What is Striking MMA? Jitendra Khare details about the new concept

The world of combat sports was introduced to the new concept of Striking MMA recently at the GAMMA Asian MMA Championship which was held in Kyrgyzstan.

The new format, which was developed by GAMMA to help athletes from different combat discipline backgrounds to transition easily into MMA, was in action at the tournament and proved to be an exciting affair as well.

As it is a new format to the fans and the athletes, there are still a lot of questions regarding Striking MMA and we managed to catch up with GAMMA India representative and Team Relentless head coach Jitendra Khare to talk about the format, its a necessity, how it fits into the Indian combat sports ecosystem and more. Khare also opened up about the match between Demetrious Johnson and Rodtang which will see Hybrid rules in place.

You can check out the complete video below along with the time code.

Time Code for easy viewing:

• 00:35 - On the recent performances of his team
• 02:00 - What is Striking MMA?
• 06:45 - Striking MMA at the GAMMA Asian MMA Championship
• 09:42 - Scoring in Striking MMA
• 13:35 - Striking MMA for Indian Fighters
• 15:25 - Rodtang vs. DJ Fight
• 17:51 - Closing Thoughts

You can see the definition of Striking MMA provided by GAMMA through their official press release as well. 

Why Striking MMA?

Today, mixed martial arts is the most popular discipline of combat sports worldwide and has the youngest fan base among all combat sports. Even though many mixed martial arts athletes and champions come from different fighting backgrounds such as Boxing, Kickboxing, Muay Thai, Jiu-jitsu, Judo, and Wrestling, before progressing into mixed martial arts, it is not an easy task for them to learn and master all the techniques of the sport i.e. striking, submission and grappling.

For example, athletes in striking-based combat sports such as Boxing, Kickboxing, and Karate would be unfamiliar with submission grappling and would be unprepared to deal with submission techniques by Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

As a result, the GAMMA Technical Committee has decided to launch Striking MMA, a fighting system based on traditional rules of MMA to facilitate a smooth transition and pathway into mixed martial arts regardless of the technical knowledge of the athletes.

What is Striking MMA?

The rules are intuitive as they include all the techniques which have made mixed martial arts popular except with the exclusion of the ground and pound techniques. Athletes are still allowed to submit their opponents to the ground and have a maximum of 30 seconds time to finish the submission to get the tap out and win. The fighter who was saved by 30 sec. the rule gets a point deducted similar to a knockdown in stand-up.

The future of Striking MMA

GAMMA will pilot Striking MMA at an international stage with the Striking MMA World Cup before holding regular Championships in each continent and culminating with the World Championships. Official seminars will be conducted as a first step towards introducing Striking MMA.

What are your thoughts on the new format? Let us know in the comment section of the article below.

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