Written by: Erin Littlefield

Developing a New Scene To Enable Social Change.

In honor of the UFC’s imminent return to Brazil, the birthplace of vale tudo and modern MMA, it’s time to take a look at the emerging MMA scene in neighboring Colombia. Colombia has been torn apart by civil conflict for the past forty years, breaking records for murder and kidnapping rates as well as suffering widespread poverty and cultural violence. However, in the past few years, Colombia has undergone a cultural revival, and the new influx of foreign business and tourism has brought with it new ideas. One of these foreign imports is MMA, and after its incredible bounds in popularity, the sport has become something of an instrument for social change.

Due to strained relations with Brazil, Jiu Jitsu only appeared on the scene seven years ago, but it was shortly followed by Kickboxing and the UFC on Colombian televisions. However, the rise in popularity and spread of the sport has been incredible, and in the past two years have sprouted an administrative body, several high quality event organizers and more than ten professional level clubs, in a country slightly larger than Texas that’s still in the throes of development. Events are not as common as in countries with more established scenes, but are every bit as popular and professional, taking root in all the urban centers.

By Jillian Bullock

World famous martial artist Brue Lee created Jeet Kune Do, which means “Way of the Intercepting Fist,” and he believed that only what worked for you should be used in martial arts and the rest discarded. Mixed martial arts can actually be compared to Jeet Kwon Do, which is a hybrid fighting system or fighting styles and theories from several different martial arts.

If you are an owner of a martial arts school in Judo, Karate, Taekwondo, or Jiu Jitsu or any other disciplines of martial arts, you probably already know that selling martial arts supplies is very important to your bottom dollar. Whether you are selling a martial arts uniforms, weapons, sparring gear, or training equipment you want the student to be able to actually use what you are selling them. So, it is imperative if they are buying a Taekwondo Uniform or Karate gi that you get them the correct size. One simple way you can do this is to use the free online martial arts uniform calculator that we provide here on The MMA Zone. All you need to figured out the size of uniform they will need is their height, body structure, and weight the calculator will do the rest.

Most martial arts instructors that promote martial arts supplies inside their dojo that supplement get them from a wholesaler at

Gracie Jiu-jitsu is known world wide as one of the most effective forms of hand-to-hand combat. The Gracie family took the teachings of a Japanese man and adapted them to make them more effective, especially when dealing with a fight on the ground. Helio Gracie was probably the most instrumental in making this form of jiu jitsu into something unique. Helio’s main contribution was to adapt the martial art techniques so that they would be effective in defeating bigger and stronger opponents.

As he grew more adept, Helio launched the beginnings of Gracie Jiu-jitsu in a series of high profile matches. Despite not always being triumphant in these events, Helio won acclamation for lasting far longer than anyone thought he would be able to against more powerful and more practiced foes. In 1951 he took on Masahiko Kimura, then considered to be the greatest jiu jitsu fighter in the world. Kimura claimed that if the competition continued more than three minutes, then Helio would be proclaimed the champ; Helio lasted for thirteen. In 1955, the longest match in the world occurred when Helio held off a combatant twenty years younger than him and forty pounds heavier for three hours and forty minutes.