How did MMA get started?

Answer 1

back in the middle 90's the gracie family issued a challenge to all the other marital arts saying that their jui jitsu could beat any other fighting style. then the 1st ufc event was held. it was a 1 night tournament. the winner was roice gracie and he was the first ufc champion.

it started as a no rules. but then it started to grow. it grew into a real sport with rules and weight classes and champions and the fan base grew and grew. then by the idea of all that fighters realized that they needed to be as well rounded as possible. so the stopped mastering one marital art and started taking the most effective stuff out of each marital art and mastering that which made them a mixed marital artist. then they called their sport mixed marital arts or MMA. now ufc is the big show like what the NFL is to the sport of football. the best fighters in the world fight in the ufc. so that in a nutshell is how it all came to be. if you need more information such as big names and important events then check back.

Answer 2

It became popular because Zuffa invested alot of money and believed in it..they funded "The Ultimate Fighter Season 1" completely out of pocket. And the finale fight between Griffin and Bonnar was so incredible...it kind of took off from there. Add to that the fact that a fight ALWAYS means somthing. And MMA is the most complete kind of fight you can have. All styles come together...MMA is boxing, Judo, Karate, Wrestling, Jiu Jitsu , Muay Thai etc.. Baseball..Football..Basketball..Hockey....are all place holders for a fight. You don't have the balls to fight..so you compete with a ball. But no one in history had a life or death baseball game...or football game. A fight is the ultimate form of competition. To win a fight via.KO or submission...is to symbolically "kill" your opponent. Obviously you don't ACTUALLY want to hurt them. But the symbol is still there...and it still resonates with us a species on a deep fundamental level. Ask yourself this question...who wins? Guy A. Can beat guy B at baseball, football, basketball etc. Guy B...Can always beat guy A in a fight. I guarantee you Guy A is going to keep his mouth shut about being a "big shot" around Guy B...because at the end of the day...one is just a series of games...a fight..is MORE than that. And the UFC has marketed the "sport" (even though I think it's more than a sport) of MMA exceedingly well. Hope that helps answer your question.

Answer 3

According to myth, that would be none other than Herakles (alt. Hercules); he bested Apollo at Boxing, who in fact invented it, and he wrestled his father Zeus to a draw, Zeus, who invented wrestling. Herakles was not just strong; he also had "technique." See, in Greek myth, even demi-gods such as Herakles are physically weak compared to full gods. In other words even being a god lesser than Zeus, Apollo, in the myth maker's minds, would have still been vastly stronger than Herakles. Same with Zeus his father. In short, Herakles was not just strong, he did not just use brute force, he was extremely athletic, to the point where he could even compensate for a massive strength difference.

Now, according to HISTORY, the man popularly credited as the father of MMA is Bruce Lee, although in actual reality credit should in fact go to Helio Gracie. If it wasn't for Royce Gracie's father, there would basically be no MMA. Now, Helio was a one style man, nevertheless his mentality of taking on all comers who weren't afraid of a fight was well within the spirit of MMA. Because his fights involved few to no rules, depending on the interpretation of vale tudo, if there had to be a "father of MMA" it would have to be Helio Gracie, a vastly different image from the mythical Herakles, whom the Greeks said invented Pankration, the ancient precursor to modern MMA.

Answer 4

there is a lot of different kind of ways mixed Martial Arts is popular ita popular cause its mixed with all type of fighting styles like kung fu, karate, tae kwon do, jiu jitsu, capoeira, wrestling, judo, krav maga,

Answer 5

it started long ago in Brazil with the famous gracie challenge, but modern mma started in 1993 with the ultimate fighting championship

Answer 6

You can find traces of MMA in the ancient Greek tradition of Pankration. Other than that the modern MMA came around in the 1920s when the Gracie Challenge was issued.