Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) originated as hand to hand combat originally known as Pankration, which was performed as sport in ancient Greece for the Olympics. The rules were limited, only restricting biting and eye gouging. Over the years, the sport has evolved to the modern-day MMA competitions made popular by cage fighting competitions like UFC. MMA is a full contact combat sport where 2 competitors fight in a cage or a ring using grappling, submissions and various types of striking. The goal is to either knockout their opponent or get them to submit via tap out. Fights can take place standing, in the clinch and can continue on the ground.
As an example, the UFC uses 3 five-minute rounds and 5 five-minute rounds for title fights, each with 1-minute rest periods in between. The typical blend of martial arts used in modern day UFC includes boxing, Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and wrestling. This combination provides the fighters with skills to handle strikes, takedowns and submission attempts from all ranges, whether outside striking range, intermediate range in the clinch and from the ground.