Numerous martial arts are practiced in Iceland. One of the oldest sports in Iceland, as well as the oldest martial art, is glíma. Glíma served many purposes in ancient times but in present time the sport has diminished greatly in Iceland. Boxing was introduced to Iceland early in the 20th century. There has always been some controversy around the sport of boxing and it reached a peak in the middle of the 20th century when boxing was banned for nearly 50 years in Iceland. After the legislation against boxing the art of judo grew considerably in Iceland and only a decade later karate was introduced to Iceland. Many practitioners in judo and karate in Iceland seem to embrace the oriental ideology that follows these sports and thus there has not been as much criticism towards them as was against boxing. Despite that Taekwondo and mixed martial arts are both relatively new sports in Iceland both sports have considerably more people practicing them then Icelandic glíma.

