The sport of Mixed Martial Arts has been around a lot longer than most people believe however; it was introduced to the world on a cold evening in Denver, Colorado on November 12, 1993 and called the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The premise was beautiful in its simplicity: to simply answer the question of which martial art is most effective. Fast forward over 20 years and we now have a sport that jockeys for top position in popularity in many countries.

Although the sport has evolved, the original question that was set out to be answered is still one that intrigues people to this day. In the video below, we see a bout from Brazilian Vale Tudo 5 that took place on September 1, 1996 which pits a Muay Thai specialist, Jose Pele Landi-Jons against BJJ expert Marcelo Maguila Viera.

Interestingly enough, the bout begins with a bit of taunting from Pele which is a reference to the elementary striking skills of his opponent as well as the stance in which many BJJ practitioners started out each bout with. Looking back with the knowledge that we have now it is almost comical however; one must keep in mind that in 1996 very few martial artists cross trained on a regular basis and nearly every athlete truly believed that their art was the superior form of combat.

As we now know the most effective martial art is a blend of striking, wrestling, and submission fighting however; watching bouts that truly are style vs. style never fail to excite us as martial arts enthusiasts and the video below is definitely no exception. Although the bout is less than 45 seconds long the pre-fight antics are in and of itself worth the watch.

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Jacob C. Stevens is a lifelong athlete and cerebral martial arts enthusiast who is also skilled in the art of linguistic manipulation, his published work, Afterthoughts and Handgrenades, can be found here…