text: how many kinds of martial arts are there in the world?   good question.  lets see: answer depends on what you mean by kinds. i mean if we group martial arts by where they are from, in big groups, then probably a dozen tops. if we group them by how they fight; inside (very close), outside (very far), close, medium, long, far ranged, light or heavy footed, wide or narrow stance, kicking, or biting, or hitting, or slapping, or grabbing or crushing, or even entangle.  kung fu, karate, nin jitsu, i could go on for days. probably hundreds of different names, and many names view their own martial art differently but do exactly the same  moves for the same reasons. there is only so many ways the human body can move. so practically there do exist different ways of learning martial arts, but it is all the same in the end. you either find a way to honestly express yourself or you do not, to misquote bruce lee. i would say most people would answer a few hundred if not thousands.