KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 30 — Just when you thought you had heard of all the various martial arts styles — Brazilian ju jitsu, Muay Thai, etc. — here comes another: mixed martial arts.   

Mixed martial arts (MMA) is gaining popularity in Malaysia with a number of MMA camps already established here such as Muayfit, Leverage MMA and Ultimate MMA. And whether you are a black belt holder of Tae Kwon Do or a beginner who just wants to try out MMA, there are no restrictions on age, gender, fitness level or previous martial arts experience.

MMA is open to all and this sport (or blood sport as some may say) is quite the rage now.

But what exactly is MMA?

“MMA is just different (fighting) styles all put together under one roof but to make it a proper MMA fight you need one person to understand several (fighting) styles,” said coach Peter Davis. “You need one standing style like kickboxing, boxing, Muay Thai, Tae Kwon Do, Kung Fu, etc. Then you need a grappling style such as Brazilian Jiu Jit Su or Sambo — in between, there is also wrestling as well: Russian wrestling, Sambo stuff, Judo takedowns, MMA wrestling — you have to kind of mix it all together. One person has to mix it. If one place teaches all the styles, it is not considered MMA. It is a mix of martial arts.”

If Davis looks familiar, it is because he is also a model who has appeared in quite a few commercials. And those of you who love indie cinema may have also caught him in the award-winning movie “Sell Out”.

He coaches MMA in Muayfit, and is competing in the upcoming ONE Fighting Championship, Asia’s largest mixed martial arts event, this month. It will be the second ONE Fighting Championship, and will be held at BritAma Arena in Jakarta. Davis will go up against Indonesian Ngabdi Mulyadi, whose fighting style strength is in wrestling.

Davis practises Wuji San Shou, a non-traditional free-style kung fu that stemmed from street fighting. It involves striking (standing) and groundwork (grappling), which meets the requirements of MMA.

“He (Mulyadi) is a good wrestler. My style is stand-up so he’s going to try to take me down and I hope my groundwork is good enough. I’m going to do as much striking as I can and not play his game so much. If I can stay standing, I will stay standing.

“I’m not going into the fight with the thought of losing, I’m going into the fight with the thought of winning,” said Davis.

So yes, MMA is not a style of its own but a category. As different styles of martial arts have their own set of rules and ways of winning, it is event promotions such as ONE Fighting Championship and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) that regulates how a fight is won.

For the ONE Fighting Championship, a fighter wins either by a knockout, submission, verbal tap out, technical knockout by a referee stop the fight, a cornerman throwing in the towel, or judges’ decision. MMA fights usually go up to three rounds of five minutes each.

Unlike specific martial arts styles, MMA does not have a belt system. According to Davis, fighting in tournaments such as ONE Fighting Championship and UFC makes you an MMA artist if you are successful.

“You need to prove yourself in MMA to get respect,” said Davis. “You don’t get certification to teach MMA, really. You just participate in fights and if you win, then you are an MMA fighter. Your experience and knowledge are the basic ways to see if you are a fighter. It is a practical test, a proven test, really.”

One popular local MMA tournament is the Malaysian Fighting Championships (MFC) organised by Muayfit. It had people coming in from Singapore to fight as well, and Davis said that there was a good turnout.

Victor Cui, ONE Fighting Championship CEO and owner, believes that the sport of MMA is growing rapidly in Malaysia. ONE Fighting Championship will be coming to Kuala Lumpur with a show at Stadium Negara on April 27.