Mixed Martial Arts and Greek Olympic Games Essay

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History of Mixed Martial Arts Mixed Martial Arts is a full on contact sport that is made up of boxing, muay Thai, taekwondo, kickboxing, wresteling and other styles of fighting. The roots of this sport can be traced back to ancient Greece. This Martial Art primarily only had two rules which forbid biting and eye gouging. As the popularity of the sport began to grow many things within the sport also changed. The modern history of MMA -a shorter name for Mixed Martial Arts- began with a legend named Carlos Gracie. In 1995 Carlos and his younger brother Helio ran and owned a Ju-Jitsu academy in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He then opened up many more academies and to build on the school’s popularity he started a campaign which he named the “The Gracie Challenge”. It was this ‘Gracie Challenge’ that would begin a great revival for Mixed Martial Arts. After making this sport famous in Brazil, the Gracie family moved to the United States. In 1993 Helios oldest son and two other men established an event that would be held yearly for martial artists to fight on national television. The three men called this event the “Ultimate Fighting Championship”. The first roots of MMA can be traced back to ancient Greece. The sport was introduced to the Greek Olympic Games as the sport of pankration. Much later this sport was introduced and made popular in Brazil by the Grace family. From there Mixed Martial Arts spread over to the United States. Different mixed styles of fighting already existed throughout Europe, Japan and the Pacific Rim. The Gracie’s brought MMA to the United States and helped create the “Ultimate Fighting Championship”. The first six UFC events had very
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