MMA — mixed martial arts

In mixed martial arts (MMA) athletes fight both standing — with punches, kicks, knees and elbows — and on the ground with wrestling, chokes and joint locks. Bouts are usually held in an eight-sided "Octagon" or a ring.

History

A fight allowing almost every strike and hold — pankration — entered the ancient Olympic Games in 648 BC. Modern MMA was born with the first UFC event in the USA in 1993; the Unified Rules adopted in the early 2000s, with weight classes, rounds and safety rules, turned it into a full sport.

Major organisations

The UFC (USA, the world's largest MMA league), the PFL (which absorbed Bellator in 2023), Asia's ONE Championship and, for amateurs, the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF). Kazakhstan also has domestic leagues such as Naiza.

MMA in the Turkic world

The strong wrestling traditions of the Turkic peoples are a great advantage in MMA. Valentina Shevchenko, who grew up in Kyrgyzstan, reigned as UFC flyweight champion for years and regained the title in 2024. Kazakhstan's Shavkat Rakhmonov is one of the UFC's strongest welterweights.

Many fighters from Azerbaijan, Türkiye, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan compete in the UFC, PFL and ONE, and Baku, Almaty and Tashkent host major MMA events.

Famous Turkic fighters

Valentina Shevchenko, Shavkat Rakhmonov, Makhmud Muradov and Zhalgas Zhumagulov.