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Mixed Martial Arts, more popularly known by its abbreviated name MMA, is a full-contact individual combat sport conducted on a ring within a fenced enclosure. The sport was developed to include aspects of several other combat sports and martial arts.

MMA classifies fighters into nine different classes based on weight, which are, flyweight, bantamweight, featherweight, lightweight, welterweight, middleweight, heavyweight, heavyweight, and super heavyweight.

All MMA fights are conducted on a ring within a fenced enclosure, between two fighters of the same weight class. Fighters are only allowed to use techniques that fall into one of the two major categories, striking and grappling. Fights are conducted in a fixed number of rounds (usually 3) format, where each round lasts for a fixed (mostly 5 minutes) duration. Winners are decided by one of the following outcomes, Knockout, Technical Knockout, Submission, Judges Decision, Disqualification, Retirement, No Contest, Forfeit, or Doctor Stoppage.

There are several MMA leagues around the world. The most popular of which is the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). The league, which has most of the top-ranked and most well-paid fighers, conducts several events around the world. For each event, fights are conducted for all weight classes. The most popular of these events are the ones that are titled as UFC followed by a number suffix, like UFC 193. Major UFC events also feature fights for women of different weight classes.

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Similar Sports

• Pankration (Amateur) — A modern version of the Ancient Olympic sport of Pankration.
• Boxing — a combat sport in which two players throw punches at each other.
• Kickboxing — variations include Pradal Serey (Cambodia), Sanda (China), Savate (France), Sikaran (Philippines)
• Karate — a martial art developed in Japan that uses punching, kicking, knee strikes, elbow strikes, and some open-hand techniques.
• Krav Maga — a military system developed in Israel known for its focus on real-world situations and its extreme efficiency.
• Muay Thai — a full-contact fighting sport in which fighters try to defeat their opponents by using different techniques that make use of fists, elbows, knees, and shins.
• Pencak Silat — a fighting sport from Indonesia which collectively encompasses martial arts of various styles.
• Brazilian Jiu-jitsu — a combat sport from Brazil based on ground fighting and submission holds, developed from judo and jujutsu.
• Wrestling — a general term for a combat sport between two competitors involving grappling-type techniques.

Related Pages

• More about Martial Arts
• How Much Money Do Professional MMA Fighters Make?
• Complete list of sports
• The Encyclopedia of Sports