History UsefulNotes / MixedMartialArts

* OralFixation: Former WEC & UFC Lightweight champion Benson Henderson is often seen with a toothpick in his mouth. After his successful title defense against Nate Diaz, it was revealed that he often ''fights with a toothpick hidden in his mouth''.

** Jose "Pele" Landi-Jons is a fighter active from the mid-90s to present day, skilled in UsefulNotes/MuayThai. His body shape and style are both almost identical to that of legendary former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva, and in fact he trained Silva at one point and had a real life enmity with him. Almost no one knows who "Pele" is (not the least because his name makes him ThePeteBest in another way), while Silva has had much more success and is regarded as one of the pound-for-pound best fighters in the world.

** Sean Strickland was expected to be an easy record-padder for UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya. While Adesanya had been defeated in the past, said losses were to former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jan Blachowicz and famous rival Alex Pereira (which Adesanya avenged with a brutal knockout in their rematch). Strickland, while a top five middleweight, was an awkward, defensive striker perceived as far inferior in a stand-up fight. To the shock of the audience however, Strickland ''dropped Adesanya late in the first round'' and then executed a defensive, technical masterclass to win the belt via unanimous decision.

* TheUnintelligible: Stipe Miocic is this at times due to his tendency to [[MotorMouth talk fast]] and due to being slightly marble mouthed.

** Japanese MMA was a little different, it had two promotions that predated the UFC: Shooto and Pancrase. The latter looked basically professional wrestling if the matches weren't scripted: fighters wore colored thigh-high boots, fought in a three-roped pro wrestling-style ring, fought bareknuckle and had a ruleset with open palm strikes to the head only, no ground-and-pound and wrestlers (yes, ''wrestlers'', they were officially called "Hybrid Wrestlers") could hold the ropes to break submissions. Shooto on the other hand, looked uncannily similar in technical terms—with well-rounded fighters who could both strike and grapple—but the rules were still a little different and fighters wore pro wrestling spats. Both Shooto and Pancrase eventually envolved into modern MMA.

** In the leadup to his fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov, Conor Mcgregor [[RefugeInAudacity threw a lifting trolly through Khabib's teams' bus window and injuring some of his friends in the process, insulted his religion and called his wife a "towel" to his face multiple times at press conferences]]. [[LaserGuidedKarma In retaliation, once Khabib got Conor on the ground in round 4, he decided a rear-naked choke was too nice and began crucible choking Conor]] ''[[FacialHorror by the jaw and was seconds away from breaking it]]'' when Conor's tapping got the referee to pull the still enranged Khabib off of him. [[OneManArmy Whereupon a taunt from Conor's corner then made Khabib jump the fence and fight Conor's coaches next]].

** Alex 'Poatan' Pereira is known for mantaining a beffiting stone-like demeanor in fights, interviews and even in celebrations. Alex himself plays with this for some hilarious ComicallySerious moments.

* RatedMForManly: There is perhaps no sport more masculine than mixed martial arts, and it reflects in its personnel. Just about every single person who fights in an octagon is intense, grizzled, and 100% badass. Even UFC President Dana White looks like an archetypal tough guy, and he does have boxing experience to his credit. Additionally, taking this trope up to eleven, even the UFC's main ''ring announcer'' is a badass, having thrown hands with Frank Trigg, who at the time was a fully active pro fighter, in a 2006 incident.

** Wrestling/KiyoshiTamura to Wrestling/KazushiSakuraba. They came from the UWF International dojo, in which Tamura was Sakuraba's [[SenpaiKohai sempai]] and mistreated him. Years after the two had become the top fighters of PRIDE and RINGS, they requested a fight in Dyamite!!, and Tamura won. Fairly speaking, however, Saku was in worse shape during the time of their fight, and has attained much more international fame than Tamura during his career.

** Bart Vale hyped himself in United States as an invencible [[AllAmericanFace All American]] MMA hero through his pro wrestling career in Japan, going so far as introducing himself as "the man who beat Ken Shamrock" due to one worked KO over him in the Fujiwara Gumi promotion. His actual MMA career was short and almost devoid of wins.

*** Rousimar Palhares' official nickname is ''Toquinho'' ("little tree stump") but he's often referred to as "[[http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxvxmlNU6E1qezk61o2_400.jpg Paul Harris]]" due to the pronunciation of his surname.

*** Robert ''The Reaper'' Whittaker is often affectionately referred to as "Bobby Knuckles" after an MMA podcast kept using it until commentator Jon Anik mentioned it in one of Whittaker's fights. Whittaker initially preferred his chosen nickname but has since embraced the fan nickname.

** Alex "Poatan" Pereira to Israel Adesanya. Adesanya started as a kickboxing whiz, making a name for himself at the kickboxing circuit until he met Alex Pereira, breaking his 11-fight streak. One year later, Adesanya and Pereira met again, but this time for the Glory of Heroes Middleweight Championship, where Adesanya was knocked out by a destructive left hook. His defeat was so devastating that Adesanya made the full switch to Mixed Martial Arts, where he would amass an impressive 23 victories, with only one loss while attempting to fight at Light Heavyweight. In an interview, when asked about Pereira, Adesanya said ''"At the end of the day no one knows the fuck he is and he's gonna be that guy when I'm world champion. When I'm a legend he's going to be at some pub talking some shit about I beat that guy one time trying to get his dick sucked from a crack-whore or some shit"''. In response, Alex Pereira made his own transition to MMA around 2020 where he quickly proceed to make short work of the division and was matched against Adesanya, who he proceed to defeat Adeesanya yet again. It finally took Adesanya his fourth fight in a rematch to defeat Pereira, knocking him out.
** Adesanya himself is this to former UFC Middleweight Champion Robert Whittaker. It was Adesanya who first took the Middleweight crown from Whittaker in 2019 via KO, and defeated him once again in 2022. Whittaker has otherwise been undefeated since June 2014.

** Israel Adesanya has recently gained this reputation during his later championship reign, being accused of using only "jabs, feints and low kicks", to outpoint his opponents in fairly tepid fights while rarely pushing for a fight to go beyond this stage. Most noticeably being his fights with Yoel Romero, where both spent minutes staring at each other (though Yoel contributed to this near stalemate), and the fight with Jared Cannonier, where the most memorable part of the fight has been described as his walkout to The Undertaker theme. In spite these accusations, he has retained his belt and remains undefeated in the middleweight division.

In Japan, the sport of MMA took a concurrent but separate evolution, with origins in a form of ProfessionalWrestling called "[[Wrestling/UniversalWrestlingFederation shoot wrestling]]." Shoot wrestlers used a hybrid of submission [[UsefulNotes/CatchWrestling catch wrestling]] techniques and martial arts-based striking in matches similar to MMA, although it was still a [[{Kayfabe}} work]]. Promotions like Pancrase and Shooto discarded the scripts and were already putting on hybrid fighting shows with real fights by the time the UFC was founded. In 1994, Shooto organized the "Vale Tudo Japan" event, which brought Royce Gracie's older brother Rickson Gracie to Japan. The success of this and following events, as well the concurrent rise of MMA in America, culminated in the creation of PRIDE Fighting Championship (PRIDE FC) on 1997, with the first event seeing a match between Rickson Gracie and shoot-wrestling champion Wrestling/NobuhikoTakada. The promotion was an enormous success, and for several years it helped promote the fledgling sport as the UFC struggled to find its footing. Ultimately, PRIDE was sunk when its ties with the {{yakuza}} came to light, while the UFC reemerged to new success under the Fertittas and absorbed PRIDE in 2007.

In Japan, the sport of MMA took a concurrent but separate evolution, with origins in a form of ProfessionalWrestling called "[[Wrestling/UniversalWrestlingFederation shoot wrestling]]." Shoot wrestlers used a hybrid of submission [[UsefulNotes/CatchWrestling catch wrestling]] techniques and martial arts-based striking in matches similar to MMA, although it was still a work. Promotions like Pancrase and Shooto discarded the scripts and were already putting on hybrid fighting shows with real fights by the time the UFC was founded. In 1994, Shooto organized the "Vale Tudo Japan" event, which brought Royce Gracie's older brother Rickson Gracie to Japan. The success of this and following events, as well the concurrent rise of MMA in America, culminated in the creation of PRIDE Fighting Championship (PRIDE FC) on 1997. The promotion was an enormous success, and for several years it helped promote the fledgling sport as the UFC struggled to find its footing. Ultimately, PRIDE was sunk when its ties with the {{yakuza}} came to light, while the UFC reemerged to new success under the Fertittas and absorbed PRIDE in 2007.

Though similar sports have existed at certain points throughout history, most notably in the Greek Olympic sport Pankration, modern mixed martial arts began in UsefulNotes/{{Brazil}}. Contrary to popular belief MMA is much older than the first UFC, with the first televised MMA event being in Brazil and in 1960 with the first Gracie clan MMA tv show being the “Heróis do Ringue” ("Heroes of the Ring" in Portuguese) in 1960. A latter and more successful creation was the Ultimate Fighting Championship by Rorion Gracie and Art Davie in 1993, soon 33 years after "Herois do Ring". The event was billed as a no-holds-barred tournament straight out of ''Film/{{Bloodsport}}'' to determine in real-life conditions which martial art style was "[[HypotheticalFightDebate the best]]." Could Kung Fu beat Karate? Could boxing beat wrestling? These questions would be answered inside a chain-link enclosed "Octagon". Behind the scenes, however, the event was masterminded by the Gracies, a Brazilian clan of martial artists who had developed a style of submission grappling called UsefulNotes/BrazilianJiuJitsu (BJJ) that they believed could defeat any style. The event was intended to showcase the effectiveness of BJJ.

In Japan, the sport of MMA took a concurrent but separate evolution, with origins in a form of ProfessionalWrestling called "[[Wrestling/UniversalWrestlingFederation shoot wrestling]]." Shoot wrestlers used a hybrid of submission [[UsefulNotes/CatchWrestling catch wrestling]] techniques and martial arts-based striking in matches similar to MMA, although it was still a work. Promotions like Pancrase and Shooto discarded the scripts and were already putting on hybrid fighting shows with real fights by the time the UFC was founded. In 1994, Shooto organized the "Vale Tudo Japan" event, which brought Royce Gracie's older brother Rickson Gracie to Japan. The success of this and following events, as well the concurrent rise of MMA in America, culminated in the creation of PRIDE Fighting Championship (PRIDE FC) on 1997, a Japanese MMA organization heavily influenced by its pro wrestling roots. PRIDE was initially created to match Rickson Gracie against [[Wrestling/UniversalWrestlingFederation UWFi]] champion Wrestling/NobuhikoTakada. The first event was an enormous success for the time, bringing mass attention to an almost newborn sport, and the organization had a meteoric ascension from there. At its height, millions of spectators were tuning in to see PRIDE events in free-to-air and pay-per-view television and filling 70,000 seats in the Tokyo Dome while the UFC was struggling with political persecution, low sales of [=PPVs=] and live events in backwater cassinos. PRIDE helped increase the global popularity of the sport. Ultimately, PRIDE was sunk when its ties with the {{yakuza}} came to light, while the UFC reemerged to new success under the Fertittas and absorbed PRIDE in 2007.

Many MMA promotions have emerged through the years, but the UFC remains the face of MMA. Their partnership with Creator/{{FOX}} Sports in 2011 saw MMA gain more prominence on broadcast network television and vastly expanded the sport's reach, while their 2018 partnership with Creator/{{ESPN}} helped add legitimacy to the sport as a whole. Bellator MMA, a subsidiary of Creator/{{Viacom}}CBS, is the promotion's chief rival in the United States. Other major competitors include the Professional Fighters League (PFL), which has a competitive structure closer to traditional sports leagues; Invicta, which is exclusively female; ONE Championship, headquartered in Singapore and active all over southeast Asia; KSW (Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki; ''Martial Arts Confrontation'') in Poland, known for putting big shows; and RIZIN Fighting Federation in Japan, a revival of PRIDE.

Though similar sports have existed at certain points throughout history, most notably in the Greek Olympic sport Pankration, modern mixed martial arts began in Brazil. Contrary to popular belief MMA is much older than the first UFC, with the first televised MMA event being in Brazil and in 1960 with the first Gracie clan MMA tv show being the “Heróis do Ringue” ("Heroes of the Ring" in Portuguese) in 1960. A latter and more successful creation was the Ultimate Fighting Championship by Rorion Gracie and Art Davie in 1993, soon 33 years after "Herois do Ring". The event was billed as a no-holds-barred tournament straight out of ''Film/{{Bloodsport}}'' to determine in real-life conditions which martial art style was "[[HypotheticalFightDebate the best]]." Could Kung Fu beat Karate? Could boxing beat wrestling? These questions would be answered inside a chain-link enclosed "Octagon". Behind the scenes, however, the event was masterminded by the Gracies, a Brazilian clan of martial artists who had developed a style of submission grappling called UsefulNotes/BrazilianJiuJitsu (BJJ) that they believed could defeat any style. The event was intended to showcase the effectiveness of BJJ.

** Khabib Nurmagomedov, possibly due to speaking English as a[[TheOmniglot third or fourth language]] has a few.

** Khabib Nurmagomedov, possibly due to speaking English as a second language has a few.

** Anthony Macias allowed himself to be submitted by Oleg Taktarov in UFC 6 because they both had the same manager, who convinced Macias to throw the fight so that Taktarov would be fresh for the final later that day. The 12-second guillotine is still officially the fastest UFC submission on record.

* Longtime UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre always wore one on his way to the cage to honor his Kyokushin UsefulNotes/{{Karate}} background. Ironically, GSP's striking became famously based on his head-jab, while Kyokushin competition does not include punches to the head.
* Gilbert Burns wears the Brazilian flag in form of a headband in his way to the octagon.

* McNinja: Early style vs style UFC had a few self-styled ''Ninjutsu'' practicioners. Scott Morris in UFC 2 got a victory in the first round with a Guillotine Choke but in the second round was thrown into the ground by Patrick Smith, who violently rained ground-and-pound strikes on him. His gymmate Steve "Ninja Cop" Jennum was little more sucessful, winning the UFC 3 after Ken Shamrock withdrew due to injuries and entering the finals against Harold Howard, but flopped in his post-UFC career.

*** Adesanya himself is this to former UFC Middleweight Champion Robert Whittaker. It was Adesanya who first took the Middleweight crown from Whittaker in 2019 via KO, and defeated him once again in 2022. Whittaker has otherwise been undefeated since June 2014.