The Growth of MMA: A Global Sport
- Elliot Hughes
- Apr 17
- 4 min read
Two combatants locked in a confined space, competing in front of a live audience, in a will to best the other through indisputable physical dominance.
A chart showing the nations of UFC champions through the years.
The Romans did it in a Colosseum, the Samurai did it in feudal Japan; and still, history endures, only today in front of a sold-out Madison Square Garden and millions of others across the globe.
Mixed Martial Arts as we know it dates back to 684 BCE, to the Ancient Greek Olympic games.
The Greeks named the sport Pankration (translated to "all power"), a brutal sport that combined elements of boxing and wrestling, with only biting and eye gouging restricted in the rulebook.
However, the sport didn't really take off until the 20th Century.
Brazil introduced Vale Tudo ("anything goes"), Bruce Lee promoted Jeet Kune Do ("way of the intercepting fist"), and after several promotions like Shooto and Pancrase, the Ultimate Fighting Championship came along in 1993.
The first UFC event, a single day competition from Denver, Colorado, had one goal - to determine the most effective martial art in a no-holds-barred tournament.
Famously, the smallest man in the tournament Royce Gracie won the event, wearing a traditional gi, the Brazilian promoted the effectiveness of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to the masses.
Gracie beat the likes of Teila Tuli (a Hawaiian sumo wrestler), Art Jimmerson (a professional boxer that entered the cage wearing one boxing glove), and Gerard Gordeau (a karate world champion).
And so the UFC was born.
After several tournament format events, the UFC eventually began entertaining weight divisions, with 'world title' holders - but were they really world titles if 18 of the first 22 UFC champions were from the USA?
The UFC didn't leave North America until the end of 1997 and slightly over 60% of all fighters from the first ten events were from the United States, and it was only available to watch in the US too.
So the mould was set, modern MMA was an American dominated sport.
But just how far did that go?
Very far.
Despite the fact that MMA has long held the title of being one of the world's fastest-growing sports, by the start of 2015 - just a decade ago - the UFC had only ever had champions from five different countries.
A single champion each from the Netherlands and Belarus, a duo of Canadian title holders, 10 champions from the influential Brazil, and a whopping 40 champions from the United States of America.
But we were just on the brink of the global BOOM, of MMA. The days of the no-holds-barred advertising was now over, MMA had a real unified rulebook and a number of stars fighting demanding audiences take notice.
The UFC were now hosting events in Mexico, the Philippines, Australia, the UK, Ireland, Germany - anywhere and everywhere they could.
They had a TV deal with FOX, and could be seen internationally on pay-per-view, and perhaps most importantly, they had a crop of young talent, that had grown up watching MMA, ready to take centre stage.
Insert Conor McGregor from Dublin, Ireland. A young man who had grown up watching the rivalry between Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz.
Meet Michael Bisping from Clitheroe, England. A one-eyed former DJ that would go on to shock the world.
Enter Israel Adesanya from Lagos, Nigeria. A man that was bullied by racists, then fell in love with MMA.
They weren't just fighters. They were symbols.
Symbols of a new era- an era where talent could be, and would be global.
And they weren't the only ones.
Fast forward five years 14 countries have had a UFC champion, emerging from every corner of the globe.
Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, New Zealand, Poland, and more.
This wasn't a trend. This was a takeover on a global scale.
Today MMA is no longer a sport competing for viability. It is not confined by borders that are geographical, racial, or to do with gender.
The octagon is the modern Colosseum - the ultimate proving ground - but unlike in times of old, the gladiators choose this path. Whether they come from the favelas in Brazil like Charles Oliveira, the hills of Dagestan like Khabib Nurmagomedov, or a council estate in Birmingham like Leon Edwards - nowadays there is an MMA gym around the corner nearly everywhere you go.
The dream that was reserved for a select few, now belongs to the masses.
Crucially, the globalisation of MMA has not just expanded the sport, but it has redefined it entirely.
What was once dismissed as a brutalist campaign for bloodthirsty onlookers, is now transformed as a path for self-betterment, teaching discipline, self-defence, and for some, even leading all the way to a world title.
And best of all, the rapid MMA revolution means we're very likely far from done.
Somewhere right now, perhaps hitting pads in Mumbai, on a wrestling mat in Kyoto, or trying on their first gi in Luanda, is a future champion, learning and training.
Before their turn to compete in the Colosseum of today.
