After 2000 years have humans gotten better at hand to hand combat?

Are today’s mixed martial artists, elite soldiers, and highly trained fighting athletes vastly superior warriors than the best gladiators, and other ancient brutal combatants from all four corners of the globe?

For this exercise please limit the weapons to handheld, no projectiles, strictly CQB.

Representing the present will be an ideal elite operator who has seen actual hand to hand combat against other nation’s very highly trained best and never lost in any battle.