TL;DR MMA is a sport, and stands for mixed martial arts. UFC is an organisation, which puts on mixed martial arts fights. There are other organisations, besides UFC, which put on MMA fights, such as Bellator, One FC, PFL & Cage Warriors.
When the average person talks about MMA, they are usually referring to the UFC. This makes it very difficult for a lot of folks to distinguish between MMA (the sport) & UFC (the organisation).
UFC has made such a mark on the sport, that the company name has become synonymous with MMA, in the same way that the brand name “Photoshop” is used by people who are referring to airbrushing a photo. Read our guide on what is UFC to find out more about it.
what is the difference then?
What is MMA? As mentioned at the start of this article, MMA stands for ‘mixed martial arts’, and it its a sport which is rapidly growing in popularity. The sport can go by other names too, such as ‘cage fighting‘, however, MMA is the most common term for it. The ‘mixed’ aspect of its name refers to the fighting disciplines which are allowed in a commissioned fight.
In single-combat sports such as boxing, athletes are only allowed to attack each other with moves allowed in their one fighting discipline. Boxers box, Kickboxers kickbox, wrestlers wrestle.
However, MMA athletes are allowed to use tactics from a wide variety of fighting disciplines. For example, Muay Thai, Boxing, Wrestling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ), Sambo, Kickboxing moves are all legal in an MMA fight.
No-one really knows when the sport was given its name. However, the first televisioned mention of “mixed martial arts” was coined by Howard Rosenberg at UFC 1 in November, 1993. Rough forms of MMA fights took place well before then, with events being put on around the world in the mid-20th century (such as Vale Tudo).
However, these fighting events had very little rules, and in a lot of cases they were pretty much organised street fights where anything goes.
The sport we know today as MMA really took off with the founding of UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship). So now would be a good time to explain what UFC is.
As mentioned before, UFC is a fighting promotion, which puts on televised MMA fights throughout the world.
The UFC was founded in 1993, and it had its first event in November of the same year, called UFC 1. It is an organisation that contracts mixed martial arts fighters to fight at their events.
It is run by the company president, Dana White, and it has been the fighting home of global MMA stars such as Conor McGregor, Ronda Rousey & Brock Lesnar. It is also widely recognised as the World’s largest MMA organisation, and is touted as having the best athletes in the world fighting at their events (although this is not always the case).
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