Martial arts have become an increasingly essential part of the fabric of modern, urban society in many corners of North, Central, and South America. This has been encouraged by the demands of live TV broadcasts that have turned some arts into sports watched by millions—for example, the spectacular mixed-martial-arts competitions of the Ultimate Fighting Championships. Movies, too, have popularized other arts among younger generations eager to learn self-defense techniques or to imitate their screen heroes.

The early martial arts of the Americas emerged among the communities of African slaves who brought their fighting and dancing skills to Brazil and the Caribbean. They created martial arts such as Capoeira , which involves a multitude of powerful punches, kicks, and head butts. Capoeira was outlawed, but the slaves continued to practice their art under the guise of music and dance performances—the blows were disguised among hypnotic dance movements. Slave communities also created mani stick fighting in Cuba and calinda in the Caribbean and New Orleans, and these were also fought with a musical accompaniment, often at festivals and carnivals. The no-holds-barred wrestling matches of Brazilian Vale Tudo and Brazilian jujutsu (see Jiu Jitsu Gi) are forerunners of mixed martial arts, which saw a huge surge in popularity in the early 1990s. All these systems have left an indelible imprint on the martial-arts landscape in the Americas.