Combat sport

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A combat sport, or fighting sport, is a competitive contact

sport with one-on-one combat. Determining the winner Combat sport
depends on the particular contest's rules. In many fighting
sports, a contestant wins by scoring more points than the
opponent or by disabling the opponent. Mixed Martial Arts,
Boxing, Wrestling, Savate, Kickboxing, Muay Thai, Tae
Kwon Do, Judo, Brazilian Jiu-jitsu Sambo and Fencing are
examples of combat sports.

Contents
1 History
2 Popularity of combat sports by gender
3 Modern sports
4 List of combat sports
4.1 Striking
4.2 Grappling
Boxing is a common fighting sport
4.3 Hybrid
4.4 Weapons Characteristics
5 Techniques Contact Yes
6 Olympic Combat Sports
Team members No
7 Protective Gear/Clothing
8 See also Mixed gender No
9 References

History
Folk wrestling exists in many forms and in most cultures, and can be considered a cultural universal. The
Ancient Olympic Games were largely composed of sports that tested skills related to combat, such as armored
foot races, boxing, wrestling, pankration and chariot racing, amongst others. Combat sports are first recorded
during the Olympic games of 648 B.C. with pankration. Pankration allowed competitors to use all striking and
grappling techniques. The only rules for this sport in its origin were no biting and no eye gouging. A winner
was decided by submission, unconsciousness, or even death of an opponent. It is a common occurrence for
matches to last for hours. Pankration grew in popularity during the Hellenic Period. Matches were in small
square arenas to promote engagement. This tradition of combat sports was taken even further by the Romans
with gladiators who would fight with weapons, sometimes to the death.[1]

Through the Middle ages and Renaissance the tournament became popular, with jousting as a main event.
While the tournament was popular amongst aristocrats, combative sports were practiced by all levels of society.
The German school of late medieval martial arts distinguished sportive combat (schimpf) from serious combat
(ernst). In the German Renaissance, sportive combat competitions were known as Fechtschulen, corresponding
to the Prize Playing in Tudor England. Out of these Prize Playing events developed the English boxing (or
prizefighting) of the 18th century, which evolved into modern boxing with the introduction of the Marquess of
Queensberry rules in 1867.

Amateur boxing was part of the modern Olympic Games since their introduction in 1904. Professional boxing
became popular in the United States in the 1920s and experienced a "golden age" after World War II.
The creation of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is attributed to the Gracie family of Brazil in 1925 after Asian martial arts
were introduced to Brazil. Vale-tudo, wrestling, muay thai kickboxing and luta livre gained popularity. Modern
Muay Thai was developed in the 1920s to 1930s. Sambo was introduced in the Soviet Union. Modern
Taekwondo also emerged after the Japanese occupation of Korea and became an Olympic sport in 2000.
Sanshou as part of modern wush was developed in the People's Republic of China since the 1950s. Kickboxing
and full contact karate were developed in the 1960s and became popular in Japan and the West during the
1980s and 1990s. Modern Mixed Martial Arts developed out of the interconnected subcultures of Brazilian Jiu-
Jitsu and shoot wrestling. It was introduced in Japan in the form of Shooto in 1985, and in the United States as
Ultimate Fighting Championship [UFC] in 1993. Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts were introduced in 2000,
and the sport experienced a peak of popularity in the 2000s. With the popularity of MMA hitting its peak in the
2000s it allowed for multiple brands and promotions to become established and form legitimate businesses. The
most well-known promotion for MMA is UFC as of 2016, this is due to being able to purchase most of the
other competitors such as Strikeforce on March 11, 2011 and World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) in late 2006
and later merged with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) after its final fight on December 16, 2010.
There are still other promotions working, such as Bellator MMA, ONE Championship and many others.

Popularity of combat sports by

gender
Males have been the gender that will often react,
enjoy and seek out combat sports due to being a
male dominated sport. For many years combat
sports were a male only sport with the first
recorded female combat sport event in the United
States of America on March 28, 1997. A study
conducted by Greenwell, Hancock, Simmons and
Thorn during 2015 reported that men had more
experience in watching and seeking out MMA
events unlike women.[2] With this interest in A photo of Connor McGregor, Jose Aldo and Dana White at a
combat sport, companies and promotions such as press conference for the fight between McGregor and Aldo. This
UFC or Bellator MMA have aimed advertising shows the two fighters posing for media, increasing revenue and
towards the male demographic as combat sports interest in the fight.
was more prevalent within that gender. There has
been a recent spike of interest in female combat
sports due to former UFC Bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, females started to watch and seek out
information about MMA and more specifically UFC. The most Olympic freestyle wrestling gold medals
however are from female participants. Saori Yoshida won three golds in the lightweight division, at Athens
2004, Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Games. Middleweight wrestler Kaori Icho has also won three golds, at
the same games.[3]

Modern sports
Today athletes usually fight one-on-one, but may still use various skill sets such as strikes in boxing that only
allows punching, taekwondo where punches and kicks are the focus or muay thai and burmese boxing that also
allow the use of elbows and knees. There are also grappling based sports that may concentrate on obtaining a
superior position as in freestyle or Collegiate wrestling, using throws such as in judo and Greco-Roman
wrestling, or using submissions as in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Modern mixed martial arts competitions are similar to
the historic Greek Olympic sport of pankration and allow a wide range of both striking and grappling
techniques.

Combat sports may also be armed and the athletes compete using weapons, such as types of sword in western
fencing (the foil, pe and saber) and kendo (shinai). Modern combat sports may also wear complex armour,
like SCA Heavy Combat and kendo. In Gatka and Modern Arnis sticks are used, sometimes representing
knives and swords.

List of combat sports

Striking

Fist Fighting (Boxing)

Historical Ancient Greek boxing (Pygmachia)
Historical Russian Fist Fighting (Kulachniy Boy)
Historical English Bare-Knuckle Boxing (Pugilism)
Modern Amateur (Olympic) Boxing
Modern Professional Boxing
Kickboxing (under K1, American & European rules) and analogous styles
Musti-yuddha (Indian Kickboxing)
Savate (French kickboxing)
Sanda (Chinese kickboxing)
Indochinese Kickboxing
Muay Thai (Thai Boxing)
Muay Lao (Lao Boxing)
Lethwei (Burmese boxing)
Full Contact Karate
Taekwondo (under World Taekwondo and ITF rules)
Shoot boxing Japanese combat sport introduced in 1985.

Grappling

Pinning, clinching and takedown oriented wrestling

Ancient Greek wrestling (Pale)
Beach wrestling
Belt wrestling
Judo (Olympic Judo)
Freestyle wrestling
Greco-Roman wrestling (French Wrestling[4])
Scholastic wrestling (American Folkstyle)
Sport Sambo
Sumo
Submission grappling:
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (under Gi & no Gi rules)
luta livre
FILA Grappling
Folk wrestling (Numerous Regional Styles Worldwide)
shuai jiao (Chinese jacket wrestling)
Catch wrestling (Western Submission Wrestling)

Hybrid

Hybrid martial arts, combining striking and grappling elements:

Pankration (Ancient Greek Freestyle Fighting).

modern Amateur Pankration
Dambe traditional form of boxing, including kicking and wrestling elements, practiced by the Hausa
people.
Combat Sambo: Russian sport introduced in the 1920s.
kudo
Vale Tudo (No Rules Freestyle Fighting), derived from Brazilian circus shows of the 1920s.
 Sanshou (Sanda) (Chinese kickboxing within Contemporary Wushu, includes some grappling
techniques), institutionalized as part of modern Wushu since the 1950s.
Shoot-style wrestling, since the 1980s.
Shootfighting
Shoot boxing Japanese combat sport introduced in 1985.
Mixed Martial Arts (Freestyle Fighting), since the 1990s.

Weapons
(simulated) bladed weapons
Matrak in 16th-century Ottoman Empire
Fechtschulen (fencing competitions) in 16th- to 17th-century Germany
traditional academic fencing (mainly in Germany, 16th century to present)
Kendo (Japanese fencing)
Modern fencing
SCA heavy combat
Dagorhir
Historical European martial arts
Historical medieval battles (HMB)
sportive stick fighting
Quarterstaff (historical English, 17th to 18th century)
Singlestick (1904 Summer Olympics)
Bton franais
Gatka (Punjabi stick fighting)
Arnis (Filipino stick fighting)
hastilude
Modern competitive jousting

Techniques
The techniques used can be categorized into three domains: striking, grappling, and weapon usage, with some
hybrid rule-sets combining striking and grappling. In combat sports the use of these various techniques are
highly regulated to minimize permanent or severe physical damage to each participant though means of
organized officiating by a single or multiple referees that can distribute penalties or interrupt the actions of the
competitors during the competition. In weapon based sports, the weapons used are made to be non-lethal by
means of modifying the striking portions of the weapon and requiring participants to wear protective
clothing/armor.

Olympic Combat Sports

Amateur boxing - (1904 - 2016). Boxing has been staged at every summer Olympic games since 1904
except Stockholm in 1912 due to Swedish law.[5]
Judo - (1964, 1972 - 2016). Judo was not included in the 1968 Mexico City summer Olympics. Women's
judo was added to the Olympics in 1992 in Barcelona.[6]
Taekwondo - 1988 Seoul Games (demonstration sport), 2000 - 2016. Became an official medal sport at
the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.[7]
Wrestling (Greco-Roman) - (1908 - 2016). The first form of wrestling to be held at the Olympic
Games.[8]
Wrestling (Freestyle) - (1920 - 2016). Was modified at the 2000 Sydney Games and reduced the amount
of weight categories provided.[9]
Pankration and singlestick are two other forms of combat sports that have been included in the olympics.
These combat sports were introduced to the Olympic Games in the early 1900s however singlestick was
only represented at the 1904 Olympic games and pankration whilst lasting four centuries in Ancient
Greek Olympia's, was not included at all after 1900.
Protective Gear/Clothing
In combat sports, victory is obtained from blows, punches or attacks to the head to a point of physical injury
that the opponent is unable to continue.[10] Different forms of combat sport have different rules and regulations
into the equipment competitors have to wear. In Amateur boxing seen at the Olympics, competitors are
permitted to wear head guards and correctly weighted padded gloves, mouth guards are optional and the canvas
floor protection from a hard fall.[11] In sports such as Taekwondo, competitors are permitted to wear a trunk
protector, head guard, gloves, groin guard and shin and forearm pads.[12] Professional boxing and UFC are two
of the most dangerous combat sports in the world due to the lack of protective gear worn. Competitors in these
two sports have the option to wear a mouthguard and must wear suitable gloves. The lack of protective clothing
makes competitors vulnerable to concussion and further traumatic head injuries. A scientific experiment,
conducted last year by Dr Andrew McIntosh of ACRISP at the Federation University of Australia, tested the
impact of 7 different head guards in combat sport. The results of the experiment revealed the benefits of the
combination of a glove and headguard in maximising the impact energy attenuation.[13] A study conducted by
Lystad showed that combat sports with little to no protective gear such as MMA or boxing has an injury
incidence rate range of 85.1-280.7 per 1000 athletes in comparison to another striking combat sport like
Taekwondo which has a large amount of protective gear such as pads, headgear, mouth guard and gloves, has
an injury incidence rate range of 19.1-138.8 per 1000 athletes. This means that injury rates are drastically
lowered when protective gear is used.[14]

List of Protective Gear/Clothing

Gloves
Head gear
Mouthguard
Shin Guards
Arm Guards
Groin Guard
Trunk Protector
Wraps (Material wrapped around the hand that provides added protection and support)

See also
Hand-to-hand combat
Martial arts
Hoplology

References
1. Poliakoff, Michael. Combat Sports in the Ancient World: Competition, Violence, and Culture (https://boo
ks.google.com/books?id=e2EyPI8X8FMC&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22combat+sport%22&hl=en&sa
=X&ei=W8zjVL6dBdOdygTao4HYAw&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22combat%20sport%
22&f=false). pp. 1020.
2. Greenwell, Hancock, Simmons, Thorn (2015). "The effects of gender and social roles on the marketing
of combat sport.". Sport Marketing Quarterly. 24 (1): 19. ISSN 1061-6934 (https://www.worldcat.org/iss
n/1061-6934).
3. Glenday, Craig (2013). The Guinness Book of World Records 2014. p. 236. ISBN 9781908843159.
4. Armstrong, Walter (1890). Wrestling (https://books.google.com/books?id=Yi4OAAAAYAAJ&printsec=f
rontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false). New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company. p. 77.
5. "Boxing Equipment, History and Rules | Olympic.org" (http://www.olympic.org/boxing-equipment-and-h
istory?tab=history). Retrieved 2016-05-17.
6. "Judo Equipment, History and Rules | Olympic.org" (http://www.olympic.org/judo-equipment-and-histor
y?tab=history). Retrieved 2016-05-17.
7. "Taekwondo Equipment, History and Rules | Olympic.org" (http://www.olympic.org/taekwondo-equipme
nt-and-history?tab=history). Retrieved 2016-05-17.
 8. "Wrestling Greco Roman Equipment, History and Rules | Olympic.org" (http://www.olympic.org/wrestli
ng-greco-roman-equipment-and-history?tab=history). Retrieved 2016-05-17.
9. "Wrestling Freestyle Equipment, History and Rules | Olympic.org" (http://www.olympic.org/wrestling-fr
eestyle-equipment-and-history?tab=history). Retrieved 2016-05-17.
10. "Combat Sport - 2015" (https://ama.com.au/position-statement/combat-sport-2015). Australian Medical
Association. 2015-11-21. Retrieved 2016-05-17.
11. "Boxing Equipment, History and Rules | Olympic.org" (http://www.olympic.org/boxing-equipment-and-h
istory). www.olympic.org. Retrieved 2016-05-17.
12. "Taekwondo Equipment, History and Rules | Olympic.org" (http://www.olympic.org/taekwondo-equipme
nt-and-history). www.olympic.org. Retrieved 2016-05-17.
13. "Sign In" (http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/49/17/1113.full). PMID 26192195 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.go
v/pubmed/26192195).
14. Lystad, Reidar (2015). "Epidemiology of injuries in full-contact combat sports". Australasian
Epidemiologist. 22.

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