History of MMA Krav Maga

Krav Maga teaches combat involving physical body combat as opposed to distance weapons such as guns, artillery, tanks, planes etc.

Krav Maga is not a martial art by traditional standards, but the reason it is so effective on the street is that there are no rules to Krav Maga fighting and built-in distinction in training between men and women. It has no sporting federation, but progress can be recognised through gradings for belts or higher levels.

Krav Maga has taken many techniques from other martial arts, however unlike the set routines and choreographed moves in most martial arts, Krav Maga teaches realistic ‘Self Defence’ against ‘Fighting’ attacks in social settings like pubs, clubs etc. as the principle is being able to defend yourself to the extreme – it has been born and improvised in an environment that shows no mercy. Krav Maga will teach you everything that you will need to know in the most realistic and straight forward way possible, remember if that day ever comes there is no second place.

You can not talk about it the history of Krav Maga without mentioning Imi Sde-Or* (Imi Lichtenfield) as he developed the system in Hungary & Czechoslovakia in the 1930′s. He first taught his fighting system in Bratislava in order to help protect the local Jewish Community from the Nazi militia. In 1964, Lichtenfeld retired from the Israeli Military and then modified Krav Maga to fit the needs of police forces and ordinary civilians. He trained teams of Krav Maga instructors, who were accredited by him and the Israeli Ministry of Education. He also created the ‘Not for Profit’ Israeli Krav Maga Association in 1978. On January 9, 1998, Imi Lichtenfeld died in Netanya, Israel, at the age of 87.

All Israeli soldiers including all special forces learn Krav Maga as their basic training regime.

This tactical defence system is used to train the Israeli police, Israeli intelligence and all security divisions.

Being the most effective of defence systems, it is now being taught all around the world to civilians, security agencies and law enforcement officers.

MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) is a full-body contact sport that allows a wide range of fighting techniques from a worldwide range of both traditional and non-traditional fighting regimes to be used in Competitions around the globe. Fighters bring a range of skills such as Boxing, Thai Boxing, Judo, Wrestling, Brazilian Ju-Jitsu and many more.

The rules allow the use of striking and grappling techniques to be used whilst standing and when on the ground. Such Competitions allow martial arts contestants of different backgrounds, styles and techniques to compete against each other within a clear set of rules. Its first notable appearance was with the founding of U.F.C, the Ultimate Fighting Championships in 1993. This was originally organised to find the most effective martial art for real-life combat situations.

With a short period of time, it became clear that by mixing the different Arts and Techniques was the best way to become a ‘complete’ fighter, not only for fighting but also for Self Defence. Although to some it seems barbaric it is governed by very strict safety measure and rules in place to protect the fighters during competition bouts. The Octagon often referred to as the Cage was specifically designed to prevent the fighter from leaving the ring as happens in wrestling and boxing. Also, the fighters are allowed to stand up or fight on the floor and unlike most other ‘stand up’ fighting sports, the fighter is allowed to ‘Tap Out’ at any time if they feel they are unable to continue or in a position where they could be injured.