Come Saturday, Jan. 4, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) will land in South-East Asia for the first time ever with a fight card at the Marina Bay Sands, Singapore.
Here are five things you need to know before the big Fight Night.
What is UFC and MMA anyway?
To begin, MMA stands for ‘mixed martial arts’ which is a combination of all the different types of martial arts including karate, kung-fu, muay thai, wrestling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu among many others. You can use whatever kind of martial arts you fancy in MMA as long as they comply with the MMA rules which include basic safety precautions such as no-biting or eye-gouging. It’s a full contact sport and is usually fought in a ring or a cage.
Although there were a variety of different types of MMA in the early to mid 1900s the UFC was the first professional organisation that developed MMA into a sport. The original UFC was actually founded as a challenge event by the Gracie family, who had moved to the USA from Brazil and wanted to prove that their martial art was more effective than other styles.
The original UFCs were no-holds barred affairs where every technique was legal including hitting the groin. The original UFC shocked the world as a slim Brazilian jiu-jitsu expert called Royce Gracie who was victorious over much larger and seemingly stronger opponents.
Check out the ‘Brutal Beginnings’ of the UFC:
Now the UFC is a global business and top professional MMA fighters are becoming mega-stars in their own right. For a full understanding of the fascinating history of MMA check out BloodyElbow’s MMA Origins — it’s an excellent read.
What is BJJ and the rear naked choke that everyone is talking about?
BJJ is one of the foundational sports of MMA and stands for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Its origins come from a Japanese judoka called Mitsuyo Maeda who travelled Japan to Brazil to export the art of Judo. During his travels Maeda was influenced by a style of grappling known as catch-wrestling and then in 1921 Maeda travelled to Brazil and opened a judo school. There Maeda met and taught Carlos Gracie who would go on to become a black belt and open the first Gracie jiu-jitsu academy in Rio de Janeiro.
Their art continued to develop in the area of ground fighting in particular because Helio Gracie, Carlo’s son, was originally a young and sickly child who lacked strength to execute other techniques, had to develop techniques that utilised leverage and timing.
The Gracies became famous for their skills and their willingness to take on all challengers. They issued an open challenge to anyone who wanted to take on a Gracie jiu-jitsu fighter. This would be the beginning of the events that would lead the Gracies and BJJ to the United States and lead to the creation of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Watch the UFC’s Ultimate Submissions to understand how BJJ has influenced the sport of mixed martial arts:
Rear Naked Choke
The rear naked choke is, in the words of BJ Penn, “the best move ever invented”. It’s one of dozens of techniques in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu that can be used for submitting your opponent. It’s one of the most commonly used techniques in MMA primarily because of its ease of application and defensive soundness. However, it can be a very dangerous move so don’t try this at home!
Checkout the science behind the move at ESPN Sport Science:
Watch out for Tarrec Saffiedine and Lim Gyu Hyun
The headliners for this weekend’s fight cards are two men respectively called Tarrec Saffiedine and Lim Gyu Hyun. UFC headlining fights are usually between fighters that are fighting for a championship of some kind however, this fight in Singapore is actually a UFC “Fight Night” so the fighters aren’t the top end of the UFC’s roster. That being said, there are some really good fights on the card.
Tarrec Saffiedine isn’t the most well-known fighter but he’s a legitimate mixed martial artist who won the Strikeforce welterweight championship before moving to the UFC. He’s a black belt in Shihaishinkai Karate and a 14-3 (14 wins against 3 losses) record coming into this fight. Tarrec is on many lists of promising young fighters who can step into the UFC spotlight after the departure of the UFC’s biggest welterweight star – Georges St Pierre – a few weeks ago. He is known for his lethal kicks.
Although you may look at the name Lim and think he’s from Singapore – Lim is actually a well-known Korean MMA fighter (don’t worry there is a Singaporean fighting on the night!). Lim Gyu Hyun is one of a bunch of Korean fighters (including the Korean Zombie and Dong Hyun Kim) who are making waves in the UFC and representing Asian fighters. Lim himself is currently 2-0 in the UFC and 12-3-1 overall with impressive knock-out victories in his last two fights.
Both fighters are top notch fighters gunning for the belt. If you are there this Saturday you might be watching a future champion in action!
So where do I get tickets?
Tickets are available for purchase at the Marina Bay Sands website. They range from SG$88 to SG$688 for the top-end VIP seats. This UFC fight is at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre, whereas usually UFC fights are held at much larger arenas like the 55,000 seat Roger’s Centre in Toronto. Other Singapore fights have previously been held at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, so with this venue ticketholders are much closer to the action. Tickets are also available at SISTIC.
Finally — to whet your appetite for the big fight check out the Top 20 Knockouts of UFC History:
