History of MMA

Pre-modern


Pankration was an ancient form of unarmed hand to hand combat resembling modern MMA.
One of the earliest forms of widespread unarmed combat sports with minimal rules was Greek pankration, which was introduced into the Olympic Games in 648 B.C.[15] Even as late as the Early Middle Ages, statues were put up in Rome and other cities to honour remarkable pankratiasts.
No-holds-barred events reportedly took place in the late 1800s when wrestlers representing a huge range of fighting styles including various catch wrestling styles, Greco-Roman wrestling and many others met in tournaments and music-hall challenge matches throughout Europe. The first major encounter between a boxer and a wrestler in modern times took place in 1887 when John L. Sullivan, then heavyweight world boxing champion, entered the ring with his trainer, Greco-Roman wrestling champion William Muldoon, and was slammed to the mat in two minutes. The next publicized encounter occurred in the late 1890s when future heavyweight boxing champion Bob Fitzsimmons took on European Greco-Roman wrestling champion Ernest Roeber. Reportedly, Roeber suffered a fractured cheekbone in this bout, but was able to get Fitzsimmons down on the mat, where he applied an armlock and made the boxer submit. In 1936, heavyweight boxing contender Kingfish Levinsky and veteran professional wrestler Ray Steele competed in a mixed match, which Steele won in 35 seconds.[16]
Another early example of mixed martial arts combat was the martial art of Bartitsu, founded in London in 1899, which was the first martial art known to have combined Asian and European fighting styles,[17] and which saw MMA-style contests throughout England, pitting European and Japanese champions against representatives of various European wrestling styles.[17]
Boxing vs. jujutsu contests were popular entertainments throughout Europe, Japan and the Pacific Rim during the early 1900s. In Japan these contests were known as Merikan, from the Japanese slang for "American [fighting]". Merikan contests were fought under a variety of rules including points decision, best of three throws or knockdowns, and victory via knockout or submission.[citation needed]
Professional wrestling died out after World War I and was reborn in two streams: "shoot", in which the fighters actually competed, and "show," which evolved into modern sports entertainment professional wrestling.[16]
[edit]Modern

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu 180 lb. fighter Royce Gracie (white gi) submits 275 lb. champion wrestler Dan Severn (bent over).[18]
Modern mixed martial arts tournaments are rooted in two interconnected movements. First were the vale tudo events in Brazil, followed by the Japanese shoot wrestling shows. Vale tudo began in the 1920s with the "Gracie challenge" issued by Carlos Gracie and Hélio Gracie and upheld later on by descendants of the Gracie family.[15] In Japan in the 1970s, a series of mixed martial arts matches were hosted by Antonio Inoki, inspiring the shoot-style movement in Japanese professional wrestling, which eventually led to the formation of the first mixed martial arts organizations, such as Shooto, which was formed in 1985. The concept of combining the elements of multiple martial arts was pioneered and popularized by Bruce Lee in the late 1960's to early 1970's. Lee believed that "the best fighter is not a Boxer, Karate or Judo man. The best fighter is someone who can adapt to any style." His innovative concepts were recognized in 2004 by UFC President Dana White when he called Lee the "father of mixed martial arts."[19]
Mixed martial arts gained significant international exposure and widespread publicity in the United States in 1993, when Royce Gracie won the first Ultimate Fighting Championship, sparking a revolution in the martial arts.[3] In Japan in 1997, the continued interest in the sport eventually resulted in the creation of the PRIDE Fighting Championships.[4]


Chuck Liddell (right) and Tito Ortiz broke PPV records with their rematch at UFC 66.
The United States Army began to sanction Mixed Martial arts when the US Army Combatives School held the first annual All Army Combatives Championships in Nov 2005.
The sport reached a new peak of popularity in North America in the December 2006 rematch between then light-heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell and former champion Tito Ortiz, rivaling the PPV sales of some of the biggest boxing events of all time,[2] and helping the UFC's 2006 PPV gross surpass that of any promotion in PPV history. In 2007, Zuffa LLC, the owners of the UFC MMA production, bought Japanese rival MMA brand PRIDE merging the contracted fighters.[20] and drawing comparisons to the consolidation that occurred in other sports, such as the AFL-NFL Merger in American football.[21]

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixed_martial_arts