Kickboxing refers to the sport of using martial-arts-style kicks and boxing-style punches to defeat an opponent in a similar way to that of standard boxing. Kickboxing is a standing sport and does not allow continuation of the fight once a combatant has reached the ground. Kickboxing is often practiced for general fitness, or as a full-contact sport. Kickboxing is often confused with Muay Thai, also known as Thai Boxing. The two sports are similar, however, in Thai Boxing, kicks below the belt are allowed, as are strikes with knees and elbows.

Boxing is a combat sport in which two participants, generally of similar weight, fight each other with their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee and is typically engaged in during a series of one to three-minute intervals called rounds. Victory is achieved if the opponent is knocked down and unable to get up before the referee counts to ten seconds (a Knockout, or KO) or if the opponent is deemed too injured to continue (a Technical Knockout, or TKO). If there is no stoppage of the fight before an agreed number of rounds, a winner is determined either by the referee's decision or by judges' scorecards.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) 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 or be knocked out depending on what submission method is used. It promotes the principle that a smaller, weaker person using leverage and proper technique can successfully defend against a bigger, stronger assailant.

Muay Thai is a form of hard martial art practiced in several Southeast Asian countries including Thailand. Muay Thai is referred to as "The Art of the Eight Limbs", as the hands, shins, elbows, and knees are all used extensively in this art. A practitioner of Muay Thai ("nak muay") 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.

Greco-Roman Wrestling is a style of amateur wrestling that is practiced throughout the world. Along with freestyle, it is one of the two styles of wrestling contested in the Olympic games. This style of wrestling forbids attacks below the waist. As a result, throws are encouraged as the Greco-Roman wrestler cannot avoid being thrown by simply hooking or grabbing his opponent's leg. Otherwise, the sport is similar to freestyle. According to the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA), Greco-Roman wrestling is one of the four main forms of amateur competitive wrestling practiced internationally today. The other three forms are freestyle wrestling, grappling (also called submission wrestling), and sambo.

Submission wrestling (also called Grappling or submission fighting, and technically referred to as submission grappling) is a wrestling style and a general term describing the aspect of martial arts and combat sports (without kimono/GI) that focus on clinch and ground fighting with the aim of obtaining a submission using submission holds. The sport of submission wrestling brings together techniques from Freestyle Wrestling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Folk American Wrestling (Catch-as-catch-can), Judo and Sambo. Submission grappling as an element of a larger sport setting is very common in mixed martial arts, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu no-Gi, Pankration, catch wrestling, shootfighting, shooto and others.