The complete combat sport, Mixed Martial Arts
Mixed Martial Arts is the youngest yet already one of the biggest combat sports in the world. MMA's orgins can be traced to roughly 1985 with the foundation of "Shooto" then later adapted in "Pancrase" in 1993 and "Pride Fighting Championship" in 1997. MMA today is almost indisinguishable from the Ultimate Fighting Championship, UFC, because of what the UFC was able to do with the sport. MMA started by being criticized by boxers, politicians, and media members calling MMA a bloodsport and "human cock-fighting". Mixed Martial Arts blends the techniques of all combat sports into one, leading to the most dangerous fighters in the world. Trained with the striking of Muay Thai, and incorperates Judo, Wrestling, and BJJ apart of it's grappling. From it's humble beginnings, MMA is the fastest growing combat sport with fighters all across the world competing with the hopes of making to the biggest stage. MMA fighters tend to specialize in one or two combat sports and are well rounded in the rest, examples may include: Khalil Roundtree's Muay Thai, Charles Oliveria's BJJ, Ilia Topuria's Boxing, Islam Makhchev's Sambo, or Stephen Thompson's Karate. All of those fighters have made it to the top of the UFC and are incredibly skilled fighters.
MMA training is the hardest out of all combat sports. All combat sports must undergo extensive endurance training in order to be in "fight shape", but MMA fighters have the most techniques to learn and have to always be ready for whereever the fight goes. I believe that all combat sports are extremely physically demanding but MMA offers slightly more mental challenges and the fighters tend to have more options for how they can win their fights. MMA is currently the best combat sport to pursue from a monetary perspective, the lower level MMA fighters will on average make more then the lower level fights of other combat sports, and for the highest level fights, MMA is second only to boxing currently. The top fighters will make millions each time they fight, and in MMA the longest a fight can last is 25 minutes (5 five minute rounds). With how popular MMA has become, you can train MMA in majority of established countries in the world.
