Mixed Martial Artsand the Ultimate Fighting Championship

I have been a fan of MMA ever since the first UFC back in the early '90s. Some people consider MMA to be a barbaric sport from the days of the Roman Gladiators. Personally, I think it is a fantastic sport.

My idea of a sport is testing one's ability at accomplishing a specific skill. In the case of MMA, the skill is fighting.

Unfortunately, too many people have a misconception about MMA because of the lack knowledge about the sport. People who saw the first UFC events don't realize that there are more rules in place now than there were then.

In the first UFC's there were no time limits, and virtually no rules. One could pull hair and hit in the groin, and there weren't any weight classes or time limits either.

The fighters were people who specialized in a specific style of fighting. The idea was to see which style of fighting was the best. What we found after a couple of these UFCs was that no one style was truly the best style.

For any type of ground fighting, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu was the style of dominance. For take-downs and ground control the style of choice is plain wrestling or Greco-Roman wrestling.

A mix of Muay Thai and Boxing proved to be very dominant for stand up fighting.

What we learned from the first couple UFCs was that in order to be the best fighter, one needs to learn and master several different styles or techniques.

Currently in the UFC pretty much every fighter is trained in all the styles mentioned above and perhaps more. The sport has progressed to where fighters are learning multiple styles of fighting, hence Mixed Martial Arts or MMA.

There are more rules now, such as no eye gouging, no kneeing or kicking a downed opponent in the head, no groin blows, and many more. The fights now have timed rounds and there are official weight classes. The UFC today truly is an opportunity to see who the best fighter really is.

The fighters in the UFC are top level athletes and are at the top level of each fighting style they learn.

To be the best in the UFC now, one is most likely a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt or practitioner, an Olympic caliber wrestler, they probably have the ability (if they chose to) to compete in boxing as a professional, and they are a world class striker (or the equivalent of a black belt in karate, for people that might not understand the difference).

The fighters take all of these abilities and role them into one complete skill or fighting style: MMA.

MMA fighters are phenomenal athletes, fighting at the highest level in the history of mankind. At no other time in human history has there been a hand-to-hand combat form as complete as MMA. When watching a UFC or MMA event, we are literally watching a fighting style that is still evolving into the most perfect fighting style ever.

Any MMA fighter that holds a title in the UFC is truly the best fighter in the world for his weight.