Mixed martial arts

Mixed martial arts

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the fighting styles that combine different arts, see hybrid martial arts.

"NHB" redirects here. For other uses, see NHB (disambiguation).

Mixed martial arts

UFC 131 Carwin vs. JDS.jpg

Junior dos Santos, in white shorts, and Shane Carwin, in black shorts, during an MMA match at the main event of UFC 131 in Vancouver, British Columbia, on June 11, 2011.

Focus Various

Hardness Full contact

Olympic sport No

Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact combat sport that allows the use of both striking and grappling techniques, both standing and on the ground, from a variety of other combat sports and martial arts. Various mixed-style contests took place throughout Europe, Japan and the Pacific Rim during the early 1900s. The combat sport of vale tudo that had developed in Brazil from the 1920s was brought to the United States by the Gracie family in 1993 with the founding of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).[1]

The more dangerous vale-tudo-style bouts of the early UFCs were made safer with the implementation of additional rules, leading to the popular regulated form of MMA seen today. Originally promoted as a competition with the intention of finding the most effective martial arts for real unarmed combat situations, competitors were pitted against one another with few rules.[2] Later, fighters employed multiple martial arts into their style while promoters adopted additional rules aimed at increasing safety for competitors and to promote mainstream acceptance of the sport.[3] The name mixed martial arts was coined by television critic Howard Rosenberg, in 1993, in his review of UFC 1.[4] The term gained popularity when the website newfullcontact.com, then one of the biggest covering the sport, hosted and reprinted the article.[5] Following these changes, the sport has seen increased popularity with a pay-per-view business that rivals boxing and professional wrestling.[6

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