In mixed martial arts (MMA) matches, competitors fight each other under a rule system that allows for a wide variety of techniques to be employed. Practitioners blend elements of boxing, kickboxing, wrestling and grappling to ensure that they have the skills necessary to both overwhelm their opponent and deal with everything thrown at them.
MMA is sometimes referred to as Ultimate Fighting or cage fighting, although aficionados prefer to avoid these terms as they relate more to the unregulated early days of the sport. Mixed martial arts has previously suffered from bad publicity thanks to sensationalist media reporting and, to be fair, the tendency of some unscrupulous promoters to market it as something akin to a no-holds-barred pub brawl.
MMA competition was originally envisioned as a forum whereby martial arts practitioners of any style could fight to determine which style was the best and most effective. In the early years of MMA, events were pretty much unregulated and there were few rules. This understandably proved controversial and after media outcry, regulatory bodies began to take an interest.
The fledgling UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championships) was finding it hard to get permission in some states of the US, until the New Jersey State Athletic Commission came up with a set of rules for the organisation to abide by.
Medical comparisons of fights under these rules with professional boxing have found that MMA participation is less dangerous to the long-term health of participants, because the wide variety of ways fighters can tackle their opponent means there is not nearly as much emphasis on punching the head, reducing risk of becoming 'punch drunk'.
It is now truly a worldwide phenomenon that has a presence in most of the world's major countries. It has developed and matured and is now a legitimate sport with well-defined rules.
As yet there is no world governing body, which will be the next big step in the sport's progression, but recent trends suggest that the UFC rules are on their way to becoming the global standardised regulations.
At present, the big event in MMA is a UFC title fight. As the top mixed martial arts organisation in the world, the UFC is the competition that most fans worldwide look to see the best international talent.
Almost all the biggest names are competing, or set to compete, in the UFC, making it the Premier League of mixed martial arts. Besides the UFC, there are a number of prominent events across the globe.
There really are no stereotypical players in MMA. In fact, one major gripe that the MMA fan community has with mainstream media reporting on the sport is the tendency to make out that bouts involve no more than two minimally-skilled thugs attempting to brutalise each other in a glorified bar-room brawl for the benefit of a drunken mob.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
In the early years, it quickly became apparent that participants who trained exclusively in one phase of combat - be that standing or ground fighting - were at a disadvantage when compared to fighters who had cross-trained in a range of martial arts.
Today, MMA fighters are required to be the hybrid product of training in a number of disciplines. Often they will come from one specialised background initially and supplement that core background with skills acquired from other arts. As a general rule of thumb the standing aspect tends to concentrate on boxing and Muay Thai skills, with the standing skills of Greco-Roman wrestling thrown in.
On the ground, the most fighters tend to have at least some experience of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, a ground fighting art derived from the Japanese version. Judo, which emphasises similar skills, is also seeing some growth in popularity, while a significant number of US fighters have a wrestling background, as there is a well-established wrestling programme in US schools and colleges that has produced a number of Olympic-calibre athletes.
To watch mixed martial arts is to watch literally the ultimate in sport fighting.
MMA pits incredibly fit, skilled athletes against each other and the results are usually spectacular. In the standing phase of a fight, the action tends to be fast-paced, as the competitors employ the full range of punches, knees and kicks that the rules allow.
However some are more comfortable fighting on the ground. These tend to have a wrestling, judo or jiu-jitsu background and prefer to take their opponent down. There they can grapple with them and either overcome them with a barrage of blows from above or look to apply a submission joint-lock or choke-hold. Either way, the action is often fast and furious, and the outcome of a fight can be determined in a split-second
In the opinion of professional photographer Hywel Teague, who covers MMA events for organisations all around the world, even just watching MMA on TV "offers a level of dynamism that other sports seem to lack".
He explains: "Anyone who has been to a live event can testify to how exciting it is. MMA is an adrenaline-fuelled experience - exciting, unpredictable and fresh."
