The Three Aspects of MMA

Aspect 1: Standup/Striking
This is one of the most obvious aspects. Nine out of ten people that watch any of the major promotions on pay per view or television are looking for one of the fighters to knock the other fighter's head off. There is actually quite a bit more disciplines and techniques involved with the striking game rather than just swinging your fists wildly around. The most popular discipline right now in MMA is Muay Thai Kickboxing. This striking art was developed in Thailand and involves using the fists, elbows, knees, and shins. The reason why this translates to mixed martial arts so well is that it utilizes control through the clinch, it gives more opportunistic and dynamic striking, and it gives more opportunities for a referee stoppage.

Aspect 2: Ground game/Wrestling
This aspect is a bit more subtle but is slowly gaining more recognition with the fans of the sport slowly starting to educate themselves on all of the techniques that goes into the ground game. One of the aspects within the ground game are take downs. These take downs are usually achieved through techniques based on collegiate wrestling, judo, or sombo. These things are important because they can give you the edge in a fight if someone is a better striker than you. Once the take down is achieved however, another part of MMA begins. Once on the ground, the fighter is looking to do one of three things: the first being to submit their opponent with either a choke or a joint lock, the second is to land effective strikes while on the ground and either knock out their opponent or cause the referee to stop the fight, the third is that the fighter wishes to get back up and either start striking or work towards another take down.

Aspect 3: Conditioning
This aspect is probably the most looked over but one of the most essential aspects to master. When a fighter is training for a fight they have to incorporate a heavy amount of conditioning. These intense workouts help prepare the body for the fight that is going to eventually happen. A fighter is working out so that they can exert themselves to their truest potential for at least 15 minutes. The conditioning will also help their minds prepare for the fight as well. They will be working out, sparring, and wrestling for hours to not only help their bodies, but to show that their mind that they can push themselves. Most fighters will train with the thought that "train hard so the fight is easy" running through their head.