A combat sport, or fighting sport, is a competitive contact sport with one-on-one combat. Determining the winner depends on the particular contest’s rules. In many fighting sports, a contestant wins by scoring more points than the opponent or by disabling the opponent. Boxing, kickboxing, amateur wrestling, judo, Brazilian Jujitsu, mixed martial arts, and Muay Thai are examples of combat sports.
Folk wrestling exists in many forms and in most cultures, and can be considered a cultural universal. The Ancient Olympic Games were largely composed of sports that tested skills related to combat, such as armored foot races, boxing, wrestling, pankration and chariot racing, amongst others. Combat sports are first recorded during the Olympic games of 648 BC with pankration. Pankration allowed competitors to use all striking and grappling techniques.
The only rules for this sport in its origin were no biting and no eye gouging. A winner was decided by submission, unconsciousness, or even death of an opponent.
It is a common occurrence for matches to last for hours. Pankration grew in popularity during the Hellenic Period. Matches were in small square arenas to promote engagement. This tradition of combat sports was taken even further by the Romans with gladiators who would fight with weapons, sometimes to the death.
Through the Middle ages and Renaissance the tournament became popular, with jousting as a main event. While the tournament was popular amongst aristocrats, combative sports where practiced by all levels of society. The German school of late medieval martial arts distinguished sportive combat from serious combat. In the German Renaissance, sportive combat competitions were known as Fechtschulen, corresponding to the Prize Playing in Tudor England. Out of these Prize Playing events developed the English boxing (or prizefighting) of the 18th century, which evolved into modern boxing with the introduction of the Marquess of Queensberry rules in 1867.
Amateur boxing was part of the modern Olympic Games since their introduction in 1904. Professional boxing became popular in the US in the 1920s and experienced a “golden age” after World War II.
The creation of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is attributed to the Gracie family of Brazil in 1925 after Asian martial arts were introduced to Brazil.
Modern Mixed Martial Arts developed out of the interconnected subcultures of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and shoot wrestling.
