Mixed martial arts in the United States

Overview of Mixed martial arts in the United States

Mixed martial arts in the United States

Country| United States
Governing body| USA Mixed Martial Arts Federation
National team(s)| United States

Audience records

Single match| 20,427 (UFC 205)[1]

Mixed martial arts (MMA) is the fastest growing spectator sport, in terms of finances, in the United States.[2] Mixed martial arts largely developed in the 1990s, and has achieved popularity in the early 21st century. Many companies promote MMA cards, with the U.S. based Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) the most dominant.[3]

## History

[edit]

During the late 1960s to early 1970s, the concept of combining the elements of multiple martial arts was popularized in the West by Chinese-American martial artist Bruce Lee via his system of Jeet Kune Do. Lee believed that "the best fighter is not a Boxer, Karate or Judo man. The best fighter is someone who can adapt to any style, to be formless, to adopt an individual's own style and not following the system of styles." In 2004, UFC President Dana White would call Lee the "father of mixed martial arts" stating: "If you look at the way Bruce Lee trained, the way he fought, and many of the things he wrote, he said the perfect style was no style. You take a little something from everything. You take the good things from every different discipline, use what works, and you throw the rest away".[4]

Gene LeBell v. Milo Savage, a judoka and a boxer respectively, was thought to be one of the earliest examples of MMA in the United States.[5][6]

Muhammad Ali vs. Antonio Inoki took place in Japan between American boxer Muhammad Ali and Japanese wrestler Antonio Inoki in 1976. The classic match-up between professional boxer and professional wrestler turned sour as each fighter refused to engage in the other's style, and after a 15-round stalemate it was declared a draw.[7] In the United States, the fight sold at least 2 million or more pay-per-view buys on closed-circuit theater TV, but received mixed reactions from audiences.[8] The fight played an important role in the history of mixed martial arts.[9] The earliest example of a modern MMA contest held in America was introduced in Pittsburgh, Penn. in 1979.

Regulated mixed martial arts competitions were introduced in the United States by CV Productions, Inc. Its first competition, called Tough Guy Contest was held on March 20, 1980, New Kensington, Pennsylvania, Holiday Inn. During that year the company renamed the brand to Super Fighters and sanctioned ten regulated tournaments in Pennsylvania. In 1983, Pennsylvania State Senate passed a bill that specifically called for: "Prohibiting Tough Guy contests or Battle of the Brawlers contests", and ended the sport.[10][11][12]

In 1993, the Gracie family introduced their form of Brazilian jiu-jitsu to the US.[13][14] This led to the creation of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and begun with the UFC 1 event, held in Denver in November 1993.[15][16] The sport was initially criticized for being too violent and brutal.[17][18]

The sport of mixed martial arts was banned in 1997 in New York.[19] At one time the sport was banned in most parts of the United States, which was spearheaded by John McCain who called MMA human cockfighting.[20][21][22]

In September 2000, the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board began to allow mixed martial arts in New Jersey. This would be the basis of Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts.[23][24]

West Virginia became the 44th state to regulate mixed martial arts on March 24, 2011.[25] On March 8, 2012, Wyoming became the 45th state to regulate MMA.[26] On May 4, 2012, it was announced that Vermont had become the 46th state to regulate MMA.[27][28] Legislation allowing MMA in Connecticut came into effect on October 1, 2013, making it the 47th state to regulate the sport.[29]

On March 22, 2016, the New York State Assembly voted to lift the State's 1997 ban on MMA and on April 14, 2016 Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the bill legalizing and regulating the sport into law. New York was the last state to legalize the sport in the United States.[30]

The two most prominent promotions are UFC and Bellator (Up until the PFL bought Bellator in 2023.). Other promotions include: Professional Fighters League in Washington D.C., Cage Fury Fighting Championships in New Jersey, King of the Cage in Southern California, Resurrection Fighting Alliance in Kearney, Nebraska, Legacy Fighting Championships based out of Houston, Texas, Titan Fighting Championship based out of Kansas City, Kansas.

## Women's MMA

[edit]

Main article: Women's mixed martial arts

The first recorded US female competition was at an IFC 4[31] on March 28, 1997. This was soon followed by an IFC four women tournament sanctioned by the Louisiana Boxing and Wrestling Commission on September 5, 1997 in Baton Rouge.[32]

All female Mixed Martial Arts Organization Invicta FC is based out of Enka, North Carolina.[33]

## Television

[edit]

The UFC is the most popular MMA organization in the United States and is broadcast on ESPN.[34][35] Its major rival for viewers is PFL which is broadcast on ESPN.[36]

## Literature

[edit]

* No Holds Barred: The Complete History of MMA in America by Clyde Gentry (ISBN 9781600785450)

## See also

[edit]

* Mixed martial arts in New York

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Staff (2016-11-13). "UFC 205 draws 20,427 fans in New York City debut, smashes gate record with $17.7 million". mmajunkie.com. Retrieved 2019-07-10.
2. ^ Bolender, Derek. "MMA: Get to Know the Fastest Growing Sport in America". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 21 December 2017.
3. ^ Flinn, Jenny (March 9, 2016). "The rise and rise of ultimate fighting (and why boxing is now so passé)". Theconversation.com. Retrieved September 23, 2016.
4. ^ Wickert, Marc. 2004. Dana White and the future of UFC. kucklepit.com. See Wikiquotes for the text.
5. ^ "Video: Look back at 50th anniversary of first MMA fight – 'Judo' Gene LeBell vs. Milo Savage". December 2, 2013.
6. ^ LeBell, Gene (April 14, 2014). ""Judo" Gene LeBell vs. Boxer Milo Savage: America's First MMA Fight". blackbeltmag.com. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
7. ^ Bull, Andy (November 11, 2009). "The forgotten story of ... Muhammad Ali v Antonio Inoki". The Guardian. Archived from the original on December 26, 2015. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
8. ^ Stravinsky, John (1998). Muhammad Ali. Literary Express. p. 133\. ISBN 9781581650457. "Probably the dullest event in sports history, it was watched by millions over closed-circuit television as well as by suckers in Tokyo who forked over $1,000 per ringside seat."
9. ^ Gross, Josh (2016). Ali vs. Inoki: The Forgotten Fight That Inspired Mixed Martial Arts and Launched Sports Entertainment. BenBella Books. ISBN 9781942952190.
10. ^ Nash, John S. (May 23, 2012) The Martial Chronicles: Before Fighting Was Ultimate It Was Super Archived September 3, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, SB Nation (bloodyelbow.com) Retrieved August 31, 2014
11. ^ Werner, Sam (June 24, 2011) MMA roots were planted in New Kensington Archived January 29, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Retrieved September 1, 2014
12. ^ "MMA History, myths, facts, rumorsPittsburgh MMA". Archived from the original on September 3, 2014. Retrieved August 31, 2014.
13. ^ "The history of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu | Graciemag". 12 March 2014.
14. ^ "Rorion Gracie and the day he created the UFC". MMA Fighting. 12 November 2013. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
15. ^ Rosenberg, Howard (November 15, 1993). "Television: Pay-Per-View Battle, Instead of Being Merely Gory and Funny, Gets Interesting After the First Two Bouts". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 30, 2017.
16. ^ "Black Belt". Active Interest Media, Inc. 1 April 1994. Retrieved 30 December 2017 - via Google Books.
17. ^ "Ban This Extreme Barbarism". 17 January 1997. Retrieved 17 June 2019 - via NYTimes.com.
18. ^ EST, Newsweek Staff On 11/26/95 at 7:00 PM (26 November 1995). "Brawling Over Brawling". Newsweek. Retrieved 17 June 2019.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
19. ^ "Outside the cage: the campaign to destroy mixed martial arts" (PDF). etd.fcla.edu. Retrieved 2019-06-17.
20. ^ Plotz, David (17 November 1999). "Fight Clubbed". Retrieved 28 August 2018 - via Slate.
21. ^ "FIGHTING FOR REGULATION : MIXED MARTIAL ARTS LEGISLATION IN THE UNITED STATES" (PDF). Lawreviewdrake.files.wordpress.com. Retrieved 21 December 2017.
22. ^ Greene, Nick (26 August 2018). "How John McCain Grew to Tolerate MMA, the Sport he Likened to "Human Cockfighting"". Retrieved 28 August 2018.
23. ^ Hill, Adam. "A Timeline of UFC Rules: From No-Holds-Barred to Highly Regulated". Bleacher Report.
24. ^ Eligon, John (November 24, 2006). "A Boxing Regulator Changes Corners (Published 2006)" - via NYTimes.com.
25. ^ "The Impact of MMA Legalization in West Virginia - Mountaineer News Service-West Virginia News". Mountaineernewsservice.com. Retrieved 2020-01-20.
26. ^ Aisenberg, Sara (20 March 2019). "Wyoming MMA promoters now need $10,000 surety bonds | Surety Bond Insider". Suretybonds.com. Retrieved 2020-01-20.
27. ^ "Vermont to Regulate Mixed Martial Arts". UFC. 2012-05-04. Retrieved 2020-01-20.
28. ^ "Vermont becomes state No. 46 to regulate MMA | MMA Junkie". Mmajunkie.usatoday.com. 2012-05-04. Retrieved 2020-01-20.
29. ^ VR. "An Act Concerning Mixed Martial Arts". Cga.ct.gov. Retrieved 2020-01-20.
30. ^ Graham, Bryan Armen (22 March 2016). "New York ends ban and becomes 50th state to legalize mixed martial arts". Theguardian.com. Retrieved 21 December 2017.
31. ^ Sherdog.com. "International Fighting Championship Fights, Fight Cards, Videos, Pictures, Events and more". Sherdog.com. Retrieved 2017-12-21.
32. ^ Sherdog.com. "IFC 5 - Battle in the Bayou". Sherdog.com. Retrieved 2017-12-11.
33. ^ "Shannon Knapp reveals how Invicta FC came together and what it means for women's MMA". Fighters. Archived from the original on 2012-07-24.
34. ^ Meltzer, Dave (17 June 2018). "UFC financially secure until 2023 with ESPN deal, but there are brand risks". MMA Fighting. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
35. ^ Reinsmith, Trent. "UFC's $750 Million Deal With ESPN A Reminder That Fighters Don't Get A Negotiated Share Of Revenue". Forbes. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
36. ^ Weprin, Alex (Nov 30, 2023). "Fresh Off Bellator Acquisition, PFL Inks Multi-Year Deal Renewal With ESPN (Exclusive)". Retrieved Mar 20, 2025.

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