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Mixed martial arts (MMA) is the fastest growing combat sport on the planet and has enjoyed unprecedented success over the past decade. With high-profile names such as Conor McGregor, Ronda Rousey, Jon Jones, and Brock Lesnar catching the eye of fans outside of the pool of MMA diehards, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) alone has grown into a multi-billion-dollar business.

When the UFC was first formed in 1993 it was designed as a format to find the most effective Martial Art in the world and answer such questions as ‘Could a wrestler beat a boxer?’. Why Apply Vaseline To A Fighters Face. In most fights, the face is the focal point for attack. Whether its punches in boxing or punches, elbows and kicks in MMA. The head and especially face area take a large percentage of the damage. And as the face has several areas of relatively thin skin.

From the early days of the UFC to the establishment of other modern-day promotions such as ONE Championship, Bellator, and Rizin FC, MMA is now well and truly in the mainstream.

Muay Thai World Champion and ONE Superstar Sagetdao Petpayathai trains hard at the Evolve Fighters Program.

Although some fans tune in to the occasional fight, there are many who fail to understand the individual disciplines and arts that go into the “mix” of mixed martial arts.
Today, we will breakdown the five most prominent and effective of them all.
Wrestling

A better wrestler can often dictate where the fight takes place.

Aside from holding the titles of their respective divisions, Daniel Cormier, Jon Jones, Robert Whittaker, Kamaru Usman, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Henry Cejudo, and Amanda Nunes are also known for their strong wrestling bases. It is safe to say that wrestling is up there with the most important disciplines in MMA and the dominance of wrestlers over the past few years shows that.
Without wrestling, the ability to take fighters to the floor and develop a strong takedown defense would not be as important. That said, a good wrestler is a nightmare matchup for any fighter that is not strong in this department. Former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion, Conor McGregor, demonstrated how dangerous it can be when fighting a master wrestler (in Nurmagomedov, a Sambo specialist) in the most overwhelming loss of his career at UFC 229 in October 2018.
As there is no collegiate wrestling culture in countries like Ireland, the UK, Thailand, and many other parts of Europe and Asia, fighters from these regions tend to be better in stand up disciplines. There are fewer striking arts that can come close to Muay Thai, which is – in terms of effectiveness – the closest thing we have to wrestling on the feet.
Muay Thai

Muay Thai is also known as the Art of Eight Limbs.

When competing in MMA, Muay Thai – otherwise known as the “Art of the Eight Limbs” – is the most cultured and effective of all striking arts. With the use of the fists, elbows, knees, and shins, Muay Thai offers mixed martial artists a wide range of weapons that can be used to overcome any opponent.
Over the years we have seen a number of fighters such as Jose Aldo, Anderson Silva, Joanna Jędrzejczyk, Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke, Wanderlei Silva, Valentina Shevchenko, and many more demonstrate how effective Thailand’s national sport can be inside the cage. In ONE Championship, fighters like Yodsanklai Fairtex and Sam-A Gaiyanghadao show how it is done. Furthermore, the presence and reverence of Muay Thai in MMA gyms across the world demonstrates just how important it is as a striking base.

Muay Thai is the most complete striking martial art.

From leg kicks, teeps, clinches, sweeps, devastating roundhouses, nightmarish elbows, and a number of other techniques, Muay Thai is the boss in the striking department of MMA. Nothing comes close to this discipline for its place in an MMA practitioner’s arsenal of striking weapons.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ)
The UFC was co-founded by Rorion Gracie, the legendary BJJ master and patriarch of the world famous Gracie family. Gracie wanted to prove to the world that BJJ was the most effective martial art known to man and his brother, Royce, made an excellent case for this. Royce won three of the first four Ultimate Fighting Championships and would have likely had a clean sweep if not for exhaustion.
While no one quite knew how to deal with BJJ back in the early to mid-1990s, these days, training in the art is almost mandatory for any fighter with aims of making it in the sport. The list of legendary fighters who have won championships and established themselves at the top of the MMA tree on account of various submissions and techniques from the sport is far too long to mention.
From the popular rear naked choke and armbar to techniques such as the Von Flue choke and Gogoplata, BJJ is as important to MMA as wheels are to a car.
Boxing

Boxing is also known as the sweet science.

The world’s most popular martial art just so happens to be one of MMA’s most important disciplines to bring into the cage. Whether you have a background in Muay Thai, Kickboxing, Taekwondo, Karate, or Kempo, knowing how to throw a jab, a cross, a hook, and an uppercut is expected of any top class fighter.
Boxing, by nature, is a sport that places a huge emphasis on the ability to cut angles and find innovative ways to land strikes on your opponent. While the sport features no strikes or contact below the waist – thus making it a discipline that is not quite as comprehensive to base an entire MMA striking plan on – there are numerous advantages that come from being a savvy boxer inside the ropes.

Mixed Martial Arts Mma

Over the years, we have seen fighters such as Max Holloway, Jorge Masvidal, Conor McGregor, Nick and Nate Diaz, and Georges St-Pierre place a lot of emphasis on their boxing nous.
Kickboxing

Muay Thai World Champion Sagetdao Petpayathai kicking his opponent.

Although Muay Thai is a more cerebral discipline, there are numerous fighters who have worked their way through the ranks as kickboxers before making it in MMA. The likes of Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson, Israel Adesanya, Holly Holm, Michael “Venom” Page, Mirko Cro-Cop, and Alistair Overeem have used their kickboxing talents to flourish in the sport.
While Kickboxing is an excellent striking base, it does lag behind Muay Thai given that it has fewer weapons for fighters to use. That said, it is still an important part of MMA and is surely worthy of a mention when it comes to the most effective disciplines in the sport.
Some may argue that Taekwondo offers more, but fighters with a background in the Korean martial art have not enjoyed as much success in the cage. The same can be said for Karate, too.

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Mixed martial arts (MMA), hybrid combat sport incorporating techniques from boxing, wrestling, judo, jujitsu, karate, Muay Thai (Thai boxing), and other disciplines. Although it was initially decried by critics as a brutal blood sport without rules, MMA gradually shed its no-holds-barred image and emerged as one of the world’s fastest-growing spectator sports in the early 21st century. MMA events are sanctioned in many countries and in all 50 U.S. states.

History of MMA

Mixed martial arts was believed to date back to the ancient Olympic Games in 648 bce, when pankration—the martial training of Greek armies—was considered the combat sport of ancient Greece. The brutal contest combined wrestling, boxing, and street fighting. Kicking and hitting a downed opponent were allowed; only biting and eye gouging were forbidden. A match ended when one of the fighters acknowledged defeat or was rendered unconscious. In some cases, competitors died during matches. Pankration became one of the most popular events of the ancient Olympics.

In 393 ce Roman emperor Theodosius I banned the Olympic Games, spelling the end of pankration as a popular sport. However, this style of fighting later resurfaced in the 20th century in Brazil via a combat sport known as vale tudo (“anything goes”). It was popularized by brothers Carlos and Hélio Gracie, who began a jujitsu school in Rio de Janeiro in 1925. The siblings garnered attention by issuing the “Gracie Challenge” in area newspapers, proclaiming in advertisements: “If you want a broken arm, or rib, contact Carlos Gracie.” The brothers would take on all challengers, and their matches, which resembled those of pankration, became so popular that they had to be moved to large soccer (association football) stadiums to accommodate the crowds.

MMA first came to the attention of many in North America after the Gracie family decided to showcase its trademark Brazilian jujitsu in the United States in the 1990s. Hélio’s son Royce Gracie represented the family in a 1993 tournament in Denver, Colorado, that came to be called UFC 1. The name referred to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), an organization that became the leading promoter of MMA events. The earliest aim of the UFC events was to pit fighters of different styles against each other—such as wrestler against boxer and kickboxer against judoka. Initially, the only rules decreed no biting and no eye gouging. Bouts ended when one of the fighters submitted or one corner threw in the towel. Royce Gracie emerged as the champion of UFC 1, which was held in a caged ring at Denver’s McNichols Arena. As the UFC’s first cable television pay-per-view event, the tournament attracted 86,000 viewers. That number increased to 300,000 by the third event.

The UFC initially marketed its product as a no-holds-barred sport in which anything could happen. Its brutality raised the ire of many, including such politicians as U.S. Sen. John McCain, who famously called caged combat “human cockfighting” and sought to have the sport banned. In 2001 new UFC management created rules to make the sport less dangerous. It added weight classes, rounds, and time limits and extended the list of fouls in the ring. The revamped UFC no longer featured mostly brawlers. Newer fighters were more skilled as boxers, wrestlers, and martial arts practitioners, and they were forced to train extensively and remain in peak condition to perform well. In the United States the sport came under regulation by the same bodies that governed the sport of boxing, including the Nevada State Athletic Commission and the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board. Even McCain dropped his opposition to MMA, acknowledging in 2007 that the “sport has made significant progress.”

Although the UFC struggled to make money in its early years, it eventually developed into a highly profitable organization. Between 2003 and 2006, a trilogy of fights between two of the sport’s biggest stars, Americans Randy (“the Natural”) Couture and Chuck (“the Iceman”) Liddell, at UFC 43, 52, and 57 helped elevate MMA and the UFC. The sport also received a boost from The Ultimate Fighter reality TV show, which first aired in 2005. The show traditionally features fighters looking to break into the UFC. Divided into teams under celebrity fighter coaches, combatants live under the same roof and fight each other in a knockout format, with the final winner earning a UFC contract. Beginning in 2013, women also appeared on The Ultimate Fighter both as coaches and as competitors.

What Martial Arts Do Mma Fighters User

Rules and regulations

The UFC was instrumental in pushing for a set of rules to standardize the sport globally, and by 2009 regulatory bodies in the United States and many fighting promotions worldwide had adopted standards known as the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts. Under these rules, MMA participants compete in a ring or a fenced area, and they fight using padded fingerless gloves but do not wear shoes or headgear. They may strike, throw, kick, or grapple with an opponent, and attacks may be launched either from a standing position or on the ground. However, head butting, gouging (thrusting a finger or thumb into an opponent’s eye), biting, hair pulling, and groin attacks of any kind are prohibited. Downward elbow strikes, throat strikes, and strikes to the spine or to the back of the head are also illegal, as are certain attacks against a grounded opponent, including kicking or kneeing the head. If a fighter violates a rule, the referee may issue a warning, deduct points, or—particularly when a flagrant foul is deemed to have been committed—disqualify the offending contestant.

Under the Unified Rules, non-championship MMA fights consist of three five-minute rounds, with a one-minute break between each round. Championship bouts are set for five rounds. A fighter can win a bout by knocking out the other fighter or by forcing an opponent to submit (either by tapping with his hand or verbally indicating that he has had enough). If a fight goes the distance, however, the winner is decided by a panel of three judges, using boxing’s 10-point must system (the winner of the round gets 10 points; the loser is awarded nine or fewer points). In the United States, MMA referees and judges are assigned by state athletic commissions, which also conduct medical and drug tests on fighters.

Weight classes in MMA vary by region or organization. The UFC currently recognizes a total of nine weight classes in men’s MMA. The upper weight limits of these classes are as follows: strawweight, 115 pounds (52 kg); flyweight, 125 pounds (57 kg); bantamweight, 135 pounds (61 kg); featherweight, 145 pounds (66 kg); lightweight, 155 pounds (70 kg); welterweight, 170 pounds (77 kg); middleweight, 185 pounds (84 kg); light heavyweight, 205 pounds (93 kg); and heavyweight, 265 pounds (120 kg). While the UFC has no formal super heavyweight division for fighters weighing more than 265 pounds, some MMA organizations recognize the weight class.

In the UFC, women’s MMA is currently restricted to just two weight classes: strawweight, for fighters weighing up to 115 pounds (52 kg), and bantamweight, for fighters weighing up to 135 pounds (61 kilograms). Other MMA organizations, however, have sanctioned women’s bouts in several additional weight classes, including featherweight, with an upper weight limit of 145 pounds (66 kg) and atomweight, for fighters weighing up to 105 pounds (48 kg).