Karate
Karate developed on the Ryukyu Islands, in what is now Okinawa, Japan, before spreading to mainland Japan in the early twentieth century. It emphasizes linear strikes, punches, and kicks delivered with speed and precision, often practiced through repetitive forms known as kata. Sparring, called kumite, tests those same techniques against a live opponent under controlled rules.
Today karate exists in several branches, including Shotokan, Goju-Ryu, and Kyokushin, each with slightly different philosophies on contact and stance. The style made its Olympic debut at the Tokyo 2020 Games, though it was not retained for Paris 2024, leaving its future Olympic status uncertain. Millions of practitioners worldwide still train it primarily for discipline, fitness, and self-defense rather than competition alone.
Judo
Judo was created in 1882 by Jigoro Kano, who collected the knowledge of older jujitsu schools and established the Kōdōkan School of judo, meaning “gentle way”. Rather than relying on strikes, judo uses throws, pins, and joint locks that redirect an opponent’s own force. Judo techniques focus on using an opponent’s force to one’s advantage rather than opposing it directly, aiming to throw, pin, or master the opponent.
Kano’s influence went well beyond the dojo. Kano founded The Kodokan in 1882 and became the first Asian member of the International Olympic Committee. His vision eventually paid off decades after his death, since judo was introduced to the Olympic programme at the 1964 Tokyo Games and has been featured in every Olympiad since 1972. Women’s judo joined the Games later, with judo becoming an Olympic sport for men in 1964 and for women in 1992.
Taekwondo
Taekwondo originated in Korea during the mid-twentieth century, drawing on older Korean fighting traditions while formalizing a system built around high, fast kicks. Practitioners train extensively in flexibility and leg strength, since roundhouse, axe, and spinning kicks form the backbone of both forms and sparring. Point sparring rewards speed and accuracy over raw power, which gives matches a distinctly acrobatic look compared to other striking arts.
The World Taekwondo Federation has helped standardize rules across more than 200 member nations, and the sport has been part of the Olympic program since Sydney 2000. Its accessibility for children and its clear belt progression system have made it one of the most widely taught in schools and community centers. Many practitioners appreciate that it rewards technique and timing over sheer size or strength.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu traces its roots to Japanese judo and jujitsu, brought to Brazil in the early twentieth century and adapted by the Gracie family into a ground-focused system. The style prioritizes positional control, submissions like chokes and joint locks, and the idea that a smaller person can defeat a larger opponent through leverage. Training typically alternates between technique drilling and live rolling, which is essentially controlled grappling sparring.
Its rise in the West is closely tied to the early days of the UFC, where Royce Gracie repeatedly defeated larger strikers using pure ground technique. That exposure turned BJJ into a foundational skill for anyone serious about mixed . Beyond competition, many practitioners value it for building patience and problem solving under physical pressure, since matches often reward calm thinking over aggression.
Muay Thai
Known as the art of eight limbs, Muay Thai originated in Thailand and permits strikes with fists, elbows, knees, and shins, giving it a wider offensive toolkit than most striking styles. Fighters train clinch work extensively, using it to control an opponent and land close-range knee strikes. The sport carries deep cultural weight in Thailand, where fighters often perform the Wai Kru ritual dance before matches as a sign of respect to teachers and tradition.
Outside Thailand, Muay Thai has become a staple of combat sports gyms because its techniques translate directly into MMA striking. Elbows and knees, in particular, are often credited with ending fights quickly due to their cutting and knockout potential. Conditioning in Muay Thai gyms tends to be notoriously demanding, with heavy bag work and pad rounds designed to build both power and durability.
Boxing
Boxing is one of the oldest combat sports still practiced in something close to its original form, with organized rules dating back to eighteenth century England and the Marquess of Queensberry rules formalized in 1867. It restricts strikes to punches only, which forces fighters to develop refined footwork, head movement, and hand speed within a narrower toolkit. That narrowness is often what makes elite boxing so technically demanding, since every advantage has to come from timing and angles rather than variety of weapons.
Amateur boxing remains an Olympic staple, while professional boxing operates through multiple competing sanctioning bodies rather than one unified governing structure. The sport’s influence on other is significant, since striking-based systems from kickboxing to MMA borrow heavily from boxing’s hand techniques and defensive principles. Many coaches across disciplines still consider a strong boxing foundation essential before layering in kicks or grappling.
Wrestling
Wrestling is among the oldest recorded sports, with evidence of organized competition stretching back to ancient Greece and its inclusion in the first modern Olympics in 1896. Freestyle and Greco-Roman are the two main Olympic disciplines, differing mainly in whether leg attacks are permitted, with Greco-Roman restricting holds to the upper body. The sport centers on takedowns, control, and pinning an opponent’s shoulders to the mat.
Collegiate wrestling in the United States has produced a steady pipeline of athletes who later transition into mixed , largely because wrestling’s emphasis on control and positioning transfers directly to cage fighting. Wrestlers often possess an outsized advantage in MMA simply because they can dictate whether a fight happens standing or on the ground. That control factor is a big reason wrestling remains one of the most valued base skills across combat sports today.
Kung Fu
Kung Fu, or wushu, refers broadly to hundreds of distinct Chinese styles developed over centuries, ranging from the animal-inspired movements of Southern styles to the flowing, circular patterns of Tai Chi. Some branches, like Wing Chun, focus on close-range trapping and rapid strikes, while others such as Shaolin Kung Fu incorporate weapons training and acrobatic forms. The sheer diversity within Kung Fu makes it difficult to generalize, since a Wing Chun practitioner and a Tai Chi practitioner may train almost nothing in common.
Modern wushu has also developed as a competitive sport with standardized forms and sparring rules, distinct from the traditional styles it draws from. Bruce Lee’s global popularity in the 1970s did a great deal to introduce Western audiences to Kung Fu concepts, even as his own Jeet Kune Do philosophy pushed against rigid traditional forms. Today Kung Fu schools worldwide range from strictly traditional lineages to more contemporary fitness-oriented programs.
Krav Maga
Krav Maga was developed in the twentieth century for the Israeli military, built specifically around real-world self-defense rather than sport competition. It borrows techniques from boxing, wrestling, and Judo but strips away rules, focusing instead on neutralizing threats as quickly as possible, including scenarios involving weapons. There are no forms or point sparring in traditional Krav Maga, since the entire system is oriented toward practical efficiency under stress.
Its popularity outside military and law enforcement circles has grown steadily, particularly among people seeking self-defense skills rather than competitive experience. Civilian Krav Maga programs typically soften some of the more extreme techniques for safety while keeping the core philosophy of quick, decisive response. Because it was never designed as a sport, comparing it directly to something like Muay Thai or BJJ misses the point somewhat, since the goals of each system are fundamentally different.
Mixed
Mixed combines striking and grappling disciplines into a single competitive format, and it has grown into one of the fastest expanding sectors within combat sports overall. The global market was valued at about $13.8 billion in 2023 and is forecast to reach $25.6 billion by 2032, reflecting how much commercial and cultural weight MMA and related disciplines now carry worldwide. Training academies have expanded accordingly, and North America remains the largest market with more than 45,000 academies and a projected growth to 67,000 by 2025.
Modern MMA fighters typically cross-train across several of the disciplines already covered here, since success in the cage tends to require competence standing, in the clinch, and on the ground. Promotions like the UFC, Bellator, and ONE Championship have built global audiences by showcasing that blend, drawing fighters from wrestling, Muay Thai, BJJ, and boxing backgrounds into a single ruleset. What makes MMA distinct from any single traditional style is precisely that lack of a fixed identity, since it evolves constantly as fighters find new ways to combine existing techniques.