For many, when they hear the words Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), their
thoughts go directly to UFC 1, the event that changed combat sports forever, in
1993. The real story of the first MMA fight in history, however, goes back much
further than that night in Denver. For centuries, and across continents,
fighters have been pushing the boundaries of their disciplines against others —
wrestlers vs brawlers, judo vs karate, and many other mixed-style contests.
Having been around for thousands of years, the true story of MMA extends well
antes any Vale Tudo origins, Shooto in Japan, and Pankration attempts. The
first fights we often talk about as MMA are much older than many understand.
Ancient Beginnings — Pankration: The First Mixed Martial Arts
The first instances of MMA likely began in Pankration, an event
introduced to the Olympic Games around 648 B.C.E. While it was not specifically
referred to as “mixed martial arts” at the time, it is often cited as the first
mixed combat sport in history, featuring competitors using both striking and
grappling, or fighting that was essentially no-holds-barred. Competitors could
punch, kick, throw, and choke each other, while the only illegal moves were
eye-gouging and biting.
The paradigm of early mixed martial arts was founded on the principles
of adaptability, strategy, and endurance. In this regard, the innovation and
evolution of fighting styles that we now call modern MMA began at this time.
Athletes included fighting techniques from boxing, with ideas from wrestling,
to create new hybrids of strategies. While Pankration did not employ cages, or
gloves for that matter either, the concept of testing “style against style” was
well developed in order to create the ideological foundation from which mixed
martial arts would later evolve.
Early 20th Century — The Development of Cross-Style Matches
With the changes to combat sports came something of a revival for
mixed-style fights in the 1900s. The first hybrid style fights began appearing
in Europe, the United States, and Asia, pairing martial arts against boxing or
wrestling against boxing. These were the first authentic attempts to assess the
efficacy of one martial art versus another.
In 1905, an exhibition match between a boxer and a judoka took place in
London, and it attracted broad public interest. The judoka prevailed using
grappling skills and shocked many who believed the boxer to be invincible.
There were similarly early mixed combat sports events taking place in Japan, where
judo fighters would challenge Western fighters in mixed matches.
This was also developing in Brazil, and the origins of Vale Tudo can be
traced back to this time. Vale Tudo literally means "anything goes."
This led to the formation of fights with limited rules and brought back the
original no-holds-barred spirit to fighting. The history of the Brazilian
Gracie family is central to this developing scene, as they utilised a
particular style of jujutsu, later classified as Brazilian jiu-jitsu, to dominate
early open-style fights.
These early martial arts challenges were not yet called MMA, but they
contained the elements of the combat sport: testing a martial art against
another martial art under realistic fighting conditions.
1920s–1940s—The Gracie Era and Vale Tudo Revolution
In the 1920s, Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) was introduced by Carlos and
Helio Gracie. BJJ is a ground-based fighting style that focuses on submissions
and controlling an opponent. To demonstrate its effectiveness, the Gracies
issued challenges to any fighter to engage in 'Vale Tudo' -- 'anything goes' --
matches. This first era of Vale Tudo fighting was a brutal affair with very few
rules and no weight divisions.
The first mixed martial artists were the Gracies, who soon made their name
throughout Brazil with emphatic victories in innumerable competitions. The
Gracie philosophy was simple, but transformational: in a real fight, technique
would always beat strength. This mentality would ultimately shape the
foundations of MMA and would have historical significance for the UFC.
While the early Vale Tudo fights, we can better define the bridging link
between mixed martial arts today and a less organised model of the sport, the
reality is that the origins of MMA are not isolated to one country. The
collective evolution of fighters has defined the evolution towards MMA even
before the origin of Vale Tudo.
The Japanese Connection: Shooto and Pancrase (1950s–1980s)
While Brazilian Vale Tudo was developing in the Western hemisphere,
Japan was also undertaking its own hybrid fighting experimentation. In the
1950s, martial artists such as Masahiko Kimura and professional wrestlers began
inserting real fighting moves into rehearsal fights, creating a filtering area
between combat and a sporting endeavour.
The 1980s saw Japan reveal Shooto. This was one of the first recognised
early MMA tournaments, founded by Satoru Sayama. Shooto's history began as a
technical training system that mixed wrestling, kickboxing, and jujutsu. This
was a full-contact sport before the UFC, just a few decades before.
This period also saw Pancrase's origins in Japan. Founded in 1993, just before
UFC 1, Pancrase allowed open-hand strikes and submissions. Fighters such as Ken
Shamrock and Bas Rutten developed their skills in Pancrase before moving to the
UFC. This development bridged the gap between early Japanese mixed martial arts
and the larger MMA scene worldwide.
These organisations produced Japan as a reference point in our
comparison of mixed martial arts, the ongoing filter between traditional versus
modern fighting philosophies and interpretation. It is also important to note
that the collective emergence of early mixed martial arts practitioners who
fought in organisations like Shooto and Pancrase was instrumental in creating
the technical depth of the sport, while also developing submissions, positional
fighting, and striking combinations that are still vital to our experience.
Pre-UFC Mixed-Style Fights – A Hidden History
By the late 1980s, the history of early cage fighting had already been
developing quietly worldwide. Any number of events in Brazil, Japan and even
the United States featured mixed rule fights that would blend boxing,
wrestling, or other martial arts.
For example, in 1963, Salt Lake City witnessed a match between boxer
Milo Savage and judoka Gene LeBell that is often referred to as the first mixed
martial arts bout of the modern era. LeBell won by choking out Savage — a
moment many historians consider the real birth of MMA in the west.
Also in 1976, Muhammad Ali v Antonio Inoki in Tokyo became one of the
most notorious historical MMA fights of all time. Although the fight was
painfully awkward and limited by strange rules, it represented a global
curiosity about what would happen when striking meets grappling.
What the early mixed combat sports before UFC 1 showed is that the world
was primed for one sport, one set of rules. The evolution of MMA before the UFC
was not a single moment, but a slow build of mixed cultures, philosophies and
techniques.
1993 — UFC 1 and the Emergence of Modern MMA
When the first UFC event happened, it ultimately wasn’t the start of a
new sport. Instead, it was the arrival of every prior martial arts competition
and development. The earliest influences for the UFC event came from Vale Tudo,
Shooto, and Pancrase. Fighters like Royce Gracie demonstrated the usefulness of
Brazilian jiujitsu, while others showed boxing, wrestling, and karate.
This event took all the "experiments" of the previous decades
to create the official transition from early martial arts events to a
legitimate sport called MMA. What was once no-holds-barred fighting is now a
legitimate sport with rules, weight classes and athletic commissions.
Conclusion — The True Beginning of Mixed Martial Arts
The true story of the first MMA fight in history is not about one fight
in one night or at one organisation. It is a story based on centuries of the
evolution of combat sports — from Pankration to Vale Tudo, from Shooto to UFC
1.
The pioneers of the early mixed martial arts — the first MMA fighters,
including the Gracies, Gene LeBell, and various others — set the groundwork for
today’s stars. The foundation of the sport arose from curiosity, fearlessness,
and ultimately, people’s desire, as humans, to push limits.
Before the Octagon and the bright lights and championships, mixed-style
contests were fought and proved one true thing: when styles clash, evolution
begins. This is the true story of MMA — a global evolution through a journey of
fighters who turned chaos into art.