'Hybrid martial arts, also known as hybrid fighting systems or sometimes eclectic martial arts or freestyle fighting, refer to martial arts or fighting systems that incorporate techniques and theories from several particular martial arts (eclecticism). While numerous martial arts borrow or adapt from other arts and to some extent could be considered hybrids, a hybrid martial art emphasizes its disparate origins.
The idea of hybridization or "mixing" of martial arts traditions originates in the 19th to early 20th century, when Asian traditions first came to the attention of European practitioners.'