King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Karate vs Mixed martial arts

Karate and Mixed martial arts side by side, from the facts recorded for each art.

KarateMixed martial arts
Country of originRyukyu Kingdom—
Typemartial arts and Olympic sportcombat sport
Competition at the OlympicsYes – 10 Olympic events recorded—
Notable practitioners here8782071
Top countries of practitionersJapan, United States and FranceUnited States, Brazil and Japan
Equipment and weapons—glove, mouthguard, breeches and helmet
Weight classes—Yes

Karate

Karate (空手) (; Japanese pronunciation: [kaɾate] ; Okinawan pronunciation: [kaɾati]), also karate-do (空手道, Karate-dō), is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called te (手), "hand"; tī in Okinawan) under the influence of Chinese martial arts. While modern karate is primarily a striking art that uses punches and kicks, traditional karate training also employs throwing and joint locking techniques. A karate practitioner is called a karate-ka (空手家).

From the Wikipedia article Karate (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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Mixed martial arts

Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact combat sport based on striking and grappling, incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world.

From the Wikipedia article Mixed martial arts (CC BY-SA 4.0).

More about Mixed martial arts →

Facts from Wikidata (CC0): Q11419, Q114466. Practitioner counts are the people with a profile on this site. Data retrieved 2026-10-22.

Data: Wikidata (CC0 1.0); Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.

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