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It is a martial art and combat sport that focuses on grappling and especially ground fighting with the goal of gaining a dominant position and using joint-locks and chokeholds to force an opponent to submit. The art was based on early 20th century Kodokan Judo , which was itself then a recently-developed system which is founded in 1882, based on multiple schools of Japanese Jujutsu.

It promotes the principle that a smaller, weaker person using leverage and proper technique can successfully defend themselves against a bigger, stronger assailant. BJJ can be trained for self defense, sport grappling tournaments and mixed martial arts competition. Sparring (commonly referred to as ‘rolling’) and live drilling play a major role in training, and a premium is placed on performance, especially in competition.

The art began with Mitsuyo Maeda or Count Combat in English, a Japanese expert judoka and member of the Kodokan. Maeda was one of five of the Kodokan’s top groundwork experts that Judo’s founder Kano Jigoro sent overseas to spread his art to the world. Maeda left Japan in 1904 and visited a number of countries giving "jiu-do" demonstrations and accepting challenges from wrestlers, boxers, savate fighters and various other martial artists before eventually arriving in Brazil on November 14, 1914.

Judo was separated from jujutsu in its goals, philosophy, and training regime. Although there was great rivalry among jujutsu teachers, this was more than just Kano’s ambition to clearly individualize his art. To Kano, judo wasn’t solely a martial art: it was also a sport, a method for promoting physical fitness and building character in young people, and, ultimately, a way of life.

To a very large extent, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has also encompassed these philosophies. It is often claimed that Jiu-Jitsu is a development of traditional Japanese jujutsu, and that Maeda was a jujutsuka. However, Maeda never trained in jujutsu. He first trained in sumo as a teenager, and after the interest generated by stories about the success of judo at contests between judo and jujutsu that were occurring at the time, he changed from sumo to judo, becoming a student of Kano’s Kodokan judo. He was promoted to 7th dan in Kodokan judo the day before he died in 1941.

It is a Japanese martial art consisting of grappling and striking techniques. Jujutsu evolved among the samurai of feudal Japan as a method for dispatching an armed and armored opponent in situations where the use of weapons was impractical or forbidden. Due to the difficulty of dispatching an armored opponent with striking techniques, the most efficient methods for neutralizing an enemy took the form of pins, joint locks, and throws. These techniques were developed around the principle of using an attacker’s energy against him, rather than directly opposing it, and came to be known as jujutsu.

There are many variations of the art, which leads to a diversity of approaches. Jujutsu schools may utilize all forms of grappling techniques to some degree (i.e. throwing, trapping, joint locking, holds, gouging, biting, disengagements, striking, and kicking). In addition to jujutsu, many schools taught the use of weapons.Today, jujutsu is still practiced both as it was hundreds of years ago, but also in modified forms for sport practice. Derived sports forms include the Olympic sport and martial art of judo, which was developed from several traditional styles of jujutsu by Kano Jigoro in the late 19th century.

Jujutsu was first developed by Samurai. Fighting forms have existed in Japan for centuries. The first references to unarmed combat arts or systems is in the earliest purported historical records of Japan, the Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters) and the Nihon Shoki (Chronicles of Japan), which relate the mythological creation of the country and the establishment of the imperial family. Other glimpses can be found in the older records and pictures depicting sumai (or sumo) no sechie, a rite of the Imperial Court in Nara and Kyoto performed for purposes of divination and to help ensure a bountiful harvest.

It is a Korean martial art and combat sport. Taekwondo is the national sport of South Korea. It is also regarded as the world’s most popular martial art in terms of number of practitioners, and sparring, or kyeorugi, is an official Olympic sporting event. In Korean hanja, tae means to trample with the foot; kwon means fist; and do means way, taekwondo is loosely translated as to the foot and hand way.

Taekwondo’s popularity has resulted in the varied evolution of the martial art into several domains: as with many other arts, it combines combat techniques, self-defense, sport, exercise, meditation and philosophy.

There are two main styles of Taekwondo: World Taekwondo Federation (WTF), which is practised at the Olympics; and International Taekwondo Federation (ITF), which was founded by General Choi Hong Hi, the father of Taekwondo. Although there are great doctrinal and technical differences among the two taekwondo styles and organizations, the art in general emphasizes kicks thrown from a mobile stance, employing the leg’s greater reach and power (compared to the arm). Circular motions that generate power are of central importance. Also important to the generation of power is the movement of the hips while performing a punch or a block. Taekwondo training generally includes a system of blocks, punches, and open-handed strikes and may also include various take-downs or sweeps, throws, and joint locks.

The oldest Korean martial art was an amalgamation of unarmed combat styles developed by the three rival Korean kingdoms of Goguryeo, Silla and Baekje. Young men were trained in unarmed combat techniques to develop strength, speed, and survival skills. The most popular of these techniques was subak, with taekkyeon being the most popular of the segments of subak.

In spite of Korea’s rich history of ancient and traditional martial arts, Korean martial arts faded into obscurity during the Joseon Dynasty. Korean society became highly centralized under Korean Confucianism and martial arts were lowly regarded in a society whose ideals were epitomized by its scholar-kings. Formal practices of traditional martial arts such as subak and taekkyeon were reserved for sanctioned military uses. However folk practice of taekkyeon as a kicking game still persisted into the 19th century.

Literally it is also known as Thai Boxing and also known as The Art of the Eight Limbs is the Thai name for a form of hard martial art practiced in several Southeast Asian countries including Thailand. It is known as Pradal Serey in Cambodia, Tomoi in Malaysia, Muay Lao in Laos and as a similar style called Lethwei in Burma. The different styles of kickboxing in Southeast Asia are analogous to the different types of Kung Fu in China or Silat in the Malay peninsula. The Thai military uses a modified form of Muay Thai called Lerdrit.

Muay Thai has a long history in Thailand and is the country’s national sport. Traditional Muay Thai practiced today varies significantly from the ancient art Muay Boran and uses kicks and punches in a ring with gloves similar to those used in Western boxing. Muay Thai is referred to as "The Science of Eight Limbs", as the hands, shins, elbows, and knees are all used extensively in this art. A master practitioner of Muay Thai thus has the ability to execute strikes using eight "points of contact," as opposed to "two points" (fists) in Western boxing and "four points" (fists, feet) used in the primarily sport-oriented forms of martial arts.

Various forms of kickboxing have long been practiced throughout Southeast Asia. As with most countries in the region, Thai culture is based on that of India,Cambodia and China. These countries had a hand in the development of local martial arts. Indian boxing forms like Musti-yuddha are remarkably similar to Muay Thai and it is often said that every move in Muay Thai has a similar equivalent in Pradal Serey and Shaolin kung fu. Muay Thai’s origin in Thailand can be traced back to its ancestor Muay Boran ("ancient boxing"). This was the form of unarmed combat used by Siamese soldiers in conjunction with Krabi Krabong, the weapon-based style . Neighbouring countries such as Cambodia also had a major influence on the art. The precedence Muay Thai and Muay Boran give to the kicks may be indigenous to Thailand and the surrounding area, since Indian boxing as well as the use of Pradal Serey knee and elbow strike and southern Chinese styles use even low kicks sparingly. Another influence from Thailand’s weapon style can be seen in the pre-fight Wai Kru ritual which is based on the sabre dance of Krabi Krabong. Eventually Muay Boran was divided to:

• Muay Korat (Northeast) emphasized strength. A technique like "Throwing Buffalo Punch" was used. It could supposedly defeat a buffalo in one blow.

• Muay Lopburi (Center region) emphasized movements. Its strong points were straight and counter punches.

• Muay Chaiya (South) emphasized posture and defense, as well as elbows and knees.

• Muay Pra Nakorn (North) emphasized speed, particularly in kicking. Because of its faster speed, it was called as well "Ling Lom" (windy monkey or Loris).

There is a phrase about Muay Boran that states, "Punch Korat, Wit Lopburi, Posture Chaiya, Faster Thasao.

As well as continuing to function as a practical fighting technique for use in actual warfare, Muay Thai became a sport in which the opponents fought in front of spectators who went to watch for entertainment. This kind of muay contests gradually became an integral part of local festivals and celebrations, especially those held at temples. It was even used as entertainment to kings.

Eventually, the previously bare-fisted fighters started wearing lengths of rope wrapped around their hands and forearms. This type of match was called muay kaad chuek.

 
                                      It is a Brazilian blend of martial art, game, and dance originated in Brazil, from the regions known as Bahia, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and Sao Paulo. The art-form started up in Brazil during the 16th Century, an obvious result of the slave trading that took place in conjunction with the previously slaved native indians. Capoeira was created and developed by both the native slave Indians in Brazil and slaves brought from Africa. Participants form a roda (circle) and take turns playing instruments, singing, and sparring in pairs in the center of the circle. The game is marked by fluid acrobatic play, feints, and extensive use of groundwork, as well as sweeps, kicks, and headbutts. Less frequently-used techniques include elbow-strikes, slaps, punches, and body-throws.

 However, the origin of the Brazilian martial arts-dance form known as Capoeira is the subject of heated debate. There are those who adhere to the belief that Capoeira originated in Africa and was transported along with the slaves when they were brought to Brazil. Many provided evidence of a ritual fight/dance called N’golo from Southern Angola as proof that it did exist in martial form before it reached Brazil. There is also Danymé (also called Ladja), a combat dance on the Caribbean island of Martinique. As in the Brazilian form, there is a ring of spectators, and each contestant enters the circle, moving in a counterclockwise direction and dancing toward the drummers. This move, called Kouwi Lawon, or "Circular Run" in creole, is an exact parallel to the capoeira interlude called dá volta ao mundo, or "take a turn around the world." Once the Danmyé begins, the contestants’ movements are mirrored in the music. Some superb examples of danmyé drumming were recorded by Alan Lomax in the early 1960s. In Cuba, with its wealth of Kongo-inspiried music and dance, there was a mock-comabt dance called Mani. It was performed to the sound of yuka drums, the precursors of modern conga drums and rumba. A dancer (manisero) would stand in the middle of a ring of spectator-participants, and moving to the sound of the songs and drums, would attempt to knock down someone in the circle. Some of the manisero’s moves and kicks were comparable to those of Brazilian capoeira, including its basic leg-sweep (rasteira), which also occurs in samba duro, a dance found in Salvador. Exactly as in Martinique, the Cuban master drummer’s patterns would mirror the contestants’ actions, and supply accents to accompany certain blows. Some of these forms are known only to a handful of ethnographers and none has taken root the way capoeira has in Brazil. In addition to the ring form and basic movement patterns, what makes all these genres African-based is that the mock-combat is cooridnated with a percussive musical accompaniment. Many African dances are war dances and some say Capoeira can be referred to as a war dance too. Slaves in Brazil definitely added to the martial qualities of the game for Capoeira to become a weapon but the dance qualities were never disregarded or lost. Dancing is a tribute to the joy of life. It was also used as a disguise when officials came upon capoeiristas practicing their art.

             Capoeira primarily attacks with kicks, sweeps, and head strikes. Some schools teach punches  but they are not as common. A possible explanation for the primary use of feet is the common West African belief that hands are for creation and feet for destructio. Elbow strikes are commonly used in place of hand strikes. "Cabeçada" or Headbutts are common- as they are in many of the fighting arts of the African Diaspora. Knee strikes are sometimes seen. Capoeira also uses acrobatic and athletic movements to maneuver around the opponent. Cartwheels called "aú" (a very common acrobatic movement), handstands (bananeira), headspins (pião de cabeça), hand-spins (pião de mão), hand-springs (gato), sitting movements, turns, jumps, flips (mortal), and large dodges are all very common in capoeira though vary greatly depending on the form and rhythm. Fakes and feints are also an extremely important element in capoeira games and the setting of "traps" or illusory movements are very common.