history of mixed martial arts
So if you want to go way back, it all started with Pankration - we're talking about organized hand to hand fighting events, guys slugging it out in the streets has always existed. It wasn't the UFC, but it wasn't just wrestling either. Certain strikes and kicks were allowed and a club was often used. Each city brought its own style, which varied greatly.
Vale tudo (anything goes) matches in Brazil, Shoot Wrestling in Japan, show and carnival wrestling, and of course professional boxing have been popular in recent decades.
But it wasn't until the emergence of the UFC
, that no holds barred, true mixed martial arts matches took the forefront. The first UFC was organized by
Art Davie and Rorian Gracie, and featured fighters with a variety of skills and styles, including the legendary Royce Gracie.
Mixed martial arts owes much of its current popularity to
Zuffa, LLC. Zuffa and Dana White legitimitized mma fighting and managed to get it sanctioned, which was huge for bringing the sport to the public as a real sport.
Zuffa's marketing strategies have been and continue to be extremely effective. Pre-fight interviews and shows like The Ultimate Fighter brought personality and character to the fighters. Now watching a fight, you want Georges St. Pierre to win because he's a nice guy, not just an anonymous fighter with a good record.
And we can't forget to thank the folks at Zuffa for bringing cage fighting out of pay-per-view obscurity and into the limelight of regular Thursday night television. Networks had always seen mma as too violent for non-PPV. However, Zuffa managed to convince someone that a reality show, with a bunch of guys in a house training to become the next UFC fighter was a good idea. But guess what? They fought at the end of each show. Zuffa had managed to slide a few mma fights under the radar and on to mainstream television. After the door was opened, it opened wider and allowed shows like Ultimate Fight Night to emerge.