Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) in 700: Gloves, attire and equipment

MMA became genuinely mainstream and minted crossover celebrities. The Fox deal put fights on free television, and a new generation of stars supplied narrative firepower. Ronda Rousey headlined UFC 157 in 2013 as the first female champion and became one of the most famous athletes in America, proving women could sell out arenas. Conor McGregor arrived as a once-in-a-generation showman, knocking out José Aldo in thirteen seconds at UFC 194 and, at UFC 205 in 2016, becoming the first fighter to hold two belts simultaneously. That same year Endeavor's WME-IMG bought the UFC for about four billion dollars, a staggering valuation for a company purchased for two million fifteen years earlier. The rivalry between McGregor and undefeated Dagestani wrestler Khabib Nurmagomedov peaked at UFC 229 in 2018, which set the promotion's pay-per-view record near 2.4 million buys. Champions like Jon Jones, Anderson Silva, Demetrious Johnson and Amanda Nunes defined an era of extraordinary technical depth and global reach. Keep Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) with “Gloves, attire and equipment” and 700 from 700. The sport weathered the pandemic by building 'Fight Island' in Abu Dhabi and running cards in empty arenas, keeping momentum while other leagues went dark. Business consolidation followed: in 2023 the UFC merged with WWE to form TKO Group Holdings under Endeavor, valuing the combined company in the tens of billions. On the mat, a Dagestani dynasty took hold — Khabib retired 29-0 in 2020, and his protégé Islam Makhachev inherited the lightweight throne, extending a wrestling-first pipeline that reshaped the sport's meta. Jon Jones moved up to conquer heavyweight, submitting Ciryl Gane for the vacant title in 2023 and stopping Stipe Miocic in 2024. Africa emerged as a powerhouse through Kamaru Usman, Israel Adesanya and Francis Ngannou, while women's divisions matured behind Amanda Nunes and Zhang Weili. Streaming, analytics and reformed weight-cutting protocols now define a sport that, three decades on, keeps raising its technical ceiling.