Mixed Martial Arts, MMA for short, is a relatively new martial art. It only became popular in the USA in the early 1990s. The “Free Fight Association”, the first MMA association in Germany, was founded in 1994. The special thing about MMA is that it combines different martial arts. There are, among other things, elements from boxing, kickboxing, taekwondo, wrestling and judo. Punching or kicking is also allowed in ground combat, unlike other martial arts. The aim is to defeat the opponent by knocking them out or force them to give up.
A special MMA event will take place in Frankfurt on Saturday. Almost 60,000 spectators will be there in the Frankfurt football stadium when the two most prominent German fighters, Christian Eckerlin and Christian Jungwirth, among others, face each other. There are also two title fights: in the middleweight division between Patrick Kincl and Kerim Engizek and in the women’s strawweight division between Katharina Dalísda and Mallory Martin. There are a total of eleven fights on the so-called fight card of the evening.
Drews: “Important moment for the sport”
“This is a milestone, no question about it,” said Tobias Drews on Deutschlandfunk. Drews is a spokesman for Oktagon, an MMA organization based in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Oktagon is also the organizer of the event in the Frankfurt stadium. “It’s a record, not just for Germany, but also for Europe or for the whole world,” he said about the number of spectators. “And of course this is an important moment for the sport, not only to establish itself, but also to show that you are able to inspire so many people to come to a stadium like this in difficult times. That’s true not entirely self-evident.” The event will “take this sport of mixed martial arts into new spheres.”
It is precisely the mix of different martial arts that makes MMA so fascinating, said Drews. “The age-old question that you ask yourself, no matter which martial art you start with: Can the system I practice, whether boxing or karate, actually stand up against another system like wrestling or judo? So who is the best, the most complete Martial artist? And then you realize there’s not just one thing, but it has to be a mixture of different things.”
“It’s good entertainment”
Plus, the sport is easy to understand, Drews said. “It’s organized very professionally, so you go to an event and are entertained for four or five hours. You know roughly what you’re going to get. There’s a lot of adrenaline and a lot of emotions.”
The popularity of MMA is also noticeable in martial arts clubs, said Drews. Young trainers in wrestling or boxing would report that demand is increasing, especially among young people. “That may not be true for every martial art. But in general you can of course notice that a lot is happening.”
MMA has overtaken boxing in Germany
In recent decades, boxing has been the most popular combat sport in Germany. Drews himself is also often present at boxing events and comments on the fights for streaming. In the meantime, MMA has overtaken boxing in Germany: “When was the last time boxing took place in front of such a large backdrop in Germany? You first have to blow away a relatively thick layer of dust from the history book.”
MMA has done a lot right here: “The organizers have learned from the mistakes that boxing has made and have drawn the right conclusions. In boxing, for example, the flood of titles has created a lot of confusion and they have forgotten to put the athlete at the center to put or leave the focus.”
In addition, the organization has become more unprofessional, “that you come to the event that doesn’t start on time. Fights that are canceled, breaks in between. It’s not an experience, it’s really only for absolute hardcore fans. Otherwise it’s very difficult to go home satisfied after an event and MMA filled this gap at the right time.”
Drews: Boxing needs to become more honest again
Boxing fan Drews’s heart bleeds. “Because boxing is a sport that I have been involved with for decades and still am. Of course, I imagine how nice it would be if this (in Frankfurt editor’s note) were now a boxing match or a boxing match. event,” he said. “You don’t forget the first martial art you fell in love with. And that’s why boxing will always have a very special place.”
In order to become more popular again, boxing must, among other things, make better use of new media, said Drews. “In other words, boxers who present themselves a little more intensively and better on social networks. Then organizers are called upon to focus more on the athlete again, perhaps less about boxing for titles and simply offer more honest sport. I have have to observe for themselves how the clean sheet record has to be protected and then opponents are bought in, where you can see right from the start that this is not a fight on equal terms and then a story is woven around it and then a belt is awarded , which simply has no relevance. And of course the viewer notices that. And that’s something that boxing has to register again and learn.”
