Country Australia | National team Australia | |
Governing body International Mixed Martial Arts Federation of Australia Single match UFC 193, 56,214, 15 November 2015, Etihad Stadium | ||
Mixed martial arts (MMA) has developed in Australia from a wide cross-section of sporting and martial arts disciplines to become the most popular combat sport in Australia.
Contents
Fighters (1990s to present)
Ultimate Fighting Championship
UFC 110 (2010), UFC 127 (2011), UFC on FX: Alves vs. Kampmann (2012), UFC on FX: Sotiropoulos vs. Pearson (2012), UFC Fight Night: Hunt vs. Bigfoot (2013), UFC Fight Night: Bisping vs. Rockhold (2014), UFC Fight Night: Miocic vs. Hunt (2015), UFC 193: Rousey vs. Holm (2015)
Local MMA Promotions
Past
Amateur MMA Organizations
Some may have one or two pro fights but their focus is on AMMY.
Reality television
History
The influence traditional martial arts, Olympic wrestling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu have shaped MMA in Australia, along with the combat sports of Boxing and Kickboxing/Muay Thai.
Between 1905-1914, Australian's witnessed a prizefighting novelty called "All-in" which started with "jiu jitsu" demonstrations and developed into a no-holds barred fighting phenomenon. One of the most notable participants was Sam McVea, an African-American heavyweight boxing champion who would participate in a highly publicised "all-in" fight in Lismore, Australia, against 'Prof.' Stevenson in 1913.
However, the early hybrid didn't last and during most of the 20th century traditional martial arts schools and striking based gyms existed apart as with Amateur wrestling in Australia. Traditional martial arts in general are well attended and feature in the top ten organised sports for children, for both males and females, in Australia.
In the 1990s the three grappling disciplines of BJJ, amateur wrestling and Shoot wrestling provided the base for the modern sport. Mixed Martial Arts, in its recognized and regulated form, came to Australia via the Ultimate Fighting Championship's emergence in 1993, but was predated by Vale tudo in Brasil and Catch wrestling in Japan. MMA gained an underground following through video and bootleg copies of UFC events in the mid 1990s.
The explosion of BJJ globally, through Gracie BJJ schools, was assisted by the success of Royce Gracie at UFC 1-4, but BJJ was first introduced into Australia by John Will in 1989. Initially dedicated Australian practitioners travelled overseas to gain their belts and returned to start schools. Mixed Martial Arts training and gyms began to evolve.
The long history of boxing and the more recent variant of kickboxing/Muay Thai in Australia provided a large injection of fighters with a striking base. The sport of MMA has been described as the fastest growing sport in the twenty first century.
Sanctioning
States and territories of Australia there are different sanctioning bodies and rules. Sanctioning bodies include: Combat Sports Authority (NSW), Professional Boxing and Combat Sports Board (Victoria).