Combat Sports & Martial Arts Study Guide: Striking vs Grappling and a 5,000-Year Timeline
Study combat sports and martial arts with 30 flashcards: judo, Muay Thai, BJJ, Krav Maga, UFC history, striking vs grappling, and the dated facts to update.
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Martial arts trivia is much easier to remember when you have a framework to hang it on. Combat Sports & Martial Arts (deck code NC5306, 30 cards) covers 5,000 years, from Mesopotamian wrestling to the UFC. This guide gives you two ways to organize it: by technique and by date.
Study this deck: Combat Sports & Martial Arts
1 / 10What is the oldest combat sport, with depictions dating to c. 3000 BC?
Tap the card for the answer · swipe right if you knew it, left if not
Sample cards
| Front | Back |
|---|---|
| Oldest combat sport, depicted c. 3000 BC? | Wrestling (Mesopotamian and Egyptian art) |
| Where does "martial arts" come from? | Latin "arts of Mars", used since the 1550s |
| Two broad categories of unarmed techniques? | Striking and grappling |
| Who founded judo in 1882? | Kano Jigoro (Kodokan) |
| Three combat sports of the Ancient Olympics? | Boxing (pygme), wrestling (pale), pankration |
| Hybrid style Barton-Wright brought to Europe in the 1890s? | Bartitsu |
| Korean art on UNESCO's list in 2011? | Taekkyon |
| Bruce Lee's teacher? | Ip Man, a Wing Chun master |
| Endurance test in Kyokushin with 100 rounds? | 100-man kumite |
Other names in the deck: Muay Boran, Muay Thai, Shaolinquan, Bodhidharma, Kalaripayattu, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, aikido, Krav Maga, MCMAP, kenjutsu, kendo, Eskrima/Arnis/Kali, Pahlevani and zourkhaneh, Taekwondo, Capoeira, Savate, Sumo, budo, the UFC (1993), The Karate Kid (1984), and McDojos.
Two ways to sort the deck
1. Strike or grapple. Cards 4-6 give you the sorting rule. Use it on every other style in the deck: Muay Thai, Karate, Taekwondo, Savate, Capoeira and boxing are striking arts. Judo, BJJ, Sumo, Aikido and wrestling are grappling arts. Bartitsu, Krav Maga, MCMAP and pankration mix both. When a card names a style, say which group it belongs to before you flip the card. It takes a second, and it links each fact to the rest of the deck.
2. A timeline in five stops. Put the dates in order: c. 3000 BC wrestling → 5th century Shaolin → 1882 Kodokan judo → 1920s Muay Thai rules → 1956 first World Judo Championships → 1964 Olympic judo (Tokyo) → 1993 UFC 1, won by Royce Gracie with BJJ. Saying the timeline out loud catches mix-ups between the 1956 and 1964 cards.
Cards to update
- Taekwondo, card 29: "70 million in 190 countries" is a 2009 figure. World Taekwondo now has more than 210 member nations, and the sport has been in the Olympics since Sydney 2000. Put the year on the back.
- Krav Maga, card 18: Imi Lichtenfeld started building the system in 1930s Bratislava. The Israeli army adopted it after 1948, so "1950s" only describes when the military used it.
- Shaolin, card 9: the Bodhidharma story is a legend, not a recorded fact. Write "traditionally" on the back.
- Card 20 gives the answer away ("kenjutsu" is in the question). Rewrite it as "Modern sport form of Japanese swordsmanship?" → Kendo.
- Judo, card 23: 1964 was men only. Women's judo joined the Olympics in 1992.
Related decks
For the Olympic side of these sports, see our Olympic history study guide.
Search for NC5306 in the Flip It library to start reviewing.
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