many may find this outrageous and barbaric in today’s domesticated times, but the truth of it is that training is a safe practise and the possibilities of injuries abound in every sport, be it athletics, track, football and other team sports or fighting related arts. Unlike fights on the street, the ring or cage has rules and allows for safety gear like gloves and groin guards. In fact more injuries occur while training than during actual fights in the arena. Training in a slow paced, controlled environment helps keeps injuries at bay.

Not just children, but middle aged corporates and women can benefit from training in MMA. While the traditional benefits like discipline and patience are well known in the martial arts arena, the skills offer self-confidence in an increasingly violent world. Also training promotes healthy living with balanced exercise, nutrition and diet replacing stressful work ethics and sleepless nights. Obesity levels are rising everywhere and more and more people are being afflicted by this disorder. Unlike other sports, you donot have to be of a specific body type in order to participate. Whether you are skinny or overweight, MMA Training is the right way to gain muscle and lose fat.

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MMA Full Fight Video of James Thompson vs. Bob Sapp in the Main Event Heavyweight Bout @ SFL – Super Fight League 1 in Mumbai, India, on March 11th, 2012.

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Muay Thai Boran - Muay Luesee

The “Indian Connection” by Marco De Cesaris

The re-discovery of the ancestral style of Muay Boran. Thanks to the long and exhaustive work done in the past years by Professor Paosawath Saengsawan, the directors of the University of Rajabat, with the cooperation of the Technical Director of the IMBA, Marco De Cesaris (a lecturer at that university), the style of Muay Boran that, according to all the experts, can be reasonably considered as the oldest codified style, is coming back into the light in its characteristic elements. The historical figure who represents these characteristics—and from which the name of the style comes—is the mythical ascetic Luesee, a wise man who, according to some, embodies the existent common elements in the thousand-year old Indian culture and the Thai “daughter”.

From the Therapeutic Art to the Martial

Being a truly archaic style, Muay Luesee has come to us incomplete and fragmented; however, its fundamentals are still studied in all the schools of Thai Physical Education, no longer under the martial aspect, rather as an elevated form of curative and strengthening gymnastics. The similarities between the gymnastic exercises codified by Luesee and Indian Yoga are varied and, in some cases, amazing given that during the past centuries the two styles were developed independently: today, the therapeutic postures that make up the Luesee method number 127, of which 80 are archaic and the rest go back to a time that one can place between the end of the 18th century up to the mid-19th century. The system involves the execution of the various positions in accord with precise linking, which are studied to develop the energy flow or to cure concrete illnesses. (Within the channels called “Sen”, also studied in Nuad Paen Thai Boran, or traditional Thai massage. For that, see box).
The majority of the offensive and defensive movements of the martial style of Luesee, presuppose great control of the body and a strong sense of balance, abilities developed through the continuous practice of the “Thai yoga” positions that make up part of the aforementioned 80 primary sequences. Without the relaxation and loosening abilities that the various positions allow one to acquire, it is not possible to execute the complicated and at times acrobatic movements that we find in the archaic style of Muay Luesee fighting.

An Elusive and Acrobatic Style

In the profile of the technical study of Muay Luesee, some of the style’s fighting principles can be found in the most ancient variations of some Mae Mai that are still practiced today. The use of the hard and resistant parts of the body, along with sophisticated strategies of movements (footwork), immediately show a clear idea of the purely martial aims of this ancestral form of Muay Boran.
For example, the head—and in particular, the hard, frontal part of the cranium—is utilized to strike in hand-to-hand combat situations or to throw oneself against the adversary with unpredictable jumping techniques from the long distance (in fact, the Burmese Boxers still use this strategy a lot); the elbows and the knees (often together) are used a lot, sometimes jumping over the adversary or using a leg as a support in order to climb over him and strike him from unusual positions. Furthermore, the style has an abundance of flying attacks, which come from the belief that an assiduous, ascetic practice of the Luesee postures can, among the various benefits, develop levitation abilities; the punches are executed using various parts of the hand and, if possible, jumping over the adversary or using the energy of his strikes (especially the kicks), absorbing the impact with special deflecting techniques in order to later raise oneself and strike from above downward, taking advantage of the full force of gravity and making defenses more difficult.
Finally, the capacity of the followers of Luesee’s style to attain knowledge of the vital parts of the human body is not of least importance: in fact, precisely because of constant and long training focused on the “yoga” postures, the expert practitioner can mentally draw a map of the vital points of the body of the adversary, striking with impact angles, weapons, and adequate techniques to make the attacks more effective, even in the stressful conditions of combat.
Studying the Mae Mai and the Look Mai through the “filter” of the ascetic style offers the modern practitioner a key to go much more deeply into his Art than could have been imagined before: the “Thai yoga” techniques along with the map of the sensitive points offered by the study of the Sen, make the traditional forms a true treasure chest of martial knowledge and the real base of the whole Muay Boran system.

The Nuad Paen Thai

The theoretical fundamentals of the Luesee postures, as well as of Nuad Pean Thai, or Thai massage, are based on the existence of invisible lines of energy flow that run through the body, called Sen: the ten principle energy planes are studied in a particular way in traditional Thai massage. The principle Acupuncture points are situated—according to the theory of Nuad Paen—on the Sen lines, which, if studied correctly, offer a map of the vital points of the human body, as much for therapeutic objectives as martial. The origins of this theory are Indian, and the legendary founder of the art of Massage in Thailand is Indian as well, a doctor from the north of India, Jivaka Kumar (Ishivago Komarpaj, in Thai). Kumar was a contemporary of Buddha and acquired notable fame in his motherland some 2500 years ago. Just as occurred with the archaic Thai martial traditions, it is impossible to find written evidence of the development of the massage technique and the influences of the principles of Indian Yoga due to the destruction suffered by the ancient Thai capital of Ayuddhaya in 1767 at the hands of the invaders from Burma. In any case, the Indian influence in the current use that the Nuad Paen Thai masters still make of a form of “Yoga massage” is evident, following a refined technique that exploits in the best possible way the knowledge of the energy flow and pressure points typical of the ancestral Indian tradition.

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