MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) is a combat sport with full-contact allowed. The sport/genre has grown in the past decade thanks to the performances of several stars.
Although the term was coined in the 90s, there have been many fights where the two opponents were from different backgrounds.
Boxing legend Muhammad Ali took on Antonio Inoki in 1976. Inoki was a Japanese wrestler and this mixed-match saw the rise of other championships such as Pride Fighting and Pancrase.
MMA matches do not have any restrictions on how to fight. However, there are some ground rules in several promotions.
Hitting in the groin area or poking in the eye isn’t allowed. There are also rules regarding the use of elbows and where an opponent could be hit on the head.
MMA promotions are now spread across the world but the biggest at the moment is the Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC).
Dana White has to be credited for the meteoric rise of the promotion. The American has held the post of UFC President since 2001 and is still going strong.
White has been at the top even during the change in ownerships and the first UFC event was held in Denver, Colorado in 1993.
The promotion was bought by the William Morris Endeavor (WME-IMG) group in 2016 for a massive amount of $4.025 billion while White kept hold of the UFC president tag.
UFC’s growth into the mainstream has seen a tie-up with ESPN with the deal valued at $1.5 billion over a period of five years.
The promotion has also grown in Asia, Europe and Australia with events being held all across the globe.
The promotion has seen some incredible fighters over the years. The promotion also has a two-tier system for their Hall of Fame.
The Pioneer wing sees the stars from the older era who brought the UFC into the limelight. However, the Modern-era wing highlights some of the current stars from the several divisions.
The UFC has seen male and female competitors light up the Octagon. Jon Jones, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Ronda Rousey, Amanda Nunes and Conor McGregor are some of the top stars from recent years.
Royce Gracie, Chuck Liddell, Ken Shamrock, Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz and Kazushi Sakuraba are some of the stars from the yesteryears. These were the stars helped build the foundation of not only the UFC but also MMA.
Rousey is already a member of the Modern-era wing and there is no doubt that the likes of Nurmagomedov and McGregor will end up in the Hall of Fame too.
The UFC is growing at an incredible rate and there seems to be no stopping it. They have events lined up for the upcoming year and many top stars will be in action in the coming months.
We aim to provide stories and features related to UFC which go beyond the normal news that is shared daily.
Specials, reports, analysis and features make for interesting reading as we look to cover every corner of the UFC and more.
We also include several stories regarding the net worth, salary and lifestyles of the MMA stars.
Subterms
Miesha Tate has revealed what went wrong for Conor McGregor against Dustin Poirier at UFC 257. McGregor was knocked out for the first time in his professional MMA career, as he succumbed to Poirier at UFC 257. Despite making a bright start to the contest, McGregor’s inability to check The Diamond’s calf kicks largely affected […] More
Miesha Tate has weighed in on the expected heavyweight clash between Jon Jones and Francis Ngannou. Ngannou showed the world why he is ‘one scary man’, as he devastated Stipe Miocic at UFC 260 in only the second round. A short left hook was all it took for the Predator as the then champ folded […] More
Miesha Tate has given her prediction for the upcoming clash between women’s strawweights Rose Namajunas and Weili Zhang. Namajunas and Zhang go head to head this weekend in a title’s clash for the women’s strawweight championship. Zhang will be going into her second title defense after ‘that’ war against Joanna Jędrzejczyk at UFC 248. Namajunas, […] More
Miesha Tate who is all set to return to the UFC this year has given her prediction for the UFC 261 clash between Valentina Shevchenko and Jessica Andrade. Shevchenko will be defending her women’s flyweight championship for the fifth time, when she takes on the hard-as-nails Andrade on the 24th of April, this week. Bullet […] More
Khabib Nurmagomedov was chuffed as he was inducted into the champions wall at the AKA gym founded by his coach Javier Mendez. Khabib decided to hang up his gloves at UFC 254, after he beat Justin Gaethje. The Eagle announced that he had promised his mother, that the Gaethje fight would be his last fight, […] More
Jon Jones has been packing on the muscle ahead of his HW (Heavyweight) debut but he believes that he is only at 35% of his abilities. Jones, arguably the greatest light-heavyweight of all time, relinquished his light-heavyweight belt last year, in a bid to pursue greater challenges – move to the heavyweight division. He did […] More
Ben Askren compared his recent first round KO loss against Jake Paul to 5-second KO loss against Jorge Masvidal. Askren made his pro boxing debut against YouTube sensation Jake Paul at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, last Saturday. The former UFC welterweight was knocked in the first round, under 2 minutes, handing the Problem […] More
The UFC does have a problem with their gloves and many designs have been shared from Conor McGregor and even Trevor Wittman Conor McGregor seems to be branching out to another business vertical with some special gloves for the UFC. The Irishman has been successful with his whiskey brand, which he recently sold for a […] More
Patricio Pitbull claims that Khabib Nurmagomedov is a great fighter but never the GOAT. Just a month ago Khabib’s retirement was made official. The Russian had already hung up his gloves at UFC 254 after beating Justin Gaethje, because he had promised his mother that he wouldn’t be fighting without his late father by the […] More
Conor McGregor claims he was tested twice for drugs after a rigorous workout recently Irish MMA legend Conor McGregor let ripped into the UFC, USADA and Nate Diaz after he was tested twice for drugs recently. McGregor had posted some videos of him training and then ripped into the UFC after sharing one video on […] More
Gerald Meerschaert became the fighter with the most submission wins in the history of the UFC’s middleweight division after a brutal guillotine choke on Bartosz Fabinski. Submission artist Meerschaert took on Fabinski in the preliminary card of UFC Fight Night : Whittaker vs Gastelum. After an aggressive start to the fight, as both the fighters […] More
UFC Lightweight Luis Pena brings up ‘The Undertaker’ reference after Lupita Godinez slams Jessica Penne. Lupita Godinez made an impressive UFC debut at UFC Fight Night: Whittaker vs Gastelum, but was unable to get the W as she went down fighting to Jessica Penne, ultimately losing via. split decision. Godinez had taken the fight on […] More