🥋Glossary

Terms

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Armbar

A joint lock that traps an opponent's arm between the legs and hyperextends the elbow by bridging the hips; can be applied from guard, mount or side control, and was Ronda Rousey's signature finishing technique.

Back control

A position in which one fighter is attached to an opponent's back with both legs hooked around the waist; considered the top of the grappling hierarchy since the opponent can neither see nor easily defend, and it's the launching point for the rear-naked choke.

Brazilian jiu-jitsu

A ground-based grappling art developed in Brazil from judo taught by Mitsuyo Maeda, refined by the Gracie family around using leverage and position to overcome size differences; Royce Gracie's demonstration of it at UFC 1 in 1993 is considered MMA's founding moment.

Calf kick

A kick delivered with the shin to the nerve-dense outer calf just below the knee, which surged in popularity from the late 2010s; harder to check than a thigh kick, and a few landed kicks can buckle an opponent's lead leg.

Catchweight

A bout contested at a weight agreed between both sides rather than an official division limit, sometimes used to salvage a fight after one fighter misses weight; a fighter who misses weight forfeits part of their purse and cannot win a title even with a win.

Clinch

Close-range grappling while both fighters remain standing, where striking and grappling meet. The Muay Thai plum clinch controls the neck to set up knees and elbows, while wrestling-style clinch fighting uses underhooks to set up takedowns.

Cutman

A specialist who manages a fighter's cuts and swelling during the one-minute rest between rounds, using adrenaline-soaked swabs to stop bleeding and a chilled metal enswell to reduce swelling around the eyes.

Double-leg takedown

A classic takedown in which a fighter lowers their level and wraps both arms around an opponent's legs to drive or lift them to the mat; the most commonly used takedown in MMA, though attempting it without a striking setup usually gets stuffed by a sprawl.

Grappling

The umbrella term for all non-striking techniques involving holding, throwing, choking and joint-locking, encompassing wrestling, judo, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and sambo; usually the area where pure strikers break down fastest.

Ground and pound

The tactic of taking an opponent down and then striking with punches and elbows from a dominant position; pioneered by Mark Coleman, its purpose is not only damage but forcing an opponent to expose their back and open the door to a submission.

Guard

A position where a fighter lying on their back wraps both legs around the opponent's waist or torso for control; allows both offense and defense, giving rise to armbars, triangle chokes and sweeps.

Guillotine choke

A choke applied by trapping the opponent's head and neck under the armpit from the front; most often caught as a counter on an opponent who lowers their head to shoot for a takedown, and tightened by arching the torso rather than by arm strength.

Half guard

An intermediate position where the bottom fighter has both legs wrapped around only one of the opponent's legs, sitting between full guard and side control; the top fighter tries to free the trapped leg to advance to mount.

Heel hook

A leg lock that twists the ankle and knee by rotating the heel, considered one of grappling's most dangerous submissions because pain signals often arrive only after ligament damage has occurred; most beginner curricula delay teaching it for a year or more.

Kimura

A joint lock that figure-fours an opponent's wrist and arm and twists the shoulder inward, named after judoka Masahiko Kimura, who used it to break Helio Gracie's arm in 1951; can be applied from side control, half guard or closed guard.

Knockout (KO)

A win by rendering the opponent unconscious through strikes; distinct from a technical knockout, in which the fight is stopped by the referee, corner or ringside physician without the opponent losing consciousness.

Low kick

A kick delivered with the shin to the outside or inside of an opponent's thigh; a war-of-attrition weapon that accumulates damage round by round to wreck an opponent's footwork and punching power, defended by raising the shin to check it.

Mount

A top position in which one fighter sits astride the opponent's chest with both knees pinning the torso, considered the most dominant striking position; escaping by turning away typically exposes the back and opens the door to a rear-naked choke.

No contest

A result in which neither fighter is declared the winner, used when a bout can't continue due to an accidental eye poke or illegal strike, or when a post-fight drug test comes back positive; recorded as NC and usually followed by a rematch.

Octagon

The eight-sided cage used by the UFC, roughly 30 feet in diameter; a trademarked term, so other promotions simply call their enclosure a cage or ring. Fighters use the fence to cut off an opponent's escape route or finish a takedown against it.

Open-finger gloves

MMA-specific gloves that pad the back of the hand with roughly 4-6 ounces of foam while leaving the fingers open for grappling; much thinner than boxing gloves, one reason knockouts occur more often in MMA.

Pound-for-pound

An informal ranking that compares fighters' skill on a hypothetical equal footing, ignoring weight differences; not an official title but a media and promotion consensus, and the most widely used measure of a fighter's overall standing.

Rear-naked choke

A choke applied from back control, wrapping an arm around the opponent's neck to compress the carotid arteries; the highest-percentage submission in MMA, and because the opponent can't see the attack, escape is extremely difficult once it's deep.

Scramble

A fast, chaotic grappling exchange in which neither fighter has secured a dominant position and both are fighting to reverse the other; positions can flip several times in a few seconds, decided more by instinct and conditioning than raw strength.

Side control

A top position achieved by passing an opponent's legs and pinning their chest from the side; the position reached immediately after passing guard, from which a fighter can advance to mount or attack with knee-on-belly or kimuras.

Significant strikes

A statistic that counts all strikes landed at distance plus power strikes landed at close range, excluding light strikes thrown in the clinch or on the ground; the number most often shown on broadcasts, though judges actually score damage rather than raw count.

Single-leg takedown

A takedown in which a fighter grabs and lifts or trips one of the opponent's legs; a shorter entry distance than a double-leg makes it lower-risk, but it takes longer to finish and holding it too long burns significant energy.

Southpaw

A left-handed stance in which a fighter leads with the right foot and keeps the left hand back; because most fighters use the standard orthodox stance, they have less experience facing southpaws, one reason southpaws are overrepresented among champions.

Sparring

Live practice fighting under conditions similar to competition, ranging from light technical sparring to hard sparring just before a fight. Beginners are generally advised to avoid head-contact striking sparring for the first 3-6 months.

Split decision

A result in which two of three judges score the fight for one fighter and the third scores it for the opponent, indicating a genuinely close contest. If all three agree it's a unanimous decision; if two agree and the third scores a draw, it's a majority decision.

Sprawl

The primary takedown defense, in which a fighter throws their hips back and down over an incoming opponent's shoulders, flattening them out while kicking both legs back out of reach. A style built around this defense is called sprawl-and-brawl.

Submission

A win achieved by forcing an opponent to surrender via a choke or joint lock, whether by tapping, verbally stating it, or losing consciousness from a choke; one of the sport's three official ways to win alongside knockout and decision.

Takedown

Any technique that brings a standing opponent to the ground, including leg takedowns, clinch trips and throws, and driving an opponent down against the cage; considered one of MMA's most valuable base skills and weighted heavily in judges' scoring.

Tap out

The signal of surrender, given by tapping an opponent's body or the mat two or three times with a hand or foot, which immediately ends a fight or training round. Tapping late in the gym is the fast track to injury, not a sign of toughness.

Technical knockout (TKO)

A win declared when a fighter, while still conscious, is judged unable to intelligently defend themselves, and the fight is stopped by the referee, ringside physician, or the fighter's own corner throwing in the towel.

Triangle choke

A choke in which the legs are configured into a figure-four around the opponent's neck and one arm, so the opponent's own shoulder presses into their carotid artery; usually applied from the bottom in guard when an opponent postures up with only one arm inside.

Underhook

A clinch grip in which one fighter's arm is threaded under the opponent's armpit to control the back or shoulder; the fighter with the underhook can attempt a takedown, drive the opponent to the cage, or stand back up. The opposite grip is called an overhook.

Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts

The standard MMA rule set adopted by the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board in 2000 and later followed across most of North America and by most international promotions, defining weight classes, round length, glove specifications and the 10-point scoring system.

Weigh-in

The official pre-fight body-weight check confirming a fighter is within their division's limit; usually held the morning before a professional bout. Missing weight typically forfeits 20-30% of the purse to the opponent and converts the bout to a catchweight fight.

Weight class

Divisions based on maximum body weight designed to ensure fair matchups; the UFC runs eight men's divisions from flyweight (125 lb) to heavyweight (265 lb) and four women's divisions from strawweight (115 lb) to featherweight (145 lb).

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