Contemporary Martial Arts

After the explosion in the late 20th century, martial arts underwent an extensive development in the Western world. Therefore, in order to describe the most commonly known and widespread combat styles it is vital to introduce some systematization. Generally, martial arts are divided into two groups: striking and grappling. There are, of course, other minor groups, such as acrobatic combat (i.e. Capoeira), however they are rather acrobatic/dancing than real contact combat techniques and therefore I’ll omit them in my presentation.

Going back to the basic division, let us start from the striking styles:

Box – there is no need to elaborate on this sport as there is no single person who would not know what box is.

Typical boxing gloves

Kick boxing – this style was originally developed in Japan as a combination of Karate and Muay Thai and became largely popular all around the world. It is based on techniques concerning fist strikes and kicks. There are couple variants of the above sport ranging from soft contact technical fight to full contact brutal combat. However, the basic rules state that the combatant may not kick or strike below the belt, the fight cannot be continued when one of the contestants reaches the ground, and the combatants may not use knees, elbows, and head to attack the opponent.

Low kick - often used in kick boxing

Muay Thai - is a hard martial art from Thailand. Descended from muay boran, Muay Thai is Thailand's national sport. Generally speaking, this style is similar to kick boxing, however it is far more brutal as elbow and knee strikes are allowed and the only location that is not allowed to be hit is the groin. Muay Thai fights seldom end with a referees decision, knock outs are the 90% of combat finals.

Karate - is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Islands in what is now Okinawa, Japan. It was developed from indigenous fighting methods called te ( literally: "hand") and Chinese kenpo. Karate is a striking art using punching, kicking, knee and elbow strikes, and open-handed techniques such as knife-hands (karate chop). Grappling, locks, restraints, throws, and vital point strikes are taught in some styles. A karate practitioner is called a karateka.

Karate fighters wearing a traditional kimono

As the grappling styles are concerned, those below are the most commonly known:

Wrestling - is an ancient martial art that uses grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling fight is a physical competition, between two (occasionally more) competitors or sparing partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position. There are a wide range of styles with varying rules with both traditional historic and modern styles. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into other martial arts as well as military hand-to-hand combat systems. Wrestling is, coupled with judo and jujistsu, the ancestor of all modern grappling combat systems.

Jujitsu - literally meaning the "art of softness", or "way of yielding", is a collective name for Japanese martial art styles including unarmed and armed techniques. Jujitsu evolved among the samurai of feudal Japan as a method for defeating an armed and armored opponent without weapons. Due to the ineffectiveness of striking against an armored opponent, the most efficient methods for neutralizing an enemy took the form of pins, joint locks, and throws. These techniques were developed around the principle of using an attacker's energy against him, rather than directly opposing it.

Joint lock

An example of pinning hold - aimed at gaining superior control over an opponent and pinning the opponent to the ground

Judo – it is also a Japanese martial art similar to jujitsu. The main difference is that it uses choking maneuvers and the main idea is to submit the opponent while clinching on the ground.

Throwing techniques are very important in Judo

Brazilian Jujitsu – concerned as the most efficient of all grappling stiles, Brazilian jujitsu is based on the Judo and Jujitsu techniques as an optimal combination of both styles.

The styles enumerated above present a largely shortened list of all martial arts present in contemporary world of combat sports, however I would personally point those as the most commonly recognized and trained all around the world.

Is there a martial art that can be considered the most efficient of all?

As the matter of fact there is, and it is called MMA, which stands for mixed martial arts. The name itself perfectly defines this combat style, as it is a compilation of all modern martial arts. To be more precise, it is a full contact combat sport that allows a wide variety of fighting techniques and skills, from a mixture of martial arts traditions and non-traditions, to be used in competitions. The rules allow the use of both striking as well as grappling techniques, both while standing and on the ground. Such competitions allow martial artists of different backgrounds to compete.

The beginnings of MMA can be traced in the 1900s when the idea of confronting different martial arts emerged. However, MMA as a separate sport was introduced in 1993 when the first Ultimate Fighting Championship was organized. UFC federation started the tradition to fight in an octagonal cages instead of a ring. Those cages where to prevent fighters from falling out of the ring as well as to make the combat look more similar to dog fights (for promotion purposes). In result it became famous for its brutality and for bringing gladiators competitions to the memory of the audience. Numerous other famous competitions were introduced after UFS such as Pride or our own polish KSW (Konfrontacje Sztuk Walki).

The already very famous KSW fight: Mariusz Pudzianowski vs Marcin Najman.