Pennsylvania has joined the growing number of states to allow Mixed Martial Arts, or MMA events now that the State Athletic Commission has approved final regulations for the sport to be legal as of February 27, 2009. In the last decade, in the USA as well as around the globe, Mixed Martial Arts full contact NHB (no holds barred) fighting has created a frenzy of interest among fans and athletes who want training in MMA. Mixed Martial Arts has swept the globe like a wave and has altered the face of martial arts training forever.

Depending on which historical perspective is used, it has taken Mixed Martial Arts more than 2,500 years to reach Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Though its origins are vague, the sport is as old as fighting itself. MMA has been around for quite some time and has made its way thru history. Historians say the first organized form of MMA came in the ancient Olympics held by the Greeks. An event called pankration, meaning "all powers," was held and combined Hellenistic wrestling and boxing. The matches could last for hours only ending when a warrior tapped out, was knocked out or killed. Various forms of combat sports featuring mixed styles have existed in the centuries since. The sport essentially entered American athletic culture in 1993 with the founding of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. UFC President Dana White calls MMA "the sport for a new generation" and Mixed Martial Arts cage fighting is quickly becoming a mainstream international sport. Pay per view profits have become phenomenal and MMA has been frequently outdrawing NBA and Major League Baseball games. There is an international appeal for the sport and a lot of people, networks, cable and sponsors are getting involved.

In MMA, fighters have to be skilled in a wide array of combat disciplines to be successful as they are pitted against each other inside a chain-link fenced (cage) arena. The emphasis of the fighter is on learning realist unarmed combat techniques, which can also safely be used in the context of sporting competition. Fighters combine moves from combat disciplines of Jujitsu, Judo, Wrestling, Muay Thai Kickboxing, Boxing, and Karate. MMA requires the acquisition of all the skills and the same type of physical fitness associated with wrestling, Jujitsu, Boxing, and Muay Thai. Consequently, people who compete in MMA are among the fittest and strongest athletes that you are likely to find. They can use techniques with feet, shins, elbows, knees and punches to beat their opponents. Competitors wear light, fingerless gloves that protect the knuckles. Fighters do not wear shoes and must wear a mouthpiece and protective cup. Matches are won by knockouts, submission tap out, choke submission tap out, referee stoppage and judges score card decisions. In MMA competition there is absolute respect for a person's right to submit and a submission hold will be released as soon as a tap is felt or verbal submission is heard. Knockouts do occur but there is less sustained head striking than in boxing because there are more offensive and defensive options available than in boxing. In MMA pro ranks a competitor is permitted to strike his competitor on the ground. While this "ground and pound" may appear to be brutal, a good referee will stop the fight as soon as the person underneath is unable to defend himself. Although many people think the cage adds a sense of brutality, in actuality the cage is for the fighter's safety. It prevents them from falling out of the ring.

There are allegations that Mixed Martial Arts fighters are a bunch of thugs and criminals and the fans are blood thirsty ghouls. The fact is sixty percent of all mixed martial artists have a college degree. What other sport can say that? They are normal guys, athletes who choose to spend their free time training and competing in a combat sport. The fans are from every social class in our society from celebrities, politicians, business-professionals, military and middle class people. There are hundreds of thousands of men 18-54 who are MMA fans and 78% of fans nationally make more than $100,000 yearly. Just recently polls have shown 40% of the audience at Mixed Martial Arts events are female ages 18-34. Love it or hate it, Mixed Martial Arts will be around for a long time to come.