UFC stands for Ultimate Fighting Championship, one american mixed martial arts organization, also known as MMA (Mixed Martial Arts).
The fights in this championship involve a mixture of styles, such as Jiu Jitsu, Boxing, Wrestling, Muay Thay, Karate and others.
One of the peculiarities of the UFC championships is the ring with eight sides (octagon), closed by a grid, where the fighters fight in 3 rounds of 5 minutes. In title fights it is 5 rounds of 5 minutes.
The UFC was the first renowned Vale-Tudo event, held in the United States in 1993 and inspired by the Brazilian Vale-Tudo.
The UFC's initial goal was to discover the best fighter in the world, regardless of the martial arts style he practiced.
For allowing any maneuver between opponents (the only prohibitions were biting and putting your fingers in the opponent's eyes), the UFC became known as "no holds barred fighting" ("fights without restrictions", in the Portuguese translation), in other words, anything went.
The UFC became a success in
pay-per-view (pay-per-view television system), but the sport also caught the attention of authorities and these events were banned in some US states.Due to political pressures and lack of channel audiences, the UFC defined more rules for the fights, began to be controlled by athletic commissions and became popular.
See also the meaning of MMA.