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Origins & connections

Martial arts timeline

From wrestling at the ancient Olympics to the UFC: the key moments in the history of martial arts and combat sports, year by year.

Ancient world

  1. 708 BC Wrestling (palē) enters the ancient Olympic Games in Greece.Wrestling
  2. 688 BC Boxing (pygmachia) is added to the ancient Olympics; fighters wrap their fists in leather straps.Boxing
  3. 648 BC Pankration — striking and grappling with almost no rules — joins the Olympics. It is often called the ancestor of MMA.PankrationMMA
  4. c. 500 BC Tradition dates The Art of War, the strategy book attributed to Sun Tzu, to this period in China.
  5. 495 The Shaolin Monastery is founded on Mount Song, in China. Its monks become legendary for kung fu.Shaolin Kung FuKung Fu

Middle Ages

  1. c. 1300 The oldest surviving European fencing manual, the "I.33" (sword and buckler), is written in Germany.HEMAOlympic Fencing
  2. c. 1409 Fiore dei Liberi writes "Fior di Battaglia" in Italy, covering wrestling, dagger, sword, spear and mounted combat.HEMA
  3. 1467 Hans Talhoffer produces one of his illustrated fight books, with sword, dagger and judicial duels.HEMA

Swords and manuals (1500–1799)

  1. 1536 Achille Marozzo publishes "Opera Nova" in Italy, a key book of the Bolognese sword school.Olympic FencingHEMA
  2. 1539 Fabian von Auerswald publishes a wrestling book in Germany, with 85 woodcut illustrations.Wrestling
  3. 1610 Ridolfo Capoferro publishes his rapier treatise in Siena, still studied by historical fencers.Olympic Fencing
  4. 1645 Miyamoto Musashi writes "The Book of Five Rings" shortly before his death.KenjutsuKendo
  5. 1674 Nicolaes Petter's wrestling book is published in Amsterdam, with engravings by Romeyn de Hooghe.Wrestling
  6. 1684 Organised professional sumo tournaments begin in Edo (Tokyo), the start of today's professional sumo.Sumo
  7. 1716 The "Hagakure", the samurai sayings of Yamamoto Tsunetomo, is completed.KendoIaido
  8. c. 1719 James Figg is hailed in London as the first champion of English prize-fighting.Boxing
  9. 1743 Jack Broughton writes the first set of boxing rules, banning hitting a man who is down.Boxing

The 19th century

  1. 1830s In Paris, Charles Lecour mixes French kicking (savate) with English boxing — the birth of boxe française.Savate
  2. 1838 The London Prize Ring Rules bring the square ring and the 30-second rest after a knockdown.Boxing
  3. c. 1850s Yang Luchan teaches tai chi in Beijing; his Yang style becomes the most practised in the world.Tai Chi
  4. 1867 The Queensberry Rules are published: gloves, three-minute rounds and the ten-second count.Boxing
  5. 1882 Jigoro Kano founds the Kodokan in Tokyo and creates judo from the old jujutsu schools.JudoJujutsu
  6. 1895 The Dai Nippon Butoku Kai is founded in Kyoto to preserve and standardise the Japanese martial arts.KendoJudo
  7. 1896 First modern Olympic Games in Athens: fencing and Greco-Roman wrestling are on the programme.Olympic FencingWrestling
  8. 1899 Edward Barton-Wright presents Bartitsu in London, mixing jujutsu, boxing, savate and stick fighting.Bartitsu

The 20th century

  1. 1904 Boxing and freestyle wrestling enter the Olympic Games in St. Louis.BoxingWrestling
  2. 1913 The International Fencing Federation (FIE) is founded in Paris.Olympic Fencing
  3. 1914 Judoka Mitsuyo Maeda arrives in Brazil; his teaching is the seed of Brazilian jiu-jitsu.Brazilian Jiu-JitsuJudo
  4. 1922 Gichin Funakoshi demonstrates Okinawan karate in Tokyo and starts teaching it in mainland Japan.Karate
  5. 1925 Carlos Gracie opens his first academy in Rio de Janeiro — the family that spreads Brazilian jiu-jitsu.Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
  6. 1930s Muay Thai moves to rings with gloves, timed rounds and weight classes, replacing rope-bound fists.Muay Thai
  7. 1936 Okinawan masters agree to write karate as "empty hand" (空手), the name used today.Karate
  8. 1937 Mestre Bimba's school in Salvador is officially registered — capoeira steps out of illegality.Capoeira
  9. 1938 Sambo is officially recognised as a sport in the Soviet Union.Sambo
  10. 1942 Morihei Ueshiba's art takes the name aikido, "the way of harmony with energy".Aikido
  11. 1948 Imi Lichtenfeld begins teaching Krav Maga to the new Israeli army.Krav Maga
  12. 1950 Ip Man starts teaching Wing Chun in Hong Kong; Bruce Lee will be one of his students.Wing Chun
  13. 1951 The International Judo Federation (IJF) is founded.Judo
  14. 1955 The name taekwondo, "the way of the foot and fist", is adopted in South Korea.Taekwondo
  15. 1964 Judo debuts at the Tokyo Olympics. The same year Mas Oyama founds Kyokushin, full-contact karate.JudoKyokushin
  16. 1967 Bruce Lee names his approach Jeet Kune Do, "the way of the intercepting fist".Jeet Kune Do
  17. 1973 "Enter the Dragon" opens weeks after Bruce Lee's death and starts a worldwide kung fu boom.Jeet Kune DoKung Fu
  18. 1990 Wushu becomes a medal sport at the Asian Games in Beijing.Wushu TaoluSanda
  19. 1993 UFC 1 is held in Denver; Royce Gracie wins with Brazilian jiu-jitsu and modern MMA takes off.MMABrazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Today

  1. 2000 Taekwondo becomes an official Olympic sport at the Sydney Games.Taekwondo
  2. 2010 UNESCO lists Naadam, Mongolia's festival of wrestling, archery and horse racing, as intangible heritage.Bökh
  3. 2014 The capoeira circle (roda) becomes UNESCO intangible cultural heritage.Capoeira
  4. 2019 UNESCO lists the traditions of pencak silat (Indonesia) as intangible heritage.Pencak Silat
  5. 2020 Taijiquan (tai chi) is inscribed on UNESCO's intangible heritage list.Tai Chi
  6. 2021 Karate makes its Olympic debut at the Tokyo 2020 Games, held in 2021.Karate