Akshay Kumar in MMA

MIXED MARTIAL ARTS (MMA)

Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full contact combat sport that allows a wide variety of fighting techniques developed from various martial arts traditions and styles.

Modern MMA competition traced its roots from mixed style contests throughout Europe, Japan, and Brazil during the 20th century. However, MMA began its true explosion with international exposure and widespread publicity in 1993, with the formation of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Originally organized with the intention of finding the most effective martial arts for real unarmed combat situations, competitors were pitted against one another with minimal rules for safety. Fighters from various disciplines battled it out in the same ring to the delight of bloodthirsty crowds. Rorion Gracie organized the first fight and designed the trademark arena, the Octagon. Aside from three simple rules—no biting, eye-gouging, or fish-hooking—the UFC prided itself on no-holds-barred fighting, with little regulation.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighter Royce Gracie won the first UFC tournament, subduing three challengers in a total of just five minutes. A similar type of Vale Tudo event in Japan in 1985 with fighter Rickson Gracie winning the tournament helped continue interest in the sport resulting in the creation of the Pride Fighting Championships.

As the sport's popularity grew, politicians condemned it. John McCain called it “human cockfighting”. As a result, later promotions adopted many additional rules in order to promote the sport to more of a mainstream audience for acceptance. In November 2000, the UFC added weight classes and 28 more rules, outlawing head butts, hair pulling, and groin shots.

MMA combines techniques of various other fighting systems, most notably including boxing, jujitsu, wrestling, judo, karate, kickboxing, kung fu, and taekwondo. The rules allow the use of striking and grappling techniques, both while standing and on the ground. Competitions from different backgrounds are able to compete against one another. Prominent MMA contenders include wrestlers, boxers, and black belts in martial arts. Most train in various disciplines for greater success. Notable disciplines for training typically include wrestling and/or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for ground fighting and Muay Thai for striking.

Modern mixed martial arts fighters come from varied backgrounds including Brock Lesnar's amateur and pro wrestling background, Lyoto Machida's karate background, Anderson Silva's Muay Thai expertise, and BJ Penn's Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training.

Driven by the phenomenal success of the Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC) pay-per-view televised contests, MMA is now the fastest-growing sport in the United States. The sport reached a new peak of popularity in December 2006 when Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz broke pay-per-view records with their rematch at UFC 66. The event rivaled the pay-per-view sales of some of the biggest boxing events of all time. According to Sports Illustrated, the UFC scored pay-per-view revenues of $223 million in 2006, compared to $177 million for boxing, and $200 million for WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment).

In November 2005, the United States Army also began to sanction mixed martial arts with the first annual Army Combatives Championships held by the U.S. Army Combatives School.