MMA, or mixed martial arts, has taken over the world of combat sports. Evolving from its Vale Tudo or “no holds barred” roots, MMA has grown into a mainstream sport, with the UFC as its sole dominant organization.
From the UFC and other MMA promotions, to boxing and the wider combat sports scene,
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MMA history and evolution
MMA’s origins can be traced back to Pankration and the early Olympiads in ancient Greece. From Bartitsu in the late 1800s to the iconic Muhammad Ali vs. Antonio Inoki match in 1976, people also routinely mixed different martial arts in the centuries that followed.
MMA as the sport that we know today though, has its roots closer to the early Vale Tudo matches in Brazil, and shoot wrestling in Japan. The UFC was eventually created in 1993 with one-night tournaments, focusing on style vs. style matches as a way to promote the Gracies’ brand of jiu-jitsu.
At the same time, the sport also grew in Japan with Shooto, Pancrase, and eventually PRIDE.
The "Zuffa Myth" and UFC’s mainstream explosion
The UFC eventually grew past these “no holds barred” origins, evolving from singular style vs. style toughman bouts to a legitimate blend of mixed martial arts.
Dana White and company have since perpetuated the “Zuffa Myth” to take credit for supposedly modernizing the sport and “running towards government regulation.” In reality, the term mixed martial arts, government sanctioning, and even the unified MMA rules used today, have all been around long before White convinced his rich friends Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta to buy the UFC in 2001.
While their contributions to its origins is overstated, what Zuffa did to incredible success is to see the value in those three letters, and monetize it all. As UFC was already synonymous with MMA in the US, the Fertittas purchased the brand from its original SEG owners for just $2 million. The move paid off over a thousand fold.
On the other side of the world, PRIDE was thought to have many of the best MMA fighters during its peak in the early 2000s, but the Fertittas’ deep pockets helped kill the competition. Zuffa purchased and eventually shutdown promotions like PRIDE, Strikeforce and WEC, getting the vast majority of top fighters, and solidifying their control of the rapidly growing sport.
As MMA reached mainstream popularity with UFC as its sole leader, the Fertittas sold the company in 2016 to Hollywood moguls in Endeavor for over $4 billion. The UFC kept growing and was reportedly well over double in value when it merged with the WWE in 2023, creating a new Endeavor controlled company, TKO.
UFC is now the dominant force in MMA
As the UFC now controls the industry with a
monopsony
of MMA, they’ve also oversaturated the market with weekly events, hurting the chances of true rivals to grow. Creating the Contender Series and Road to UFC as pipelines for a large amount of cheap new talent also lessened the need for feeder organizations as well.
UFC now
makes more money than every combat sports promoter on earth, combined.
With their success and stranglehold over the entire MMA industry, issues with restrictive contracts and low athlete pay have also come to light. These UFC controversial business practices and alleged abuse of market power was the center of
two class action antitrust lawsuits
against the UFC.
The promotion has settled the first lawsuit for $375 million, which is a mere fraction of their annual revenue. The second class action lawsuit is still on-going, but it seems highly unlikely that the UFC loses its place on top of the sport and combat sports as a whole.
The UFC doesn’t have any real competitors, but there are MMA promotions like PFL, Rizin and KSW that are trying to carve their own niche.
Other MMA promotions can’t come close to even a quarter of the UFC’s market share and popularity, and many are even bleeding money just to put on events. That being said, it doesn’t mean fans can’t find entertaining fights to watch outside the UFC.
PFL and the remnants of Bellator
After they purchased Bellator, which previously held that distinction, the Professional Fighters League, or PFL, is now considered by most as the current #2 MMA promotion.
They don’t come close to the number one spot, but the PFL is attempting to use that label to sell itself to fans – and mostly investors – as the Pepsi to the UFC’s Coke. It remains to be seen if and how long that works, as the promotion doesn’t seem close to turning a profit.
The PFL differentiates themselves from the UFC by having a unique league format, with regular seasons, playoffs, and yearly champions. They also try to attract fighters with million dollar prizes, and a promise of a bigger cut of any PPV revenue. Their stable of fighters have improved in recent years, especially after the Bellator acquisition.
UFC star Kayla Harrison started out as a PFL champion. Heavyweight star Francis Ngannou also signed a lucrative two-fight deal with the PFL after stepping away from the UFC as a champion.
RIZIN
RIZIN is the biggest and most popular MMA promotion coming out of Japan, who has a rich history in combat sports.
Known as the spiritual successor of PRIDE (and DREAM), RIZIN was founded in 2015 by Nobuyuki Sakakibara and the same executives behind the iconic Japanese MMA promotion.
PRIDE of course, reached true mainstream heights in Japan, and held arguably most of the top MMA fighters in the early 2000s. The MMA landscape has since changed, and RIZIN can’t come close to that peak, but they still follow a lot of those traditions.
RIZIN stays true to their pro-wrestling roots, with excellent production value and a mix of “freakshow” fights and unique spectacles. They’ve also kept up with their tradition of hosting annual New Year’s Eve shows, which is still among the most anticipated MMA events each year.
High profile spectacles in RIZIN recently include boxing greats like Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather. Popular champions include former UFC star Kyoji Horiguchi and Chihiro Suzuki, who recently knocked out Bellator great Patricio Pitbull.
There are also a few notable former RIZIN title holders like Jiri Prochazka, who became a UFC champion, and Kai Asakura, who went straight into a UFC title fight.
KSW
While promotions like PFL have lofty goals of being an alternative to the UFC, promotions like KSW have established their own unique niche in their side of the world.
Borrowing some ideas from Japan, KSW also embraces the spectacle and has put their own spin on things in Poland and around Europe. They’ve been running for 20 years, and hosted over a hundred shows, routinely drawing huge crowds for their major events.
Polish star and former world's strongest man Mariusz Pudzianowski was a huge part of their growth and staying power, as were the likes of Mamed Khalidov and Roberto Soldic. Several notable MMA stars also passed through their ranks, including future UFC champions Jan Blachowicz and Dricus du Plessis.
ONE Championship
ONE Championship has also been around for over a decade now, with many notable MMA champions like Demetrious Johnson and Ben Askren passing through the promotion.
In recent years though, the Asian promotion has severely cut down on hosting MMA fights, and instead focuses on mainly kickboxing and grappling these days. This decision likely ties in with ONE’s well documented
financial issues, with alarming losses already nearing $400 million a few years ago.
They’ve been known for cultivating notable champions like Bibiano Fernandes and Reiner de Ridder, but both relationships soured and they each warned people from signing with ONE Championship.
Invicta FC is also another notable MMA promotion, which exclusively runs women’s fights. They basically served as a talent pipeline to the UFC for a time, and have been home to future champions such as Cris Cyborg, Carla Esparza.
Several Invicta champions eventually became UFC contenders, such as Michelle Waterson, Jessica Penne, Angela Hill, Virna Jandiroba, Megan Anderson and many more.
Other established MMA promotions include ACA or Absolute Championship Akhmat from Russia, UK’s Cage Warriors, and US regional promotion LFA. Japan also has long running promotions like Deep, Shooto, and Pancrase that continue to cultivate talent in the region.
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