Hijinks Inc.

Tag: mma minute

  • The MMA Minute – UFC Live 2: Jones vs. Matyushenko

    The page turns on the calendar tomorrow, and with that we leave the slowest month in recent memory (as far as the MMA world is concerned). August is the complete opposite, with a whopping 5 events to keep us occupied. We waste no time getting started as the first event is tomorrow, the first of the month, as the UFC brings us UFC Live 2: Jones vs. Matyushenko. The event will be the second UFC event to be broadcast on Versus; the first being UFC Live: Vera vs. Jones.

    We’ve got a couple interesting things with this card, the least of which is the return of “Big” John McCarthy. He’ll referee this event, the first time he has refereed at a UFC event in almost 3 years. This will be Matyushenko’s 3rd fight since his return to the UFC, and Jones is a very dynamic opponent, especially compared to his previous 2 fights. I’m also curious about how the 2 wrestlers, Muñoz and Ellenberger, will fare in their matchups. With that said, let’s get to the picks:

    Main card

    As good as Matyushenko has been, Jones’ only setback was when he was disqualified for the use of multiple, illegal, 12-to-6 (striking from top of skull and down) elbows so I like Jones to continue to climb the ladder. I’ll also take Muñoz over Okami, Ellenberger over Howard, and Griffin over Gomi.

  • The MMA Minute – A Brief History of the UFC, Part 2

    Last week we covered much of the history of the UFC leading up the purchase by Zuffa. As usual, I want to direct you to the article on Wikipedia, which is where most of this information came from, I simply merged a few articles together and added my two cents for entertainment purposes.

    So the UFC was floundering, it was up against government bans and was hemorrhaging money, unable to keep up without the income from the pay per views. After making some widespread changes to the rules and equipment allowed, they were able to secure U.S. sanctioning, but were on the edge of bankruptcy. (more…)

  • The MMA Minute – A Brief History of the UFC, Part 1

    We still have over a week until the MMA schedule picks up again. So in order to keep our regular schedule of a weekly Friday post, we’ll delve deeper into MMA and how it’s reached such high levels of popularity.

    In case you’re just joining us now, over the last two weeks I’ve gone over a bit of the history of MMA, with alot of help from Wikipedia. Part 1 and part 2 have covered most of what you’d need to know and I’d encourage you to at least give them a once over if you are still in the learning stages of MMA fandom.

    Wikipedia has some great info, so instead of re-inventing the wheel, I’ll just bring the best it has to offer to you, which is quite a bit. Let’s face it, the UFC is main reason why we have MMA today, so there’s alot to cover here. This week we’ll cover the UFC from it’s first event to the Zuffa purchase: (more…)

  • The MMA Minute – A Brief History of MMA, Part 2

    We return this week to our brief history of MMA to discuss some modern fighters, how the fighting styles have evolved, general rules, the main strategies and ways to win, and also the safety precautions taken to ensure these athletes are protected. Again, I want to thank Wikipedia for really helping make my research on this topic so much easier. You can find much of this article in the form of various articles on Wikipedia, I just merged them together and added my two cents.

    I mentioned at the beginning of my Part 1 post last week that I felt somewhat authorized to speak on this subject because I’ve recently gone back to watch many of the early UFC and Pride events, the two ‘heavyweights’ in the MMA world. But what’s the difference between the two? To understand that, you have to have a little better idea of where they came from, and what philosophy they were based in. We’ll get into that and more after the jump. (more…)

  • The MMA Minute – A Brief History of MMA, Part 1

    Typically the MMA Minute will focus on a weekend event, either in a preview or review capacity. However, this is one of the slowest months in MMA over the course of the last year or two, and we’ve already had the only notable event, UFC 116. So instead of our usual focus on a singular event, I decided to take a little turn and focus on the world of MMA, and break it down into small portions for anyone that might be interested in learning more about this increasingly popular sport.

    Now I’m not by any means some sort of MMA aficionado, but I’ve recently gone back to watch most of the UFC and Pride events (2 of the most notable organizations in the history of MMA), so I feel I am at least on stable ground to talk about the sport.

    To start off, MMA is short for Mixed Martial Arts. As usual, Wikipedia (which I used for most of this article, merging various articles and adding my two cents in between), does a great job of summing it up quickly and precisely:

    Mixed martial arts (MMA) 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.

    Many detractors will write MMA off as some adrenaline infused showcase of brutality, there really is alot of artistry and strategy behind all the mayhem. (more…)