The history of what’s today known as MMA is very rich and turbulent. Nowadays, we could say that two dominant approaches could be distinguished. MMA is a sport that has a long way to go to unify its training methodology, but already there are two currents, namely teaching methodology, Western and Eastern European.
The Western School, applicable to the American and much of the European continent, is characterized by a greater emphasis on specific training, but also by the pronounced use of pharmacological preparations to achieve better results. What is specific about Western MMA is that it is considered as a distinct skill rather than something made up of multiple fragments. This results in a very fast and pragmatic learning of the basics of MMA, but the main drawback is that it often lacks solid base elements from certain segments of combat, to which one certainly must certainly return in professional sport.
The Eastern European School is characterized by a different approach to training. Namely, the collapse of the USSR left behind the top schools of amateur boxing, kick-boxing and wrestling, which made it possible today to have a solid knowledge base in batting and wrestling in this geographical area. This knowledge base is today the foundation of the Russian MMA school and is being upgraded with all the other necessary elements that make up the modern MMA. However, despite having a great base knowledge of the punching and wrestling disciplines, which is unquestionably stronger than at Western school, this school painfully lacks adequate specific training, as well as the technical elements of ground combat. Forcing national sport Sambo has limited the development of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, which is by far the most effective way of fighting in the ground.
It is important to note that this truly is a generalization, and there are many exceptions to this rule. In fact, those exceptions usually tend to capture the actual essence of MMA. On the other hand, it is everything but easy to master all the individual base skills, and then master the combination of them with all the unique new techniques, but we are here to try.
BJJ & MMA Norwich