In the early days of the UFC, the Gracie family proved that Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu was the most effective single martial art in an unarmed, style vs. style fight. A young Royce Gracie entered the Octagon a complete unknown, and the least unassuming fighter in the tournament. He choked out all three of his competitors in less than one round combined, and made the martial arts world realize the importance of ground fighting.
UFC 1 was promoted as no-rules, and they were few indeed:
•No biting;
•No eye-gouging;
•No gloves or apparel mandatory;
•No judges’ scores;
•Unlimited 5 minute rounds with a rest period (although no fights reached a rest period); and,
•Win only via knockout, tapout, or corner stoppage.
It was almost a street fight, with highly skilled fighters. Striking the groin was completely legal, and became a marketing focus when Keith Hackney devastated Joe Son’s nether region. And in those fights, Brazilian jiu-jitsu reigned supreme. Although modern mixed martial arts has evolved greatly since, knowing how to fight on the ground is still an important aspect of defending yourself in a real-life situation.
In the video below, a local game of basketball turns ugly when players from opposite teams begin to argue about something that happened on the court. Two argue about playing for money, and the verbiage escalates. When the man in green references a potential butt kicking, the man in red and black starts throwing punches without hesitation. Little did he know, however, that his target was well-versed in ground fighting.
The man in red and black turns sideways, lowers his head, balls his right fist behind him, and coils his body. It doesn’t take a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing, and you don’t have to a jiu-jitsu black belt to know what comes next.
The jiu-jitsu adept ducks a punch, goes for a takedown, is pushed over, ends up in Half Guard, and quickly transitions to the back, where he attempts a rear naked choke. Then other players try to intervene and pull the two apart.
As that happens, the aggressor stands inside a Rubber Guard, gets punched in the head for his trouble, and is quickly put into an armbar. He is able to escape the armbar by slamming his opponent on the hardwood surface.
Then the jiu-jitsu fighter attempts to transition to a knee bar, turns that into a sweep, and falls back with a sunk Inside Heel Hook, with outsideAshi Garami leg control. He then warns the attacker that he will break his knee, explaining, “You’ll never play basketball again.”
He wasn’t lying, a properly applied heel hook will tear the ACL, MCL, and meniscus. The man in black and red relents.
Having gone from 0-100 real quick, a women says, “Hey guys, stop,” and it goes from 100-0 in under a second. Elapsed fight time was just 27 seconds.
The video once again demonstrates the power of jiu-jitsu to end a conflict with no injury, while having the capacity to end the opponent’s ability to walk properly. for six months. And it is a perfect little story, going from two guys trash talking, to jiu-jitsu checkmate, to a female voice of reason at the close.