MMA, short for Mixed Martial Arts is believed to have its origins far back in history, perhaps in the early 20^th century. Though the exact period of its inception is not known, MMA history started out in Europe, China and Japan. Mixed Martial Arts is a combat sport that leads to full-body contact. It allows the use of a huge variety of fighting styles. The wide range of fighting styles has led to martial arts practitioners of different persuasions to compete. It was in the year 1995 that the term Mixed Martial Arts was first coined by the CEO and President of Battlecade, Rick Blume.

Though MMA has been practiced since the beginning of the 20^th century, the modern form of MMA, that is, the championships, started off with the foundation of UFC or Ultimate Fighting Championships. Professional UFC Championships started in the year 1989 in Japan. The concept of Mixed Martial Arts began with the search for the most effective form of the art. When competitors faced each other, the idea was to win at any cost. As such, safety rules were kept to the minimum, the result of which was that many serious injuries took place. Later on of course, newer, more stringent safety rules were introduced to protect the competitors as well as maintain the spirit of competition. Following this, UFC has seen a huge increase in popularity with its pay per view feature pulling in interested spectators from all around the world. The popularity of MMA competitions is such that they can rival even popular combat sports such wrestling and professional boxing.

In the early 19^th century, mixed style forms of fighting such as karate versus kung fu and wrestling versus boxing were extremely popular as entertainment in Europe, Pacific Rim and Japan. In Japan, these contests were known as “Merikan” to the common people, which literally translated to “American fighting”. It was Bruce Lee, who in the 60’s and 70’s of the previous century made the concept of a mixed style of martial arts popular. His fighting style was known as “Jeet Kune Do”. Bruce Lee, the legendary fighter believed that the top fighter was not someone who was good at Karate, Kung Fu, Taekwondo or boxing, but someone who could adapt to all styles of fighting. UFC President Dana White in 1994 rightly said that Bruce Lee was the Father of Martial Arts. Bruce Lee is an important part of MMA history.

In the year 1993, Royce Gracie who was a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fighter won worldwide adulation when he won the UFC Championship. His win went up in MMA history as spectacular. It catapulted Mixed Martial Arts as a fighting style to reckon with all around the world.

The MMA got its first sanctioning body in May of 1999 in the form of International Sport Combat Federation (ISCF). Every year the MMA scales new heights as to the new fighting styles being introduced and the increasing popularity it is gaining among world sport lovers.