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I was recently contacted by a fellow Bleacher Report writer named Jeffrey Klein about the sport of MMA. Jeffrey ran across an article on the front page that I had written about an upcoming MMA fight...

MMA: Get to Know the Fastest Growing Sport in America

by Derek Bolender (Columnist)

39

2096 reads

Breaking News

June 04, 2008


I was recently contacted by a fellow Bleacher Report writer named Jeffrey Klein about the sport of MMA.  Jeffrey ran across an article on the front page that I had written about an upcoming MMA fight. 

 

He informed me that he enjoyed the article but came away wanting to learn more about the sport of MMA. He was curious as to why the sport was getting so much attention and wanted to know why he should be interested. 

 

This article is the result of his request.  It is also directed towards other potential MMA fans that were subject to the recent downright awful display of MMA in the form of the EliteXC event broadcasted on CBS. 

 

That event was not a fair representation of the sport and gave most hardcore MMA fans a nightmare or two. 

 

In this article, I will start by giving you a brief MMA history and some key background information.  I will then move on to discuss some great fights and the best fighters in the world currently.

 

Finally, I will conclude discussing how you can learn more about the sport, and most importantly, discuss why you should love the sport of MMA.

 

 

A Brief MMA History:

MMA was introduced into the consciousness of the nation with the formation of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in 1993. 

 

All fights took place in an eight sided octagon (still used today). The only two rules were: no biting and no eye gouging (like Pankration in ancient Greece). 

 

Fighters were specialized in a specific martial art.  They essentially wanted to see what would happen if a 300 pound sumo wrestler fought a 150 pound Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighter.  It was bloody, brutal, and difficult to watch. 

     

As each UFC event passed, there was more and more backlash.  John McCain was outspoken against the sport, and many states in the United States decided to ban the “no holds barred” fighting. 

 

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39 comments Last one added about 1 year ago — Leave a Comment

  1. Bryan Trafford about 1 year ago

    great breakdown Derek. love it. You probably should have named it "Kimbo Slice, Baddest Mofo on the planet" and then all the guys that need to read it would see it. I cant believe that one Fergie story has like 17,000 reads. It pains me to no end that garbage like that gets that many reads when super high quality articles like this wont get a tenth of the reads.

    I remember my first MMA experience, I was wasting time in WalMart when I saw a DVD that said "Huntington Beach Bad Boy" on the cover. It was UFC 40 and once I saw the event I was hooked.

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    • Robert DesRoche about 1 year ago

      I really started to get into MMA on the day of the TUF 1 Finale. It was a Sunday and they had a marathon on all day leading up to the finale. I watched a bunch of it and it eventually led to the amazing Griffin vs Bonnar fight. That's how it started and I've stuck with it since.

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  2. Derek Bolender about 1 year ago

    I'm trying to get the guy who runs this site to put it on the front page to get more exposure and capitalize on the current mma buzz after last weekend. That remains to be seen. Maybe I need a title closer to what you are suggesting. That seems to work pretty well.

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    • Bryan Trafford about 1 year ago

      im seriously thinking about putting Kimbo Slice into the title of all my articles from now on until people stop reading articles with his name in the title. Look out for my next one, "5 reasons Kimbo Slice will be the best ever!" which will really be about an upcoming UFC or Affliction event. lol.

      I watched Rome is burning on monday and some chick on the forum said that MMA had no strategy and couldn't be successful if women didnt watch it. I cringed at the thought of her ignorance. She needs to read this article. Im gonna find out her email and send her the link. lol.

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    • Derek Bolender about 1 year ago

      I heard that lady on rome and I wanted to slap her too. Rome has been great though. He's been talking about MMA on his radio show nonstop this week and he also was saying that cbs alienated hardcore fans and pulver/faber should have been shown instead.

      He's one of the few guys on mainstream tv that gets it I think. He has had guys like couture and henderson as guests on JRIB in the past too. I hope he continues to give MMA some love going forward.

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  3. Robert DesRoche about 1 year ago

    You mislabeled the UFC's lightweight division. As you know it's 155. Really good article though.

    About the best fights, it seems you didn't necessarily go with the 'best fights' but really factored the upset factor and impressive performance by one guy into your decision. Serra's match was the biggest upset I've ever seen, but it wasn't a particularly great fight. And while Randy put on an amazing performance against Sylvia, I don't think it was that great of a fight, as it wasn't very competitive. The Tito vs Chuck II wasn't THAT great of a fight either, it was mostly hype and Tito getting his ass kicked. And although Anderson was VERY impressive, once again, not that great of a fight imo. Here's a lost of my top five fights (order not in stone):

    1. Wanderlei Silva vs Chuck Liddell UFC 79
    2. Miguel Torres vs Yoshiro Maeda WEC 34
    3. BJ Penn vs Matt Hughes II UFC 63
    4. Mauricio Rua vs Forrest Griffin UFC 76
    5. Forrest Griffin vs Stephen Bonnar TUF 1 Finale

    I'm sure I'm missing a couple that I might want to throw in there.

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    • Derek Bolender about 1 year ago

      I'll fix that - I had 145 on one line and 155 just below it .... i must have had pulver/faber on the brain when I wrote that portion....

      Like I said ... I could have picked about 50 of my favorite fights ... you really liked the rua/griffin fight that much? I kept waiting for rua to explode in that fight and nothing happened.

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    • Robert DesRoche about 1 year ago

      Yeah. And I don't think I've watched Griffin vs Rua fight since like one day after the fight, but I remember it being a war. I really like back and forth fights. It was hard to know who was going to win for the entire fight. Maybe if I watched the fight again I'd change my mind, idk.

      Other good fights I've seen that I didn't think of:

      Takanori Gomi vs BJ Penn
      Takanori Gomi vs Nick Diaz
      Big Nog vs Cro Cop

      There a lot of good PRIDE fights that I want to see which I never have.

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  4. Ryan Wales about 1 year ago

    Couture vs. Liddell UFC 43
    Hughes vs. Trigg UFC 52
    GSP vs. B.J. UFC 58
    Diaz vs. Lawler
    Here are a couple other goodies

    Great article.

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    • Derek Bolender about 1 year ago

      love hughes/trigg and hughes/penn fights, just didn't put them on there.

      You guys okay with my top 3 rankings in each division??? I'll have to update my top 10 rankings in each weight class article series one of these days.

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    • Robert DesRoche about 1 year ago

      I think your top 3 rankings are good. #3 for 155 is probably debatable. And out of curiousity, where wuold you put BJ Penn in your top 10 welterweights? Then I think the 170 and 185 rankings are right on. The 205 rankings are always so hard to do, but I think you did a fair job; what makes that one really hard is going all the way up to 10. Heavyweight is good. Where do you have Arlovski and Sylvia on your Heavyweight list?

      One more thing, I think you should definitely redo the top ten rankings between UFC 85 and UFC 86 (did you do it one article per week with that one last time, or what?), and then set it up to do the 205 rank right after the Griffin vs Jackson fight.

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    • Derek Bolender about 1 year ago

      BJ Penn at 170 ... #2. Until he proves he can beat st pierre (we may very well see this in the near future) he's at #2. Obviously both guys have improved greatly since the first time they fought at both are peaking right now. I would love to see a rematch after penn takes on the florian/huerta winner and st pierre takes on fitch.

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    • Derek Bolender about 1 year ago

      for the heavyweights I would put sylvia at #4 and arlovski at #6 behind barnett probably. And yes I will do one weight class a week probably to update my series.

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    • Derek Bolender about 1 year ago

      for the heavyweights I would put sylvia at #4 and arlovski at #6 behind barnett probably. And yes I will do one weight class a week probably to update my series.

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    • Derek Bolender about 1 year ago

      for the heavyweights I would put sylvia at #4 and arlovski at #6 behind barnett probably. And yes I will do one weight class a week probably to update my series.

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    • Derek Bolender about 1 year ago

      for the heavyweights I would put sylvia at #4 and arlovski at #6 behind barnett probably. And yes I will do one weight class a week probably to update my series.

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    • Derek Bolender about 1 year ago

      whoops ... looks like i do have a bad internet connection

      for the heavyweights I would put sylvia at #4 and arlovski at #6 behind barnett probably. And yes I will do one weight class a week probably to update my series.

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    • Robert DesRoche about 1 year ago

      Lol nice. Totally spamming Ryan with replies to his comment. Anyways, I think Penn at #2 is fair. I just wasn't sure if you would put Kos or Fitch ahead of him.

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  5. Ryan Wales about 1 year ago

    I would say Big Nog before Timmy. Thank you for putting Aoki on the top, I love that guy.

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    • Derek Bolender about 1 year ago

      I didn't even mean to put sylvia on there.... big nog definitely belongs there without question, i should probably proofread better next time

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  6. Ryan Wales about 1 year ago

    I'm so happy there are articles that don't talk about "the one who shall not be named" (thats my new nickname for Fergie).

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  7. Jad Semaan about 1 year ago

    Superb article. But are you sure you don't want to change the title from "America" to "In the World?" Because I think it's the fastest growing sport in the whole world, though most of the people on this site are from North America (don't forget us Canucks!).

    Wikipedia is also a pretty good source for MMA information. Also, make sure to spread the word about PRIDE FC. It may be gone, but I believe it represents the pinnacle of MMA competition. Tons of great fights and fighters from that organization. There are lots of PRIDE fights online and plenty of DVD's in stores. Sherdog FightFinder is top notch as well.

    Here are my top 10 fights (in no order).

    1. Fedor Emelianenko vs. Mirko Cro Cop
    2. Mauricio Rua vs. Antonio "Lil Nog" Rogerio Nogueira
    3. Antonio "Big Nog" Rodrigo Noguiera vs Mirko Cro Cop
    4. Wanderlei Silva vs. Mark Hunt
    5. Josh Barnett vs. "Big Nog" (both first fight and rematch)
    6. Wanderlei Silva vs Rampage Jackson (first fight and rematch)
    7. Mark Hunt vs Mirko Cro Cop
    8. Takanori Gomi vs Jens Pulver, Tatsuya Kawajiri, and Hayato Sakurai (ok, so I'm cheating)
    9. Fedor Emeianenko vs Big Nog (first and third fight)
    10. Aleksander Emelianenko vs Mirko Cro Cop, Josh Barnett, and James Thompson

    Basically, just watch all the PRIDE FC events if you want to see REAL MMA (no offence to the UFC).

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    • Derek Bolender about 1 year ago

      I definitely try to open peoples eyes to other (or former) mma organizations because UFC is not the only great organization even though they are the majority of the market share. I love watching the old PRIDE fights just as much as the UFC fights. Rampage vs rua and rampage vs liddell I are two other PRIDE fights I like a lot that I don't see on your list.

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  8. Jad Semaan about 1 year ago

    Yeah, I missed those two. I didn't want to list every great fight in PRIDE, because that would have been a really long list. I think the rules (stomps, soccer kicks, yellow cards, etc.) made for more exciting fights than in the UFC.

    Of course, there have been tons of great fights in the UFC lately, especially in the lightweight division. But I think a part of me died the day that the UFC bought out PRIDE.

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  9. matt boire about 1 year ago

    ok, i understand what you are saying, but i did not see any mention of vale tudo matches that have been going on in brazil for almost 80years, nor did i see much mention of pride, i am curious, are you mainly pointing out MMA in america, or did you try to explain it in a global aspect? in fact the statement that "all fights took place in an octagon" has nothing to do with MMA at all, only UFC, King of the Cage, Cage Rage, and smaller venues in the USA. but there are several MMA tournements that use the traditional boxing ring (PrideFC, IFL,) for example. how long exactlly did you look into MMA before you wrote this response?

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    • Robert DesRoche about 1 year ago

      He specifically explained he was mostly discussing UFC. It was also clear early on in the article that his main focus was MMA in america. He knows what he's talking about.

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    • Derek Bolender about 1 year ago

      Of course I know mma goes back decades but I start the history portion off in 1993 when it really started being a blip on the map.

      I didn't want to lecture the reader about MMA's long history nor go into the specifics of each league and their specific rules, etc... I wanted to brush over both of those and give the readers the basics. Mainly to cut down the length of the article and to try and get people to focus on what MMA is today. current popularity.

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  10. stu pane about 1 year ago

    good article, i just wanna say i agree with jad about the rules, they made good fights into great ones, i got into ufc around 52/53, and didnt get into pride until around the time it was getting bought out, and no w im totally crushed that i missed out on ,imo probably the best fights and fighters going toe to toe, besides st.pierre, couture and arlovski, who are my favorite ufc fighters, its just a shame that old pride gets me more excited than new ufc, im glad i finally found some people who feel similiar to myself,..............................im thinking of getting a pride tattoo, pain is temporary....(PRIDE LOGO) is forever

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    • Derek Bolender about 1 year ago

      Nice! Keep the PRIDE pride going on forever. I'm totally with you and Jad on PRIDE. Their fights were arguably more exciting than UFC because of their rules. Don't feel ashamed because I would venture to guess we are in the majority on that one.

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  11. Terry Henson about 1 year ago

    GREAT ARTICLE>>>>>>>>>>>

    Anderson Silva is probably the best fighter on the plantet......as you said....

    Schaffer and George St Pierre are both really great fighters.....and BJ Penn also.

    One of my best fights of all time IMHO......was Ken Shamrock and Gracie in UFC 3. Fight to the end, no breaks and it was a slug fest with Gracia submitting Shamrock after Gracie was nearly knocked out with a overhand right that sent him to the canvas......

    That was when they fought in a bracket and fought as many as 3-4 fights a night, no rounds and everything was legal except eye gounge and groin shots, forgot the exact format.

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    • Derek Bolender about 1 year ago

      That was a great fight and one of the first MMA fights I ever saw. Very impressive BJJ skill shown by gracie.

      I can't even imagine these guys today doing 3-4 fights a night either. I usually cringe when a guy comes back to fight 2 months later.

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  12. Todd Parmelee about 1 year ago

    Rampage Jackson might be playing BA Baracus in the upcoming A-team Movie. He was on Jimmy Kimmel last night talking about how he is more nervous trying out for that role then he has ever been for the fight.

    Jackson is perfect for the role as he has that certain swagger and likability. I am a big Jackson fan. He is one of the most exciting MMA fighter.

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    • Derek Bolender about 1 year ago

      Yeah I don't know who else in the world they could have cast for that role. That's funny. Remind me not to watch it though. I tend to hate all movies with athletes and rappers in them.

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  13. Todd Parmelee about 1 year ago

    You got to add fights from earlier to your list. Early UFC fights . . . Pride fights.

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    • Derek Bolender about 1 year ago

      I have about a hundred favorite fights and didn't want to list all of them. The audience of the article just needed to know a few to heighten their curiosity a little.

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  14. Spenser T. Harrison about 1 year ago

    Can we just speed up the inevitable and give them weapons; battle axes, maces, swords, all that sweet shit.

    I'd be the first in line for tickets. Front Row. Whatever the cost.

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    • Derek Bolender about 1 year ago

      Unfortunately I think we've reached the ceiling as far as the violence goes ... we're as close to the gladiator days as we are going to get in MMA.

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  15. Jon Grilz about 1 year ago

    Excellent article Derek, let's hope this opens some eyes to the people that got their first glimpse of MMA through the bile that was EliteXC's event. This definitely deserves to be pick of the day!

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