Mixed martial arts is not a martial art

Abstract

This chapter discusses the nature and character of mixed martial arts (MMA), and its relation to other categories of martial activities. We begin with the conclusions of our earlier paper on martial categories, by introducing five different basic categories of martial activities that are identified according to their differing structural purposes, namely close combat, warrior arts, martial arts, martial paths, and martial sports. After some discussion of the nature and point of categorization, we discuss the relation of MMA to the three most relevant categories – martial arts, combat sports, and close combat. MMA is sometimes ‘hyped’ as if it were a kind of close combat, but it clearly is not, since MMA has more rules, is less deadly, and is more ‘safetified’. Neither is MMA a martial art, since martial arts emphasize not only the learning of more or less safetified martial techniques, but also the cultivation of self and moral virtues, which MMA does not. In asking the question answered in our title, we conclude that MMA is neither a kind of close combat nor a martial art, but a martial sport – specifically, a member of the subset: combat sports.