A History of Mix Martial Art

Mixed Martial Arts is all about using any move or technique learned in basically any martial art to defeat an opponent, therefore it can be difficult to place its exact creation or inception in history. Of course, the earliest contact sport or martial art with very few rules (or a no holds barred concept) was called pankration and was started in Greece around the year 648 B.C., taking its place among other sports in the Olympic Games.

It can be safely said that while pankration may have been the parent sport of other full-contact combat styles, it was too early a form to have any direct influence itself. However, it has taken on many techniques from the sports and martial arts that pankration had spawned.

To a person that doesn't really know what they are looking at or for a Mix Martial Art tournament can look a lot like the Martial Art or Martial sport of modern Wrestling, which was one of Mix Martial Arts greatest influencers. Martial Art like wrestling and boxing was brought to people's attention by John L. Sullivan and William Muldoon for their no holds barred attitude, this was back in the late 1800's.



A large contributor to the explosion of Mixed Martial Art was people's interpretation of the legend Bruce Lee's martial art. Bruce Lee different styles and systems of Martial Art like Wing Tsun or Wing Chun which was the place he started, but before he could complete this Chinese kung fu system he moved on, so he found what he knew had it's limits, so looking else were was the obvious answer, looking at styles like karate, fencing, boxing, wrestling, Jiu Jitsu and so on, using what worked for him from each, to defend against different attacks. In 1993 the first UFC was won by Royce Gracie, since then it has generated a massive following across the planet.

As Mixed Martial Arts became more and more prominent, competitions and matches became commonplace in both the martial arts world and the entertainment industry. Students learned to borrow moves and techniques from each other to help each other discover what the best and most useful defenses and attacks were. Of course, a student must be trained in several different forms before they are ready to compete in a match or competition. The popularity and recognition that it has received thus far shows absolutely no signs of slowing down, in fact, the sport is becoming increasingly attractive to both spectators and students of Mixed Martial Arts.