| Wrestling and boxing are often considered the oldest | | | | wouldn't allow for punch and kicks, mixed martial arts |
| sports in the world, as men (and more recently, | | | | allow you to use Judo and boxing styles. And where |
| women) have sought to establish their reputation | | | | boxing would allow for grappling or holds, MMA does. |
| through physical prowess. Over the years, many | | | | Mixed martial arts is best exemplified by the athletes in |
| different cultures have developed their own fighting | | | | the Ultimate Fighting Championships, the emerging |
| style and techniques; there's Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, | | | | fighting league that is beginning to challenge wrestling |
| Greco-Roman wrestling, karate, etc. But in our age of | | | | and boxing in popularity. Started in the early 1990s, the |
| globalization, where cultures begin to bump into each | | | | Ultimate Fighting Championships has grown as fighters |
| other, a new style, mixed martial arts, has emerged as | | | | from across the world can bring their training and |
| a conglomeration of many different styles into one | | | | techniques--as well as a combination of them all--to |
| unique fighting form. | | | | the arena in a battle to subdue their opponent. Drawing |
| Mixed martial arts, as it has been grown to be called, is | | | | on stand-up, clinch, and ground disciplines, the Ultimate |
| not a specific fighting style in and of itself, but is rather | | | | Fighting Championships allows for kicks, punches, |
| an opportunity to experiment with a wide range of | | | | submission holds, and much more as fighters answer |
| traditions and techniques at once. This allows for a | | | | that storied question on the mat: which, of all the |
| wide range of moves that would traditionally be | | | | fighting traditions, is the most effective of them all? |
| banned from various fighting styles. Where wrestling | | | | |