Combat Sports

The World Armwrestling Federation (WAF) is the international governing body for amateur armwrestling, recognized by the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF/Sport Accord). WAF organizes the annual World Armwrestling Championships and continental qualifiers across Europe, ...

The Canadian Armwrestling Federation (CAWF) is the national governing body for amateur armwrestling in Canada and the recognized WAF national affiliate. CAWF organizes the annual Canadian National Armwrestling Championships and a network of provincial qualifiers (Ontario Armwrestling Association,...

Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) is the largest and most established state-sanctioned bare-knuckle boxing promotion in the world. Founded in 2018 by David Feldman, BKFC held its first event in Wyoming under a state-sanctioned regulatory framework — the first legal bare-knuckle promotion ...

Beach Sambo is the outdoor sand-court variant of Sport Sambo developed and governed by FIAS. Designed to extend Sambo's competitive footprint into beach-sport and multi-sport festival programming (e.g., ANOC World Beach Games), Beach Sambo adapts the Sport Sambo ruleset for sand-surface competiti...

The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of the four major world championship sanctioning bodies in professional boxing, alongside the WBA, WBC, and WBO. The IBF was founded in 1983 by Robert W. "Bob" Lee, who served as its inaugural president. Lee established the organization in response...

The World Boxing Association (WBA) is one of the four major world championship sanctioning bodies in professional boxing, alongside the WBC, IBF, and WBO. Founded in 1921 as the National Boxing Association (NBA) in the United States, it was reorganized and renamed the World Boxing Association in ...

The World Boxing Council (WBC) is one of the four major organizations that sanction professional boxing bouts worldwide. Founded in 1963 in Mexico City, the WBC has been at the forefront of establishing comprehensive rules and regulations to govern championship boxing, protect the welfare of figh...

The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is one of the four major sanctioning bodies in professional boxing, alongside the WBA, WBC, and IBF. Founded on October 14, 1988, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the WBO is the youngest of the "Big Four" organizations. It was established by a group of businessmen and...

The International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) is the most widely recognized governing body for sport Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ), administering the World Championships ("Mundials"), Pan-American Championships, European Championships, and the IBJJF World Pro circuit. IBJJF rules govern bo...

Calcio Storico Fiorentino ("Historic Florentine Football") is a 16th-century combat-football tradition unique to the city of Florence, Italy. The sport pre-dates modern association football and survives today as an annual June tournament organized by the Comune di Firenze (Municipality of Florenc...

CarJitsu is a novelty submission-grappling format pioneered by promoter Vik Mikheev under the Pro League Network (PLN) brand. The sport's defining innovation: matches take place inside the cabin of a stationary 4-door sedan, with competitors changing seat positions between rounds. CarJitsu's conf...

Combat Sambo is the strikes-permitted variant of Sambo, governed internationally by FIAS. Originally developed by the Soviet armed forces, Combat Sambo combines Sport Sambo's throws + groundwork foundation with closed-fist punches, head kicks, elbow + knee strikes, and chokes — making it effectiv...

Fencing is one of only five sports contested at every modern Olympic Games since their inception in Athens 1896. The Fédération Internationale d'Escrime (FIE), founded in Paris on November 29, 1913, serves as the global governing body. The FIE administers the sport under its comprehensive Rules f...

NCAA Fencing is the second of two NCAA-sanctioned co-educational team sports (alongside Rifle). Contested in the winter semester at NCAA Division I institutions; ~25 NCAA D1 programs as of 2026. NCAA Fencing uses the USA Fencing + FIE (International Fencing Federation) technical baseline with NCA...

United World Wrestling (UWW) is the global governing body for amateur wrestling (Olympic Freestyle + Greco-Roman) — and since 2014, formal home of a recognized Grappling discipline. UWW Grappling has two formats: Grappling Gi (with kimono, similar to BJJ) and Grappling (no-gi). UWW Grappling matt...

Abu Dhabi Jiu-Jitsu Pro (AJP) is the professional jiu-jitsu circuit operated by the UAE Jiu-Jitsu Federation (UAEJJF). AJP rose to prominence by operating the Abu Dhabi World Professional Championship (the highest-prize-purse BJJ tournament in the world) and an extensive Grand Slam circuit with s...

Ne-Waza ("ground-technique") is JJIF's groundwork-only competition discipline, structurally similar to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu but governed under the IOC-recognized Ju-Jitsu International Federation. JJIF Ne-Waza covers both gi and no-gi categories with a points-based scoring system and submissions a...

The Ju-Jitsu International Federation (JJIF) is the IOC-recognized international governing body for traditional Japanese Ju-Jitsu (distinct from Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu). JJIF administers three competitive disciplines: Fighting, Ne-Waza (groundwork), and Duo (paired forms). The Fighting discipline is...

Judo was founded in 1882 by Professor Jigoro Kano in Tokyo, Japan. Drawing from the traditional Japanese martial art of jujutsu, Kano distilled its most effective techniques into a refined system built on two core principles: Seiryoku Zen'yo (maximum efficiency with minimum effort) and Jita Kyoei...

Karate Combat is a US-based professional stand-up karate promotion founded in 2018. Unlike Olympic-style WKF Karate (which uses point-stop scoring with light contact), Karate Combat is full-contact, continuous-action — closer in pacing to MMA/kickboxing — but restricted to stand-up striking only ...

Lucha Libre is the Mexican tradition of professional wrestling, distinguished from American pro wrestling by its emphasis on masks (máscaras), high-flying acrobatic maneuvers (vuelos), submission holds (llaves), and a strong narrative tradition of técnicos (heroes) versus rudos (villains). Major ...

The Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) provide a comprehensive and consistent regulatory framework governing professional MMA competition across the jurisdictions of various athletic commissions and regulatory bodies. The framework was proposed and agreed upon by athletic commissions throu...

Muay Thai under ONE Championship is the modernized professional ruleset operated by the Singapore-based ONE FC promotion (founded by Chatri Sityodtong in 2011). ONE's Muay Thai division uses 4-ounce MMA-style open-fingered gloves (lighter than traditional 8-ounce boxing gloves used in Thailand), ...

Para Armwrestling is the adaptive armwrestling discipline governed by the WAF Para Sport Commission. Para Armwrestling adapts the WAF individual ruleset to accommodate athletes with physical disabilities — most commonly lower-limb impairments, where seated competition is the norm. Classifications...

Para Jiu-Jitsu under AJP (UAEJJF) adapts professional jiu-jitsu competition for athletes with physical, visual, or cognitive disabilities. Classifications include visually impaired, deaf/hard-of-hearing, intellectually impaired (with classifications), wheelchair users, and ambulatory amputees. AJ...

Pillow Fight Championship (PFC) is a professional combat-sports promotion that turns the childhood game of pillow-fighting into a regulated, broadcasted, prize-purse competition. Founded in 2022, PFC fights feature weighted regulation pillows (~2 lb / 1 kg), 3 rounds × 90 seconds, and full-contac...

Power Slap is a regulated combat sport in which two unarmed participants take alternating turns delivering open-handed slaps to each other's face. The sport is promoted by Schiaffo LLC and sanctioned by state athletic commissions. Power Slap events are held under a comprehensive set of rules desi...

Sambo is a Russian/Soviet-developed martial art and combat sport ("Sambo" = "SAMozashchita Bez Oruzhiya" — "self-defense without weapons"), combining judo-style throws with groundwork and joint-locks. FIAS (International Sambo Federation) is the IOC-recognized international governing body since 2...

The Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) Submission Wrestling World Championship is the most prestigious no-gi submission grappling event in the world. Founded in 1998 by Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the UAE royal family to identify the world's best grappler regardless of style (BJJ, wrestling, ...

ONE Championship's Submission Grappling division is a professional grappling super-fight format launched in 2021 to provide elite BJJ + grappling competitors with sustained pay scale, regular event coverage, and a globally televised platform alongside ONE's MMA + Muay Thai + Kickboxing divisions....

Professional Sumo (大相撲, ōzumō) is Japan's national sport, governed by the Nihon Sumo Kyokai (Japan Sumo Association, founded 1925) as the sole professional sumo authority worldwide. Sumo wrestlers (rikishi) compete in six annual 15-day tournaments (basho): January (Tokyo), March (Osaka), May (Tok...

Taekwondo is a Korean martial art that emerged in the mid-20th century, drawing on indigenous Korean kicking traditions and various martial arts influences. The name translates roughly as "the way of the foot and fist" — tae (foot), kwon (fist), do (way or discipline). General Choi Hong-hi is cre...

The International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF) was founded on March 22, 1966, by General Choi Hong-hi, a South Korean military officer widely regarded as the principal architect of Taekwon-Do as a systematized martial art. General Choi developed the art over decades, drawing on traditional Korean ...

The Team Armwrestling World Federation (TAWF) governs the team format of international armwrestling, in which entire national teams compete head-to-head across multiple weight classes for aggregated team scoring rather than individual medals. TAWF builds on WAF technical rules but applies a relay...

Wrestling is one of the oldest competitive disciplines in human history, depicted in cave drawings dating back 15,000 years and contested at the ancient Olympic Games from 708 BC. It has appeared at every modern Olympic Games since 1896, making it one of the foundational sports of the Olympic pro...

NCAA Folkstyle Wrestling, also known as Collegiate Wrestling, is the dominant style of competitive wrestling practiced in the United States at the high school, collegiate, and club levels. It is governed at the collegiate level by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), which publish...

NCAA Women's Wrestling is an NCAA-emerging sport rapidly growing across NCAA Division I, II, and III institutions in the winter semester. As of 2026, NCAA Women's Wrestling has secured emerging-sport status and the National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Championship was established. NCAA Women's W...