Mixed martial arts (MMA, if you want to save your breath) is exactly what the name promises: a full-contact combat sport that mixes striking and grappling, on the feet and on the ground. It’s also one of the most complete ways to train, because it asks you to punch, kick, clinch, wrestle, and grapple, and (good news!) most of the people who train this way never step into a cage.
MMA as we know it took shape in the 1990s. The first Ultimate Fighting Championship event, held in Denver in November 1993, put specialists from different styles in front of each other to settle the old argument about which martial art actually works. The early answer was that grapplers beat strikers who couldn’t stop a takedown. The lasting answer was that nobody gets by on one style for long. Within a decade the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts had added weight classes, timed rounds, gloves, and a long list of fouls, and the sport grew into the one you see on TV today. Fun local fact: New York was the last state to legalize professional MMA, in 2016.
What’s the Difference Between MMA, Muay Thai, and BJJ?
If you’ve watched a UFC card, you’ve already seen pieces of every art we teach. The difference is how much of the fight each one covers. Muay Thai and boxing are striking arts, so everything happens on the feet: punches, kicks, knees, elbows, and the clinch. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a grappling art, focused almost entirely on controlling and submitting someone on the ground. Wrestling owns the space in between, deciding whether the fight goes to the floor or stays standing. MMA allows all of it at once.
Everything underneath is shared. Balance, timing, distance, and the kind of conditioning you only get from working against a resisting partner carry straight across from one art to the next. Where MMA parts ways is in the transitions: the punch that hides a takedown, the scramble back to your feet, the clinch that can end in a knee or a trip. Those in-between moments are what make it its own sport.
That’s also why fighters don’t train MMA as one big blur. They build each skill with people who specialize in it, then practice stitching the pieces together. It’s why we teach striking and grappling under the same roof rather than treating them as separate gyms.
Is MMA the Same as UFC?
Not quite. MMA is the sport, and the UFC is the biggest company that promotes MMA fights, the same way the NBA is a league and basketball is the game. Plenty of other promotions run fights under the same or very similar rules.
How Does an MMA Fight Work?
Under the Unified Rules, a standard professional fight is three five-minute rounds, and championship fights go five. A fight can end by knockout, by submission (one fighter taps out), by a referee or doctor stoppage, or by the judges’ scorecards if it goes the distance. Fighters wear small open-fingered gloves, which is what lets them both strike and grab.
How Do You Start Training MMA?
Here’s the part that surprises people: you don’t start with MMA. You start with its ingredients. Most people pick one striking art and one grappling art, build a base in each, and add the rest as they go. A common first step is Muay Thai or boxing for your striking and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for the ground, with wrestling to connect the two.
And no, you never have to fight. Most people who train these arts are hobbyists who come for the skills and the workout, and stay for the people they train with.
Where to Train MMA in Brooklyn: Classes at DiamondHeart
You don’t need to be in peak shape or have any martial arts background to get started. DiamondHeart is a striking and grappling gym, so the pieces of MMA are all under one roof: Muay Thai, boxing, and Dutch kickboxing on the striking floor, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and wrestling on the mats. One membership covers every class, so you can try a bit of everything before you pick a focus.
New to all of it? Check our class schedule and pick a program to start with. We’re conveniently located between Bushwick and East Williamsburg, just minutes from the Morgan L train stop. No experience required, and we’ve got loaner gear if you need it.