The growth of poker and MMA. Photo: Reproduction
Mixed martial arts are a sport modality which includes both standing combat strikes and ground fighting techniques. The predominant characteristic of MMA is the possibility of using a wide variety of permitted martial arts techniques, in addition to grappling and submission techniques.
Poker is a card game played by two or more people, very common in casinos. It is considered the most popular card game in the world. To play poker you need to learn the basic rules and procedures of the game, the values of the various card combinations and the rules about betting and its limits.
Both sports have been growing and spreading across Brazil and their spread only increases the number of practitioners and interested parties.
Bruce Buffer, the official voice of MMA and also passionate about poker, says that it is possible to draw a parallel between the two sports:
“Mentally speaking, poker is very similar to life, to the universe of fights. In life, you have to know when you need to be defensive and when you need to be offensive. In fighting, you are there to try to take someone down or get knocked down. It's the same thing as putting all your chips on the line and testing the players around you. Right? Poker teaches you how to be competitive, how to deal with losses and get back up, and how to go for wins.”
Akkari is one of the most famous poker players in Brazil and is the new athlete managed by 9ine, the same agency that manages the fighter's career Anderson Silva. Akkari announced a partnership last year exclusive with UFC. At the beginning of March, Spin & Go UFC was launched, high-speed poker tournaments with three players and huge prizes.
Akkari says that several lessons learned playing poker are applicable to everyday life and, equally, can teach MMA fighters a lot. In an interview with the UFC website he explains what they are:
- You learn to play from inside your opponent's head: “Working on your strengths and skills is important, but even more important is understanding how your opponent sees you.”
- Statistics are important: “Everything in sport is determined by mathematics. In poker, accuracy is crucial to have a great performance. Only through statistics can you obtain unimaginable advantages.”
- Be careful with excessive aggressiveness: “There is no point in letting emotion take over when aggressiveness arises. Power without strategy is stupid.”
- Patience and resilience form champions: “Patience creates opportunity. There is always an optimal and strategic decision to be made, in all areas of life.”
Poker has been growing, driven by competitiveness, fun, adrenaline and the possibility of winning money in physical tournaments and, mainly, online.
According to data from CBTH (Brazilian Confederation of Texas Hold'em), there are already 7 million Brazilian players in the game. The number is higher than those recorded in 2012 and 2013, respectively 4 million and 5 million players. In other words, growth is approximately 1 million per year.
Online poker also follows this growth. According to research carried out by consultancy Poker Industry Pro, online poker traffic has grown by more than 150% since the beginning of last year and the number of competitors has exceeded 150 million worldwide.
Are you interested in starting to play poker or improving yourself? Play at GGPoker. GGPoker is one of the biggest and most popular poker sites in the world. It offers several innovations and focuses on recreational gaming.
You can play either on your computer or on your smartphone by downloading the app directly from the GGPoker website.
Just like poker, MMA has been growing rapidly in Brazil. A survey by the consultancy Deloitte called “Much Beyond Football – Study on sports in Brazil”, released in September 2011, states that martial arts will grow 16% in the country in the coming years. Not even football, volleyball, basketball and the rising American football have the same growth expectations as MMA.
TV directly helped popularize the sport. Since August 2011, when the first broadcast in Brazil on open TV of the UFC, the main MMA organization in the world, took place.
Since then, the sport has become popular, gyms have seen a 30% increase in students pursuing martial arts in just a few months. Without a doubt, it is experiencing its peak of popularity in Brazil.
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