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1996 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.
Men's professional
Men's amateur
Women's professional
Steeplechases
Flat races
The following is a list of major noteworthy MMA events during 1996 in chronological order.
Before 1997, theUltimate Fighting Championship (UFC) was considered the only major MMA organization in the world and featured much fewer rules then are used in modern MMA.
| Date | Event | Alternate Name/s | Location | Attendance | PPV Buyrate | Notes |
| February 16 | UFC 8: David vs. Goliath | — |  Bayamón,Puerto Rico | 13,000 | 160,000 | UFC rule change, timed rounds were changed to two 10-minute rounds for first two rounds of the tournament and a single 15-minute round in the tournament final and superfights. Introduction of judges. First MMA event to draw criticism from politicians. |
| May 17 | UFC 9: Motor City Madness | — |  Detroit,Michigan,US | 10,000 | — | First UFC event not to feature a tournament, however it was not the last. Closed fisted strikes to the head were banned for this event only, however this was not enforced. Following this event the UFC was removed from airing events on numerous cable systems, includingTCI cable. |
| July 12 | UFC 10: The Tournament | — | Birmingham,Alabama,US | 4,300 | — | This event was originally going to be held at theProvidence Civic Center inProvidence, Rhode Island. |
| September 20 | UFC 11: The Proving Ground | — | Augusta,Georgia,US | 4,500 | — | — |
| December 7 | The Ultimate Ultimate 2 | Ultimate Ultimate 1996 UFC 11.5 | Birmingham,Alabama,US | 6,000 | — | UFC rule change, introduction of "no grabbing of the fence" rule. In promotion for this event,Ken Shamrock appeared as a guest onLate Night with Conan O'Brien. Following this eventKen Shamrock would leave the UFC until 2002. And marked the last UFC fight ofDon Frye. |