Talk about combat sports or martial arts today, and the first thing that usually comes to people’s minds is mixed martial arts, or MMA, more than just the single-discipline fights like boxing or karate. Why has MMA’s popularity risen so fast compared to traditional martial arts?
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠
As its name implies, MMA is a combination of various combat sports like Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ), Muay Thai, wrestling, boxing, judo, karate, and other disciplines. An MMA fighter or practitioner uses techniques from any combination of those arts during fights inside what is called a “cage” instead of a ring.
MMA is said to have originated in ancient Greece, where Pankration, a sport similar to MMA, was practiced. It combined boxing with wrestling and was part of the ancient Olympics. Pankration was developed in the 7th century and introduced in the Olympic Games in 648 B.C. The sport was practiced until the games were abolished in 393 A.D.
The earliest MMA practitioners were crossover specialists. That meant a wrestler might fight with a pure striker, or a judoka might battle a kickboxer. Just like any other sport, MMA evolved. Athletes started to cross-train more and added to their skills and repertoire. As a result, MMA fighters became more well-rounded.
𝐔𝐅𝐂 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐚𝐲
The rapid rise of modern MMA into the mainstream has been tied to the popularity of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), the premier MMA organization. In the early ‘90s, the Gracie family helped jumpstart the UFC by using it to showcase their brand of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Royce Gracie won three of the UFC’s first four tournaments. These early events introduced MMA to a wider audience, most importantly in the United States.
The UFC has since grown to become the most dominant combat sports league. To many sports fans, the UFC became synonymous with MMA.
Amidst UFC’s uncanny popularity, however, other MMA leagues are catching up and building up their own following. Some of the most notable have been Pride FC, Bellator, and ONE Championship.
𝐈𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐍𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬
MMA might be a relatively new sport compared to others, but it has already produced a bumper crop of world-famous names: Demetrious Johnson, George St. Pierre, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Anderson Silva, Jon Jones, Connor McGregor, and Jose Aldo, to name a few.
Today, as MMA continues to peak, more people are getting into the sport. Perhaps, the next headliners for future big fights may be a young boy or girl fighting his or her way out of poverty in an obscure gym anywhere in the world right now.
More than the mixes of style, power, and the techniques employed that make MMA so unpredictably exciting and appealing, it’s the notion that all fighters are on equal footing every time they step into the cage that gives it that larger-than-life feel. There is no rich, nor poor. There’s only the body, the training, the mindset, and Bruce Buffer shouting “It’s time!” for the fight to begin.
And, of course, the finishing kick, those bloody outcomes.
