What is mixed martial arts? (Informational)



To start, what is mixed martial arts? If you are new to the sport, you may have some knowledge of what mixed martial arts actually is, but you also may have some misconceptions regarding how it actually works. At a basic level, mixed martial arts is a full contact combination of multiple combat sports. Boxing, kickboxing, wrestling, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, judo, sambo are just a few of the sports that have a place in modern mixed martial arts. Dating back hundreds of years there were competitions pitting athletes from different combat sports up against each other to see which sport would reign supreme. What we would consider mixed martial arts today originated in 1993 with the first Ultimate Fighting Championship tournament, and since then the sport has become officially legalized and popular worldwide with thousands of promotions putting on events.


Because mixed martial arts as an established sport is only about 31 years old, the ruleset is still changing and in fact is not unified across all promotions. For example, in the Singaporean based ONE championship promotion, knees to an opponent classified as “grounded” are legal within the rules, however they are illegal in other promotions like the UFC. This leads to some inconsistency but also opens opportunities to watch a vastly different product unlike other sports that have very well-established and ironclad rules almost everywhere they are played. Some promotions score fights differently if they make it to a decision, some promotions use a cage, others a ring. Fans and Athletes have preferences, and you have the opportunity to see what you like the most.

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