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The very core of UFC was based on a test to see which martial arts were supreme. The initial idea was a no holds barred contest comprising of different fighters from different backgrounds competing to honour their martial art.
In the early going, there was a lot of intrigue and a lot of controversy. However, with Royce Gracie's dominance, it became clear that at the time, Jiu-jitsu was the handiest tool to have. Little did they know that in the process, they would be creating a new sport altogether.
While the early days mainly saw specialists rather than multi-talented fighters, that slowly started changing and the evolution of the sport saw more well-rounded fighters come into the picture.
Today, it's believed that wrestling and jiu-jitsu are the two strongest backgrounds to have for an MMA fighter (some of the most dominant fighters today are wrestlers). However, we've also seen heavy use of Muay Thai, Boxing, Kickboxing and even more traditional martial arts like Karate being used.
However, there's a whole lot of martial arts that are out there that don't possess the same popularity as the above-mentioned specialities. In this list, we'll be talking about different martial arts that can start being utilised more in MMA to see the evolution of the sport.
It's also important to note that some of these forms of martial arts contain moves and techniques illegal by today's MMA standards. We'd like to state that they should be tweaked to go with the rules.
#5 Vovinam
Vovinam is a rather unheard of Vietnamese martial art. Vovinam involves the use of hands, knees, elbows and legs as the main weapons in hand-to-hand combat.
It uses the fundamentals of "hard and soft" to adjust to each situation. There are a whole variety of techniques, including 21 leg grappling techniques, swinging back fists, brutal kicks, elbow and knee techniques, use of traditional wrestling, etc.
It's quite a well-rounded sport that follows a strict discipline.
#4 Silat
Silat is rather unheard of yet lethal form of Martial arts. Originating in Indonesia, it's said to have its roots from Indian and Chinese forms of combat, though it's just an unconfirmed theory, and the origins of the sport aren't too well-known. With that said, it focuses primarily on speed, leverage and disabling maneuvers.
The foot stances are something that can definitely revolutionize MMA, as the discipline has a wide array of foot stances. These stances are often drilled in for hours on end. In competition itself, it focuses on body shots overhead shots, and holding the opponent down and rendering them helpless means more points.
#3 Kapu Kuialua
Kapu Kuialua is an unlikely Hawaiian Martial art that was forbidden to regular people for a period of time. It was brought back in 1920 and officially began to be taught in 1963. The fundamentals of Kapu Kuialua is about breaking bones and manipulating whatever joints are vulnerable.
Again, we'd like to emphasize that we don't encourage breaking bones, but joint manipulation can play a key part in victory for an MMA fighter, and would definitely provide helpful tools for the fighters.
#2 Sambo
SAMBO stands for samozashchita bez oruzhiya, which translates to "Self Defence Without Weapons". It was introduced in the 1920s to help the Soviet Red Army in hand-to-hand combat, it eventually became a recognized sport in the late 1930s.
Sambo makes use of catch wrestling, judo, punches, kicks, elbows and even knees. It's a rather brutal sport which some MMA legends have participated in, such as Fedor Emelianenko and Khabib Nurmagomedov. This is perhaps the most commonly used in this list thanks to the Russian participation in MMA.
#1 Lethwei
Lethwei is Burmese bare-knuckle boxing. Imagine Muay Thai, except more brutal. Lethwei is known famously for the use of headbutts. Also, there are no decisions. There's either a knockout or the fight ends in a draw.
The use of headbutts in MMA has been highly debated. Influencers such as Joe Rogan have advocated for it, while a large crowd justifiably believes that headbutts will only add more concussion problems and lead to bigger layoff periods for fighters.
Either way, the fundamental striking techniques of Lethwei would be extremely useful if implemented in MMA.
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