M.M.A .

MMA classes demonstrate a host of combat skills from outside the boxing sphere, and offer insights into the self-defense world, as well as promote fitness and flexibility.

The game

In mixed martial arts (MMA) matches, competitors fight each other under a rule system that allows for a wide variety of techniques to be employed. Practitioners blend elements of boxing, kickboxing, wrestling and grappling to ensure that they have the skills necessary to both overwhelm their opponent and deal with everything thrown at them.

MMA is sometimes referred to as Ultimate Fighting or cage fighting, although aficionados prefer to avoid these terms as they relate more to the unregulated early days of the sport. Mixed martial arts has previously suffered from bad publicity thanks to sensationalist media reporting and, to be fair, the tendency of some unscrupulous promoters to market it as something akin to a no-holds-barred pub brawl.

MMA competition was originally envisioned as a forum whereby martial arts practitioners of any style could fight to determine which style was the best and most effective. In the early years of MMA, events were pretty much unregulated and there were few rules. This understandably proved controversial and after media outcry, regulatory bodies began to take an interest.

Medical comparisons of fights under these rules with professional boxing have found that MMA participation is less dangerous to the long-term health of participants, because the wide variety of ways fighters can tackle their opponent means there is not nearly as much emphasis on punching the head, reducing risk of becoming 'punch drunk'.

It is now truly a worldwide phenomenon that has a presence in most of the world's major countries. It has developed and matured and is now a legitimate sport with well-defined rules.

As yet there is no world governing body, which will be the next big step in the sport's progression, but recent trends suggest that the UFC rules are on their way to becoming the global standardised regulations.