What is Jujitsu?

Jujitsu - Jujitsu is one of the oldest Japanese martial arts and many styles have derived from its core like karate, aikido and judo. It is a great combat sport and requires good physical condition. The idea behind Jujitsu is to use the attacker's force against him. Jujitsu is descended from the ancient Japanese Samurais and is the mother of all martial arts. Takedowns, joint locks, choke holds, blocks, kicks, and punches are used in Jujitsu.

Originally, Jujitsu styles were family styles. Each family had their own collection of techniques that worked. If a warrior's technique did not work, he would be severely injured, or die. Nobody in their right mind would want to practice his "technique". If a warrior was successful, everybody would want to learn "His Techniques". Jujitsu is the only art that was "battle proven", used by a nation as an organized, official hand to hand combat system.

What is Mixed martial arts?

Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a combat sport in which a wide variety of fighting techniques are used, including striking and grappling.

Modern mixed martial arts emerged in 1993 with the Ultimate Fighting Championships, based on the concept of pitting different fighting styles against each other in competition with minimal rules, in an attempt to determine which system would be more effective in a real, unregulated combat situation.[1] In the late 1990s and early 2000s, MMA competitions implemented additional rules for the safety of the athletes and to promote acceptance of the sport, while maintaining as much of the original no-holds-barred concept as possible. Since these changes, MMA has grown rapidly, to the point of setting pay-per-view records.

The history of the modern sport can be traced to the Gracie family's vale tudo ("anything goes") martial arts tournaments in Brazil starting in the 1920s. MMA gained international exposure and widespread publicity in the US in 1993, when Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighter Royce Gracie dominated the Ultimate Fighting Championship, sparking a revolution in the martial arts,[3] while in Japan in 1997 the continued interest in the sport resulted in the creation of the PRIDE Fighting Championships.[4]

Who is Royce Gracie?

Royce Gracie, pronounced Hoyce Gracie, (born December 12, 1966) is a professional mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner. Gracie became well-known in the mid 1990s with a string of submission victories over larger opponents in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Between 1993 and 1994, he won 11 matches by submission and was the tournament winner of UFC 1, UFC 2, UFC 4, and fought to a draw with Ken Shamrock in the superfight at UFC 5. These results contributed to the movement towards grappling, cross-training and MMA.

Royce is a member of the Gracie family. He is the son of Hélio Gracie (Helio, along with his older brother Carlos Gracie, are the originators of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu) and spent his childhood in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As a toddler, Royce learned Jiu-Jitsu from his father and his older brothers Rorion, Relson, and Rickson Gracie. He began competing at the age of 8 and by the time he was 16 had attained the level of blue belt. A year later he was invited by his brother Rorion to help teach Jiu-Jitsu from his garage in America. Despite not knowing English, Royce accepted the offer and moved to California. He competed in a number of Jiu-Jitsu tournaments in Brazil and the United States and compiled an amateur record of 51-3. Royce received his black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at the age of 18.

What is Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu?

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) is a martial art and combat sport that focuses on grappling and especially ground fighting with the goal of gaining a dominant position and using joint-locks and chokeholds to force an opponent to submit. It promotes the principle that a smaller, weaker person using leverage and proper technique can successfully defend themselves against a bigger, stronger assailant. BJJ can be trained for self defense, sport grappling tournaments (gi and no-gi) and mixed martial arts (MMA) competition. Sparring (commonly referred to as 'rolling') and live drilling play a major role in training.

What is Muay Thai Kickboxing?

Muay Thai, translated into English as Thai Boxing, is the national sport of Thailand and is a martial art with origins in the ancient battlefield tactics of the Siamese (or Thai) army. It evolved from Krabi-Krabong, literally sword and baton, the hand-to-hand tactics of the Thai army. The early Muay Thai bouts pitted different companies within the Siamese army against each other with few rules and no weight divisions or time limits. They became quite popular and eventually were shown in stadia across the country. In the early 20th century, time limits, boxing gloves as well as a uniform set of rules were introduced. During the latter half of the 20th century Muay Thai was exported to many countries and is now practiced by hundreds of thousands of people all over the world.

Muay Thai is known as "King of the Ring" in kickboxing circles. These fights feature punches, kicks, elbows, knees, standing grappling and head-butts to wear down and knock out their opponent. Thai training methods develop devastating power, speed and superb cardio-vascular endurance as well as fighting spirit. Muay Thai training as also quite safe thanks to sophisticated pad training that evolved to keep fighters healthy between fights. Muay Thai has also proven very effective outside the ring and has been embraced enthusiastically by practitioners of a variety of self-defense, sporting, military and law enforcement activities.

History of Wing Chun

Wing Chun is an unique high level kung fu system founded by a woman. The legend is that there was a girl named Yim Wing Chun, who lived in Fukien with her father. Yim learnt kung fu from Ng Mui, a Shaolin nun. One day, she observed a snake fighting a crane, and together with Ng, created a new kung fu style consisting of three forms. Yim deferred the naming of the style to Ng, but Ng suggested that she name the style after her own name, Wing Chun. Yim taught her husband, Leung Bo Zhou, Wing Chun. Leung taught it to another martial artist in exchange for instructions on the 6 1/2 feet pole, which Leung refined and incorporated as the staff set for Wing Chun.

Wing Chun did not gain widespread popularity until in recent times. The Chinese found Wing Chun tuition to be expensive since proficiency in the art could not be achieved without mastering "sticky hands". (Sticky hands could only be learnt one on one with personal instruction, which made it expensive). Wing Chun therefore had the dubious historical distinction of being the "kung fu for the rich kids". The master who did the most to spread Wing Chun far and wide was Yip Man. Originally from a well to do family, Yip Man studied Wing Chun in Foshan. Fleeing the turmoil of communist takeover, Yip set up schools in Hong Kong to teach Wing Chun. His most famous pupil would have to be Bruce Lee.