On June 26, 1976, boxer Muhammad Ali of Louisville, Kentucky, United States fought wrestler Antonio Inoki of Yokohama, Japan under special rules at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, Japan. Considered a precursor to modern mixed martial arts, the 15-round fight ended in a draw.
In 1979, Pennsylvania, USA’s Frank Caliguri and Bill Viola founded Caliguri and Viola (CV) Productions, the first MMA company in the U.S. They were inspired by the hypothetical idea of pitting Ali, martial artist Bruce Lee and wrestler Bruno Sammartino against each other. That year, Viola wrote the first codified set of MMA rules.
In 1985, Sayama Satoru formed Shooto as a fighting system and in 1989, it became an MMA promotion. Pancrase was formed on May 16, 1993 in Tokyo and the Ultimate Fighting Championship was founded on November 12, 1993 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
Since 2001, Dana White has been the UFC president. Based in Hollywood, California, USA, Bellator MMA was founded in 2008.
Chatri Sityodtong has been the chairman and chief executive officer of ONE Championship since it was founded on July 14, 2011. Based in Singapore, the martial arts organization features not only MMA but also Muay Thai and kickboxing.
Formed in 2012, the World Series of Fighting was restructured in 2017 as the Professional Fighters League, which was launched in 2018. On November 20, 2023, the PFL completed the acquisition of Bellator MMA.
In 2023, the dream to see MMA as an Olympics sport did not turn into a reality. Here are the 23 most handsome athletes who had at least one amateur or professional MMA fight this year:
#23. Jorge Masvidal, 38, USA (welterweight, UFC)
#22. Makhmud Muradov, 33, Uzbekistan (middleweight, UFC)
#21. Stephen Loman, 28, Philippines (featherweight, ONE Championship)
#20. Andre Petroski, 32, USA (middleweight, UFC)
#19. Kyung Ho Kang, 36, South Korea (bantamweight, UFC)
#18. Johnny Nuñez, 38, United States (lightweight, ONE Championship)
#17. Leo Brichta, 26, Czech Republic (lightweight, Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki)
#16. Cody Garbrandt, 32, USA (bantamweight, UFC)
#15. Chris Weidman, 39, USA (middleweight, UFC)
#14. Anton Turkalj, 26, Sweden (light heavyweight, UFC)
#13. Goiti Yamauchi, 30, Brazil / Japan (welterweight, Bellator MMA)
#12. Pieter Buist, 35, Netherlands (lightweight, Bellator MMA)
#11. Biaggio Ali Walsh, 25, USA (amateur lightweight, PFL)
#10. Chris Gonzalez, 32, USA (lightweight, Bellator MMA)
#9. Vadim Kutsy, 32, Belarus (welterweight, BRAVE Combat Federation)
#8. Gegard Mousasi, 38, Netherlands (middleweight, Bellator MMA)
#7. Zbyněk Vlček, 22, Czech Republic (middleweight, Oktagon MMA)
#6. Gabriel Souza, 26, Brazil (welterweight, ONE Championship)
#5. Brogan Stewart-Ng, 34, United States / Australia (featherweight, ONE Championship)
#4. Kota Miura, 21, Japan (featherweight, Rizin Fighting Federation)
#3. Carlos Ulberg, 33, New Zealand (light heavyweight, UFC)
#2. Sage Northcutt, 27, United States (lightweight, ONE Championship)
#1. Islam Dulatov, 24, Germany (welterweight, Sparta Championship Fighting)
CONAN Daily 