MMA Origins – From Ancient Greece to Dana White’s Empire

January 3, 2025 By Janne Smith No Comments 5 minutes

For a casual fan, MMA is a novelty in martial arts, and it came our way with the rise of UFC. Yet, the truth is not close to that. Currently, MMA is one of the world’s fastest-growing and most popular sports. It was easy to captivate the viewers with a unique martial arts and fighting style combo. A combat sport that allows complete contact and a wide range of techniques, including striking, grappling, boxing, wrestling, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, was meant to be a success.

While it reached the pinnacle of sports in recent decades, its origins are much older than the early 1990s. Everyone who is serious about watching modern MMA needs to know at least a little bit of its history. When you read this article, you will have our blessing to watch any MMA fight you want, and if you’re up for it, place bets on the next MMA fight now!  But first, let us take a look at MMA’s origins.

Note: UFC matches are available on various sports streaming services, such as ESPN and many others. These services are geo-restricted due to strict license agreements. However, you can bypass these limitations by connecting to a trusted VPN, like FastestVPN, and enjoy seamless sports streaming!

Early Days of MMA

As we said, MMA is much older than you thought, and its roots can be traced back to ancient Greece. The ancient Greeks participated in a sport called pankration. This discipline thrived on the Peloponnese Peninsula as it was well suited for the ancient world as the first combination of boxing and wrestling. It was even one of the most prestigious Olympic sports back in the day. So, while the roots of MMA originate in ancient history, MMA today is a more recent product.

The Rise of Modern MMA in the Hands of the Gracie Family

MMA’s popularity was increased thanks to the brothers Rorion and Royce Gracie. The Gracie Family originates from Brazil. They took the world of combat sports by storm with their expertise in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, which was seen at the time as a perfect fighting style in combat due to its sheer effectiveness.

You have probably heard of the Gracie family, as they’re the ones who founded Ultimate Fighting Championship back in the ’90s. They wanted a platform to showcase Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and its prowess was demonstrated in years to come.

UFC & the Start of the MMAs Golden Age

Gracie’s family was quick to establish UFC as one of the top organizations in the world of MMA, and their first event was a UFC fight night in 1993 in Denver, Colorado. It was a single-elimination tournament that featured fighters adept in boxing, kickboxing, karate, and wrestling, among many other fighting styles.

Early UFC had few rules, and the only thing on the plate was eye-gouging. This was the first time Brazilian jiu-jitsu took center stage as Royce Gracie took down multiple opponents from different fighting backgrounds. The size and skill didn’t have a solution for Royce at that tournament.

For UFC, the mission was clear – bringing the sport to a broader audience, and that’s a goal they’ve persisted in despite the early criticisms of violence and lack of in-cage rules. The early 90s are far behind us, and both the MMA and UFC world we know today have plenty of regulations put into place, weight divisions, and much more, making the sport better and safer than it ever was.

Everything that transpired in the 09s helped show Brazilian jiu-jitsu to the world and helped present and develop many other martial arts styles.

Growth, Evolution & The Future

MMA was quick to garner fans, and soon enough, many different organizations, such as the Pride Fighting Championship in Japan and Strikeforce in the USA, started emerging. Every organization wanted to contribute to the sport, so we had an insurgence in new rules and additional weight classes.

One decade after the Gracie family created UFC, the company was sold to  Zuffa LLC, and they took matters even further, making the UFC the best MMA organization in the world.  UFC created a complete list of weight classes and made a rulebook with unified rules that vastly helped the sport develop into what it is today. Nowadays, we have companies such as  Rizin, One FC, and Bellator aiding in making MMA one of the most popular sports in the world.

New stars appear by the day, and they often change their allegiance from Bellator to Rizin, always looking to make the best out of their skills at UFC, still seen as the pinnacle of MMA organizations. These days, thanks to the work of UFCs CEO Dana White, the organization was never more powerful.

The Final Note

MMA, with organizations such as UFC and Rizin, is a multi-billion dollar industry. With many different sports being elevated to a new level and their combinations giving better results, we can see MMA growing even further in the years to come. Techniques, strategies, and skills will change, and we will see the rise of new weight classes and rules, all of which will contribute to satisfying the cravings of the ever-growing MMA fan base.

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