The Future of MMA: Why the Sport Is About to Enter a New Era in Fighters

Mixed martial arts has a well-documented, evolutionary history of its fighters. In an almost Darwinian fashion, the species of the MMA athlete has made a drastic transformation in a relatively short amount of time.

Gone are the days of the specialized fighter, trained in a single discipline, attempting to test his or her style against other martial arts. The dawn of the sport was pioneered by fighters such as Royce and the Gracie family, using just Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to dominate the early years. But as MMA grew, their single style focus became obsolete as "hybrid" fighters started to take over.

Today, many fighters still hail from a single base, usually wrestling or a kickboxing background, but they have added the skills from the other arts as they furthered their training. Great ground guys have added deadly striking to their arsenal and vice versa, creating a community of well-rounded fighters.

But a new age of fighters is coming, one where an athlete is a true mixed martial artist. Rather than starting out in just one field, the sport is starting to see the rise of fighters who start cross training at an early age.

While the TapouT commercial featuring the two little kids training may incite excitement for the future, MMA is already beginning to see similarly brought up phenoms.

A perfect example of this is 22-year-old UFC welterweight Rory MacDonald.

Competing in his first MMA match at just 16, it's amazing that this hot prospect is actually quite a veteran of the sport, already posting a 4-1 record in the UFC. MacDonald started training in all the necessary disciplines in his youth, picking up grappling and striking skills at the same time, which is responsible for his meteoric rise.

Add in world class training partners from the famed TriStar Gym, and it is no wonder why MacDonald is dominating the competition.

By starting cross training early on, fighters become comfortable in all the aspects of the game. Those that start with a single base and move on to the other arts obviously have and will continue to reach great heights in the sport, but they run the danger of just relying on their base when things get tough in the cage.

As the sport continues to grow, expect to see more of these young, well-rounded fighters who will take MMA to the next level.

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