Brazilian Jiu Jitsu In MMA

Brazilian Jiu-jitsu is a martial art that basically involving grappling and ground fighting. The aim is to pin down the opponent using joint locks and chokes to force the opponent into submission. For good self defence one has to be equally skilled in all aspects of fighting; striking and grappling. Whether standing or on the ground one has to be effective. Mixed martial arts is one form of self defence technique which makes use of all the strong points of various martial art styles. And thus proves to be the most effectve. Since ground fighting has a lot of importance in mixed martial arts, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu becomes an important factor as a part of mixed martial arts. The grappling and ground fighting involved in brazilian jiu jitsu give a good base to be used in mixed martial arts.

Since Braqzilian Jiu Jitsu concentrates mainly on ground fighting it is relatively very weak in standing techniques. But since mixed martial arts also uses techniques from the kick boxing this relative weakness of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is taken care of. And the fact that Brazilian Jiu Jitsu concentrates mainly on ground fighting and grappling makes it the best technique for ground fighting. Many of the holds and joint locks allowed in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu are no more allowed in judo hence the effectiveness of judo in real life situation is much less when compared to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. It scores over judo in ground fighting. And thus features in the mixed martial arts. And since mixed martial arts is all about preparing for real life situations, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is the best option for ground fighting available today.

Other than grappling the main styles involved in MMA is Muay Thai Boxing  the other two, namely Wrestling and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, are both grappling based. This shows that the importance of ground fighting is much more than the standing fight techniques as far as mixed martial arts is concerned. This is more evident from the fact that when a person is struck he inevidently gets to the ground and so the fight is most of the time on the ground rather than in the standing position. The mixed martial arts aims to be the most effective way of combat and to achieve that it has to have the best techniques both in the standing position as well as for ground fighting, and one cannot write off Brazilian Jiu Jitsu ever when it comes to grappling and ground fighting. Most of the strangleholds and chokeholds in brazilian jiu jitsu will force strongest of the opponents into meek submission.

The victories of Royce Gracie in the first, second and fourth UFC championships is a big proof of the effectiveness of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in the mixed martial arts. Royce beat much larger opponents than him who were practicing other martial arts. This in a way put to rest the question about the most effective martial arts technique as far as mixed martial arts is concerned.