History of Mixed Martial Arts

Mixed Martial Arts is a new term for an evolution that has been going on for thousands of years. Most traditional martial arts have had their own mixing of other influences over the millennia, as different instructors added other styles to make new ones. Tae Kwon Do is heavily influenced by Japanese karate, Chinese kung fu is influenced by Indian self-defence techniques, and judo is influenced by jiu-jitsu. All martial arts are, in a sense, mixed martial arts. But at no time in history has there been such a rapid and broad mixing of fighting arts as there has been in the last 15 years.

The first forms of no-holds barred competition on record were the ancient Greek pankration matches. In the 1800’s, wrestlers had a combat style called “catch” wrestling, which involved submissions and choke holds. In 1887, Heavyweight Boxing Champion John L. Sullivan fought Greco-Roman Wrestling Champion William Muldoon, with Muldoon slamming the boxer to the mat in less than two minutes. Other events were staged over the years but the first to be organized were the vale tudo events in Brazil in the 1920’s, when fighters took up the Gracie family on their no-holds barred challenge. In the 70’s, professional wrestlers in Japan began to compete in shoot-style wrestling matches that became the organized discipline of Shooto in 1985.

The Gracie family has had the biggest impact on the modern explosion of mixed martial arts with the creation of the Ultimate Fighting Championships and the display of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in 1993. Four years later the Pride Fighting Championships were created in Japan, and modern mixed martial arts were born. In the early days of these promotions Brazilian jiu-jitsu and catch wrestlers dominated as disciplines, but today’s mixed martial artist must be well-rounded in numerous disciplines. The UFC has since bought out Pride, improving the organization of the sport into the future.

No-holds barred matches were outlawed in most places as dangerous and barbaric street fights for years. The reality is that no one has ever died in a sanctioned fight in the modern history of MMA. MMA has become the top earning pay per view promotion today, and is growing in popularity each day.