Mixed Martial Arts: A New Kind Of Fight

"There's a lot more options. It's a wrestling match. It's a jiu-jitsu match. It is partially boxing. It's not my only option to stand toe-to-toe with you and beat you in the face," says Pat Miletich.

Miletich coaches in Bettendorf, Iowa. Fighters from all over come to his gym, where Miletich has turned out eight top champions, including Matt Hughes who showed Pelley some of the finer points when he tried to train with Team Miletich. They wrestle, they grapple, they maul. Then they work endurance relays with a man on their shoulder.

Miletich teaches power, top conditioning, while Renzo Gracie is about counter balance and cunning.

Renzo teaches the pretzel logic of Gracie style at a gym in Manhattan. Where 60 Minutes noticed there's only one picture hanging. Gracie and a fighter named Kazushi Sakuraba. In their fight in Japan, sponsored by Pride Fighting Championships, Sakuraba broke Gracie's arm with. Gracie never tapped out – he just let it break.

During the fight, Sakuraba twisted Gracie's arm completely inside out.

"To be honest, I really even enjoyed that moment. Because I had plenty conscience of what was going on. And I didn't give up. I saw the ligaments going. I heard one by one going away. And I embraced that as a punishment for the mistake that I had," Gracie says.

Asked why he didn't tap, Gracie says, "Because I really believe I could keep fighting even without the arm."

That's the spirit he brought to bear in a match against Miletich. The two masters, both pushing 40, sized each other up. It was a clash of styles.

Miletich seemed in better shape, and was the heavy favorite. Gracie, the jiu-jitsu grappler, wanted to fight on the ground. Miletich defended against the takedown.

But there's a saying in this sport: "There are so many ways to lose."

Gracie climbed the stronger Miletich like a tree and inch by inch improved his position until he had his arm around Miletich's neck like a boa constrictor, tightening his grip, until the match was over. The move is called "flying guillotine."

Any sport with a move called a "flying guillotine" is never going to be for everyone. But the combat style the Fracies brought to America just a few years ago is quickly rising above boxing in popularity, at least among those who see beauty in the martial arts.

"People would see a lot of times fighting as a ugly thing, as a thing that denigrates the human being. In reality, you see fighting on everything," says Gracie.

"Everything's fighting?" Pelley asks.

"Everything's fighting. Doesn't matter what it is. You wake up in the morning, to get outta bed is a fight, believe it," Gracie says. "So, fighting is actually the best thing a man can have in his soul."
Produced By Solly Granatstein

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[costandino1]

gracy family did not start the brazinlian gracy juijui.the kodokan judo instatute from japan sent an instructor to brazil to teach the head of the gracy family judo .it stemed from that.

[terrij1164]

Please, Stop saying it is young men or men only who truly LOve and Enjoy the MMA fights & fighters. WOMEN love it also!!!!

[patssbagain]

As a longtime fan of MMA and the UFC, I am wondering how the fighters are checked for steroids and other performace enhancing drugs. I realize the Bonner recently got tagged with a suspension, but the conditioning of many of these fighters, some of whom are in their 30's, seems artificial. Does anyone know who tests the fighters and how credible the screeening is?

[rgabriel01]

All your comment proves is the dishonesty and moral bankruptcy of Hockey management and ownership. They promote and allow the very behavior that they outlaw and penalize.

However. UFC can't hide it's violence and intentional injury ,though many of its' fans and promoters try to have it both ways as well. On one corner of their mouth they like to stress how real and damaging and hardcore and street it is, then the other corner of their mouth tries to stress how safe and sportsmanlike and mainstream it is. Your argument is wierd as you try to validate the violence and injury of MMA by pointing to other violent sports. UFC is just a cleaned up streetfight. That is what they promote and a ground-and-pound and snapped arms are what the fans pay to see.

60 minutes prostituted itself AGAIN by having NO opposing viewpoints, unattributed safety claims and by NOT mentioning that another Viacom television wing airs UFC. Hey Scott Pelley - it isn't just 'a cable network', it is SPIKE-TV, a network owned by your company. Why hide that?

Again, this story was just like all the anti Bush stories 60 Minutes promoted in support of books published by Viacoms' publishing arm.

Would Don Hewitt have accepted this infomercial disguised as a new story?

Edward R. Murrow is spinning in his grave.

[ace0223]

First of all thank you cbs for running this story... Second and further more to these idiots typing behind cowardness and griping about mma and its to violent have you seen hockey forget about football,, and explore the realms of hockey there is no sport more violent then hockey these guys are allowed to beat the **** out of each other board check, were talking about guys getting stitches, missing teeth loosing fingers but yet they wont put ufc on mainstream explain that ufc is the fastest growing sports entertainment in the world i gurantee the first person who gets this to go mainstream will be rich beyon there dreams....

[zzz1232]

Rgabriel01,
Apologies. I mistook EurosportFan's post as yours.

[rgabriel01]

i didn't mention anything about steroid use. my critique was about CBS's lack of objective journalism on this issue. it was an infomercial

[zzz1232]

(Continued from above...)
Rgabriel01, my purpose in responding to your initial remarks was to point out that MMA is a legitimate sport and that your criticisms of the sport itself (as opposed to individual athletes or the sport's promoters) were unfounded. If you have responses to any of the arguments I set forth in my initial response, I would be very eager to read them. Otherwise, I am not really sure why you would bother responsing to this. No one disagrees with the claim that steroid use is bad. No one can deny that CBS's story on MMA was a self-promoting "fluffpiece." So what is your point? Should MMA be banned because of these unrelated facts?

[zzz1232]

rgabriel01,
Please understand that what I wrote was in defense of the sport of MMA, not CBS news. I will again state that I agree with your criticism of CBS. They have failed miserably as a news agency and it is clear that they haven't fact-checked to any reasonable standard. You are absolutely justified in calling this a "fluffpiece."
Regarding steroid use, I don't see why the transgressions of some individual athletes should impugn the entire sport. As dunedain11 said, the UFC has dealt with the infractions as it should, and hopefully more rigorous standards of testing will be introduced in the future. However, it would be naove to assume that athletes in other professional sports don't use steroids, so why pick on the UFC? Shouldn't pro baseball or professional cycling be held to the same standard? So the answer to your question ("Why are there so many steroid cheats in the game?) is: The same reason there are so many steroid cheats in any other professional sport - steroids make you stronger.
(continued above...)

[dunedain11]

RGabriel01,

To answer your steriod concerns, consider this, why were those men caught? Because they were tested. Every main event fighter in America is tested before and after the fight, along with a random sample of half the card. AND, they are duley punished, suspended from fighting for up to a year and fined. The aforementioned Silvia, was suspended and since cleaned up his act (he's been tested every main event, since he is currently the champion), and has won several bouts since his suspension. Moreover, you mention Belfort, and Bonnar, both of which are currently suspended!
In it's infancy, MMA has surpassed many manstream sports with the handling of this issue. I.E. BASEBALL, TRACK AND FIELD, even Boxing....Shall I go on?