A combat sport, or fighting sport, is a competitive contact sport that usually involves one-on-one combat. In many combat sports, a contestant wins by scoring more points than the opponent or by disabling the opponent.

Short History

Tradition styles of wrestling exist in most cultures; wrestling can be considered a cultural universal. Boxing contests date back to ancient Sumer in the 3rd millennium BCE and ancient Egypt circa 1350 BCE. The ancient Olympic Games included several combat-related sports: armored foot races, boxing (pygmachia – πυγμαχία), wrestling (palē – πάλη), and pankration.

In ancient China, combat sport appeared in the form of lei tai. It was a no-holds barred combat sport that combined boxing and wrestling. There is evidence of similar combat sports in ancient Egypt, India and Japan.

Through the Middle ages and Renaissance, the tournament was popular. Tournaments were competitions that featured several mock combat events, with jousting as a main event. While the tournament was popular among aristocrats, combat 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.

Amateur boxing has been part of the modern Olympic Games since their introduction in 1904. Professional boxing became popular in the United States in the 1920s.

Another following combat sports are:

· BJJ - The creation of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is attributed to the Gracie family of Brazil in 1925 after Asian martial arts were introduced to Brazil.

· Muay Thai - modern style was developed in the 1920s to 1930s. Sambo was introduced in the Soviet Union.

· Taekwondo also emerged after the Japanese occupation of Korea and became an Olympic sport in 2000.

· Sanshou as part of modern wushu 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.

Combat sports can be devided into following groups:

· Striking sports - where hands and legs are used for striking and kicking in stand-up position. It is ued e.g. in Boxing, Kickboxing, Savate, Muay-thai, Karate, Taekwondo, etc.

· Grappling sports - where fighters use stand-up position for taking the opponent down. The fight continues on the ground and many technigues, such as holds, joint-locks and chokes, are used in e.g. Greco-Roman Wrestling, Freestyle Wrestling, Beach Wrestling, Judo, Sumo, Brazilian Jiujitsu, etc.

· Hybrid Sports - where combinations of both, stand-up fighting and ground-fighting are used in e.g. MMA, Combat Sambo, Vale Tudo, Sanda, Moderrn Wushu, Shoot-boxing, etc.

· Armed sports - where weapons are used e.g. in Fencing, Kendo,  Historical medieval battles, Singlestick, Arnis - filipino stick fighting, etc.

Olympic games hosted following combat sports:

· Fencing (since 1896)

· Amateur Boxing (since 1904)

· Greco-Roman Wrestling (since 1908)

· Freestyle Wrestling (since 1920)

· Judo (since 1964)

· Taekwondo (since 2000)

· Karate (at 2020)