History of Mixed Martial Arts and the UFC

Introduction

Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a combat sport that combines elements of various traditional martial arts disciplines including boxing, wrestling, jujitsu, judo, Muay Thai, karate, and various others. The sport allows combatants to use various striking techniques (punches, kicks, knees, and elbows) and various grappling techniques (takedowns, joint locks, submissions, and various ground positions) within a structured competitive framework. The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), founded in 1993 in Denver, Colorado, has been the principal professional MMA promotion throughout the modern era and has produced one of the most substantial commercial transformations in any combat sport.

MMA has its substantial origins in ancient Greek pankration (a brutal combat sport combining punching, kicking, joint locks, and various other techniques that was contested at the ancient Olympic Games from 648 BCE) and various other traditional combat sports across various cultures. The substantial modern MMA tradition was substantially developed through the Brazilian vale tudo ("anything goes") tradition that the Gracie family of Brazil established through the substantial early twentieth century. The various Gracie family vale tudo challenges produced the substantial foundation of modern MMA before the 1993 founding of the UFC.

This article surveys the full history of MMA from ancient Greek pankration through the substantial Brazilian vale tudo tradition established by the Gracie family, the 1993 founding of the UFC by Rorion Gracie and Art Davie, the brilliant Royce Gracie dominance of the early UFCs (winning UFC 1, UFC 2, and UFC 4 through Brazilian jiu-jitsu), the 1997 Senator John McCain campaign against MMA (which characterized the sport as "human cockfighting") that nearly destroyed the sport, the 2001 Zuffa (Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta with Dana White as president) purchase of the UFC for approximately 2 million dollars, the substantial 2005 launch of The Ultimate Fighter reality television series that produced the substantial subsequent UFC commercial expansion, the brilliant individual MMA careers of Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz, Anderson Silva (the brilliant Brazilian middleweight champion who held the UFC middleweight championship for 2,457 days from 2006 through 2013), Georges St-Pierre (the brilliant Canadian welterweight champion), Jon Jones (the brilliant American light heavyweight and heavyweight champion), Conor McGregor (the brilliant Irish featherweight and lightweight champion who substantially shaped the modern UFC commercial era), Khabib Nurmagomedov (the brilliant Russian Dagestani lightweight champion who retired undefeated at 29-0), Israel Adesanya, the brilliant women's MMA careers of Ronda Rousey, Amanda Nunes, and various others, the parallel development of Pride FC in Japan (operating 1997-2007 before being purchased by Zuffa), Bellator MMA, ONE Championship in Singapore, and various other promotions, the substantial 2016 sale of the UFC to WME-IMG (subsequently renamed Endeavor) for approximately 4 billion dollars, and the future of one of the most rapidly growing combat sports in the world.

Ancient Origins and Vale Tudo

The substantial historical origins of mixed martial arts extend through various ancient combat sports. The ancient Greek pankration, contested at the ancient Olympic Games from 648 BCE through the abolition of the pagan ancient Olympic Games by Theodosius I in 393 CE, was the brutal ancient combat sport that combined punching, kicking, joint locks, and various other techniques. The pankration permitted virtually any technique except biting and eye-gouging, with the various ancient pankration contests being substantially brutal. The various ancient Greek pankration champions produced extraordinary individual achievements. The ancient pankration tradition was substantially adopted by Rome and various other Mediterranean cultures before declining during the late Roman empire.

The substantial modern MMA tradition was substantially developed through the Brazilian vale tudo ("anything goes") tradition. Helio Gracie, the brilliant Brazilian jiu-jitsu pioneer, substantially developed Brazilian jiu-jitsu (a substantial modification of the original Japanese judo and jiu-jitsu) through the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, with the substantial Gracie family establishing the various Gracie jiu-jitsu academies across Brazil. The Gracie family's substantial vale tudo challenge tradition, in which the Gracie fighters challenged various other martial artists in unscripted competitive contests, produced extraordinary individual demonstrations of the Brazilian jiu-jitsu effectiveness.