New to MMA? Get Help Here.

[Frank the Frowner]

This thread is designed to help those out who really want to know what the world of MMA is about. If you have any questions, feel free to ask here, and those of us who are well-versed in MMA knowledge will be more than glad to help out. As the sport becomes more popular and mainstream, more fans are going to become interested in it. With more fans come more questions, and we want to help you get acclimated to the sport, so you can help contribute to this forum.

What are Mixed Martial Arts? - Mixed Martial Arts, or MMA, is a sport where competitors use all sorts of techniques from all kinds of martial arts to win their matches. Striking and grappling is allowed, and there are three ways to win: Knockout, submission, and judges' decision.

The Promotions
UFC - The biggest out of all of them. The most popular fighters (save for a few) fight for the UFC. They are the most successful and by far the biggest promotion out there. They are also responsible for the surge in popularity in the sport, thanks to their reality show, The Ultimate Fighter, which can be seen on Spike TV.

Pride - Pride was based out of Japan, and went out of business thanks to scandals. However, there were some great fights from that promotion and many of the big stars from the UFC have competed in Pride at one point or another. When Pride went belly-up, a lot of former competitors made their way to the UFC.

DREAM - I've been checking out a lot of stuff from this promotion lately on HDNet, and it's very entertaining. They're the #1 promotion in Japan right now, and a lot of the former Pride staff now works for this promotion. There is a lot of good talent (i.e. Eddie Alvarez, Mirko Cro Cop) working for that promotion, and they're running some real exciting tournaments right now.

WEC - Also owned by the parent company of UFC, Zuffa. Urijah Faber is their big star, and he's horrendously exciting to watch. They run some great cards on Versus every few months.

EliteXC - Once considered to be possibly a major competitor for the UFC, they've really regressed and have turned into a carnival promotion, by putting all their eggs in one basket with Kimbo Slice, who is a street fighter turned MMA fighter. They have television deals with Showtime and CBS. The problem is that they're a third rate promotion whose two shows on CBS, a major broadcast network, have been a trainwreck, where the female MMA fights have been the saving grace more than anything.

Affliction - A t-shirt company that has evolved into a fighting promotion. They collected some pretty good free agent talent and former UFC stars in Andrei Arlovski, Renalto "Babalu" Sobral, Tim Sylvia, and most recently one of the biggest stars in MMA history, Tito Ortiz. They also have a guy who is considered the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world in Fedor Emilianenko. They could be major competition for the UFC down the road, especially when they're financially backed by Donald Trump.

The Rules

I'll let UFC.com take care of that...

Weight classes:
Lightweight - over 145 lbs. to 155 lbs.
Welterweight - over 155 lbs. to 170 lbs.
Middleweight - over 170 lbs. to 185 lbs.
Light Heavyweight - over 185 lbs. to 205 lbs.
Heavyweight - over 205 lbs. to 265 lbs.

Bout duration:
All non-championship bouts shall be three rounds.
All championship bouts shall be five rounds.
Rounds will be five minutes in duration.
A one-minute rest period will occur between each round.

Fouls:
1. Butting with the head.
2. Eye gouging of any kind.
3. Biting.
4. Hair pulling.
5. Fish hooking.
6. Groin attacks of any kind.
7. Putting a finger into any orifice or into any cut or laceration on an opponent.
8. Small joint manipulation.
9. Striking to the spine or the back of the head.
10. Striking downward using the point of the elbow.
11. Throat strikes of any kind, including, without limitation, grabbing the trachea.
12. Clawing, pinching or twisting the flesh.
13. Grabbing the clavicle.
14. Kicking the head of a grounded opponent.
15. Kneeing the head of a grounded opponent.
16. Stomping a grounded opponent.
17. Kicking to the kidney with the heel.
18. Spiking an opponent to the canvas on his head or neck.
19. Throwing an opponent out of the ring or fenced area.
20. Holding the shorts or gloves of an opponent.
21. Spitting at an opponent.
22. Engaging in an unsportsmanlike conduct that causes an injury to an opponent.
23. Holding the ropes or the fence.
24. Using abusive language in the ring or fenced area.
25. Attacking an opponent on or during the break.
26. Attacking an opponent who is under the care of the referee.
27. Attacking an opponent after the bell has sounded the end of the period of unarmed combat.
28. Flagrantly disregarding the instructions of the referee.
29. Timidity, including, without limitation, avoiding contact with an opponent, intentionally or consistently dropping the mouthpiece or faking an injury.
30. Interference by the corner.
31. Throwing in the towel during competition.

Ways To Win:
1. Submission by:
Physical tap out.
Verbal tap out.
2. Technical knockout by the referee stopping the contest.
3. Decision via the scorecards, including:
Unanimous decision [all judges pick the same fighter as the winner].
Split decision [One judge picks one fighter, the other two judges pick the other fighter].
Majority decision [two of three judges pick the same fighter as the winner].
Draw, including:
Unanimous draw.
Majority draw.
Split draw.
4. Technical decision.
5. Technical draw.
6. Disqualification.
7. Forfeit.
8. No contest.

Referee may Restart the round:
If the fighters reach a stalemate and do not work to improve position or finish.

Rankings:
I'm going to list the top 10 for each weight class from CagePotato.com. I'm also going to include some of my own recommendations. Take these with a grain of salt... I'm listing these as more of a reference point for some fights to check out.

Heavyweight (Over 205 lbs)

1. Fedor Emelianenko
2. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
3. Andrei Arlovski
4. Randy Couture
5. Josh Barnett
6. Fabricio Werdum
7. Mirko Filipovic
8. Tim Sylvia
9. Aleksander Emelianenko
10. Ben Rothwell
Other guys to watch- Gabriel Gonzaga, Brock Lesnar, Kimbo Slice

Light Heavyweight (186-205 lbs)

1. Forrest Griffin
2. Lyoto Machida
3. Quinton Jackson
4. Chuck Liddell
5. Mauricio Rua
6. Wanderlei Silva
7. Thiago Silva
8. Keith Jardine
9. Vladimir Matyushenko
10. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
Other guys to watch- Renato Sobral, Rashad Evans, Matt Hamill

Middleweight (171-185 lbs)

1. Anderson Silva
2. Rich Franklin
3. Paulo Filho
4. Dan Henderson
5. Robbie Lawler
6. Yushin Okami
7. Frank Trigg
8. Kazuo Misaki
9. Gegard Mousasi
10. (tie) Yoshihiro Akiyama, Jason Miller

Welterweight (156-170 lbs)

1. Georges St. Pierre
2. Jon Fitch
3. Jake Shields
4. Thiago Alves
5. Josh Koscheck
6. Diego Sanchez
7. Matt Hughes
8. Carlos Condit
9. Hayato Sakurai
10. Nick Thompson
Other guys to watch- Anthony Johnson, Karo Parisiyan, Matt Serra, Yoshiyuki Yoshida

Lightweight (146-155 lbs)

1. BJ Penn
2. Takanori Gomi
3. Shinya Aoki
4. Gesias Cavalcante
5. Eddie Alvarez
6. Sean Sherk
7. Kenny Florian
8. Tatsuya Kawajiri
9. Joachim Hansen
10. Josh Thomson
Other guys to watch- Clay Guida, Marcus Aurelio, Tyson Griffin, Joe Lauzon, Spencer Fisher

Featherweight (136-145 lbs)

1. Urijah Faber
2. Norifumi Yamamoto
3. Hideki Kadowaki
4. Wagnney Fabiano
5. Masakazu Imanari

Pound-for-Pound

1. Anderson Silva
2. Fedor Emelianenko
3. Georges St. Pierre
4. B.J. Penn
5. Urijah Faber
6. Lyoto Machida
7. Norifumi Yamamoto
8. Miguel Torres
9. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
10. Forrest Griffin