In the blue corner, standing six feet, four inches tall, weighing 250 pounds, a master of all disciplines: Mixed…Martial…Arts! In the red corner, standing five feet, zero inches tall, weighing 95 pounds, the king of fake, Professional…Wrestling! Round one, fight!

Doesn’t seem fair, does it? The sport of mixed martial arts, or MMA, has knocked out professional wrestling cold. Step aside, John Cena and Kurt Angle. Guys like Anderson Silva, Fedor Emelianenko, and Georges St. Pierre are taking over the fighting world. Even former World Wrestling Entertainment heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar jumped the wrestling ship in favor of the Ultimate Fighting Championship gravy train.

So what is MMA? Fighters competing in MMA combine multiple combat systems to equip themselves with the tools they need to win in the cage or the ring. Many fighters adopt the de facto mold of combining Muay Thai kickboxing, which emphasizes strikes of all limbs, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, which specializes in grappling techniques. However, some fighters also use karate, judo, wrestling, and freestyle fighting.

The name of the game is well-roundedness. Single disciplines don’t work very well in MMA, so practitioners train in both stand-up and groundwork. Once they step into the cage or ring, which depends on the organization, the fighters work to finish their challengers by knocking them out, submitting them, or winning in a decision made by the judges. The fights usually contain a few timed rounds where only a few rules like no eye-gouging, biting, or head-butting apply.

Although the popularity of MMA continues to rise, competitive fighting across disciplines is not a new phenomenon. Competitive fighting, from Greek and Roman wrestling competitions to matches pitting Japanese judo stars against foreign boxers in the 1800s, has been around for centuries. All of that culminated into a challenge by the Brazilian Gracies, the royal family of the modern MMA world.

On November 12, 1993, Royce Gracie stepped into the cage at UFC 1 and introduced his family’s submission style of battle that stunned fans of professional fighting. Instead of knocking the fighters out like boxers, Gracie evaded barrages of strikes to choke out, and thus submit, his opponents. His Brazilian jiu-jitsu training allowed him to defeat opponents weighing 50 pounds more than him to capture the first UFC title.

From there, the sport has evolved into a cultural phenomenon that has endured media criticism and competitions between different MMA organizations such as the UFC, World Extreme Cagefighting, and the Japanese promotion PRIDE (which the UFC bought in 2007). Now, MMA has staked its claim at the top of the sport-fighting world.

MMA has spilled into the mainstream, with star fighters such as former UFC lightweight champions Wanderlei Silva and Chuck Liddell creating their own signature lines of clothing. Sports fashion stores such as Champs line TapouT shirts, hoodies and shorts all along their walls. The reality show Ultimate Fighter on the Spike Network has seen great success showcasing rising stars of the MMA world.

According to a study conducted by Nancy Cheever, an assistant professor of communications at California State University-Dominguez Hills, “Mixed martial arts is an extremely popular combat sport, especially among young men, and appears to have eclipsed boxing and wrestling as the favored combat sport among this demographic.”

The one dimensional aspect of boxing and the gimmicky style of professional wrestling make MMA the one stop shop for sport fighting. Although MMA appeals more to men, some women enjoy the sport as well.

Hailee Didio, 22, has trained in Brazilian jiu-jitsu for two years and has taken a few MMA classes.  Said Didio, “As someone who does jiu-jitsu, it’s cool to see fighters using it in MMA.”

She added that MMA is more interesting than baseball and football.  “It’s the most entertaining sport on television,” Didio said. “Why would people watch pro wrestling, which is fake, when they can watch real fighting?”

Pay-per-view revenue supports the claim of MMA’s rise in popularity. According to a report by Ivan Trembow of MMAWeekly.com, the UFC raked in a record of more than $200 million in revenue in 2006, beating out boxing (boxing had its second best year in terms of pay-per-view revenue) and professional wrestling. The six WWE events preceding UFC 66 failed to take in as much money combined as the single MMA event. And the UFC is only one of MMA’s organizations.

In Cheever’s study of 2,700 MMA viewers, she found that “MMA fans are not drawn to the sport because of the violence and the blood; rather, they enjoy the skill and technique of the fighters and the competition.”

Kyle Conne, who has been training in Muay Thai and Brazilian jiu-jitsu on and off for four years, agrees with Cheever. Conne, 22, said he enjoys “the technical skill and athleticism of the fighters.”

He started watching MMA in 2005 when a friend of his showed him some PRIDE DVDs and UFC fights on Spike TV.

“I…enjoy fights which are slower-paced and build the tension over a couple of rounds before coming to an explosive ending,” Conne said. “Fans imagine themselves being the fighters they admire.”

Both Conne and Didio participate in the MMA forum on Sherdog.com, where fans and fighters discuss different matchups, techniques, and other aspects of fighting. Didio said the forum is a “good place to talk to people with similar interests.” Conne described the training forum as being “awesome.”

Now, MMA can look to expanding even more. Will it ever become an Olympic sport? Will it spread to college campuses and wipe the floor with wrestling? No one knows where the fight will end; just that MMA will come out swinging.