How MMA was created

Mixed martial arts (MMA) is the newest and perhaps the bloodiest mass sport that enjoys a multi-million audience worldwide. With its two major leagues, the UFC and Bellator, almost every weekend has mixed fights that turn into a spectacle for bloodthirsty fans.

The history of mixed martial arts dates back to the Olympic Games in Ancient Greece, which were a clash between two athletes in a sport then called "pankratos" (translated as "all forces"). There were only two rules - no biting and no eye contact. Pankratos was such a popular sport that the winners became legends.

The sport spread all the way to India, thanks to Alexander the Great, and later a Buddhist monk took the sport to China, where, thanks to "pankratos", Asian martial arts such as kung fu, judo and even karate were born. As new and new lands are conquered around the globe, different "martial arts masters" encounter new elements from different cultures and build on them, creating new forms of martial arts. In a similar way, perhaps the most popular sport in MMA circles - Brazilian jiu-jitsu - was born. A world-traveled judo expert ends up in Brazil, where he teaches his students everything he has learned about the martial arts, and the sport is subsequently named after him.

Thanks to all these varieties, the modern idea of mixed martial arts was born. A representative of one type of martial sport challenges a representative of another sport to a duel, and the winner has the right to declare his art superior. This type of fighting became hugely popular and reached the US, where mixed martial arts became what we see today.

Gradually, the athletes themselves understand the need to master different martial arts. For example, a kickboxer begins to realize that in order to have a chance of winning against a representative of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, he must learn to guard against switches and situations in which he finds himself on the floor. After the moment of this realization, MMA began to become a separate sport based on which sport was better and who was able to combine different martial arts in one extremely victorious style.

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