Leaving the Past Behind: Defending MMA and the UFC

The UFC is on the brink of breaking through to the world of mainstream sports. It has come a long way from its early days where just about anything was legal and fights were all about brutal finishes. Royce Gracie entered the Octagon and changed just about everything about the sport.

He brought with him an array of submission maneuvers coming from his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training. The sport was still primitive, but Gracie brought a new facet to the sport that would force change.

Over the next decade or so, the UFC adopted more rules built to ensure the safety of the fighters and make fights more tactical than had been seen in the early days of its existence. I myself had little or no interest in the UFC before 2008.

It was then that a friend of mine started to introduce me to the sport and ultimately show me my first pay-per view event.

The event was UFC 87 and the card included Welterweight champion George St. Pierre against Jon Fitch, Brock Lesnar against Heath Herring, Kenny Florian against Roger Huerta and Jason McDonald against Demian Maia. I had absolutely no knowledge of any of the fighters or what any of them were capable of.

I studied each fight carefully, picking up the terminology as well as the general pace of each fighter based on their preferred fighting style. In the month to come I buried myself in Internet searches, looking for information on BJJ, Muy Thai, the UFC itself, and the bigger names of the sport at the time.

Randy Couture was retired and was in the midst of the lawsuit with the company over his right to compete outside of the UFC. “The Iceman” Chuck Liddell was on a quest to regain the title from Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, who was alone atop the UFC’s Light Heavyweight division.

On Saturdays, Channel 20 began airing UFC Wired, which recapped fights gone by. It was here that I immersed myself in the UFC. I saw Frank Mir break Tim Sylvia’s arm with an arm bar, which prompted referee Herb Dean to verbally cringe and stop the fight in the first round, declaring Mir the victor despite Sylvia’s arguments.

I saw George “Rush” St. Pierre avenge a previous loss to Matt Serra by punishing him with brutal knees to the ribs.

I saw former WWE performer Brock Lesnar take down and dominate Frank Mir from the start of the first round, only to have a point deducted and the fight restarted from standing, wherein Mir was grounded again but was able to catch Lesnar in a knee bar for the submission victory.

I saw “The Prodigy” BJ Penn dominate Joe “Daddy” Stevenson, gaining a bloody and decisive submission victory via rear naked choke to win the Lightweight title.

I saw roughly 15 fights between the time I watched my first pay-per view and the next scheduled event. In that time I became hooked on the sport. I don’t know exactly what it was that made me change my mind about the whole MMA thing.

I had always held a firm belief that it was too bloody and ruthless to be genuinely entertaining given the seemingly complete lack of regulation in fights. I guess that’s what I get for judging something before I really know anything about it.

UFC 100 just ended a few days ago and it seems as though it is the perfect example of why the UFC and MMA as a whole is destined to ultimately break through into the realm of ESPN.

Boxing has always been a staple in America with stars like Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali, and Mike Tyson. Each of them had a quality about them that made people want to watch them.

The UFC equivalent of each of those men could be Anderson Silva, Rampage, and BJ Penn respectively. Silva compares to Joe Louis in that he has cemented himself as the top competitor in his division. He is the longest reigning champion the UFC has today and even at his worst he is still beating his competition handily.

Rampage is comparable to Ali in that he is not afraid to talk a little trash because he knows full well that he can back it up. He can get into an opponent’s head and make them make mistakes he can take advantage of.

BJ Penn is comparable to Tyson because both stand as prodigies in their sport. Tyson was just 18 when he began his sprint to the top ranks of professional boxing. Penn is known as “The Prodigy” because he earned a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu quicker than almost anyone else who had achieved that level.

Both dominate their opponents in their respective arenas. On the same comparison, both Penn and Tyson have done very little to endear themselves to their fellow fighters. Penn is often criticized as lacking the heart of a true champion, as apparent in his lack of ability to take fights deep into the championship rounds.

Tyson had a bit of a mean streak in him that no one could control, and which came out in his infamous ear bit against Evander Holyfield.

The stigma against MMA that boxing has never had to face is the likening of the entire sport to human cock fighting. I can’t help but disagree with this assessment since boxing is clearly the more ruthless sport of the two.

Chickens are given one way to defend themselves and defeat their opponents, pecking with the beaks. Boxers are only allowed to use their fists, and are primarily concerned with doing as much damage to each other as quickly as possible. MMA allows fighters to defend themselves with any number of techniques they have learned in their training.

Sure, there are plenty of fighters who prefer the stand up game to anything else, but they don’t always go for the knockout blow. Forrest Griffin defeated the knockout oriented Rampage by outscoring him on the judge’s scorecards, utilizing leg kicks to neutralize the straight ahead attack of the aggressive champion.

Frank Mir has hardly seen a second round in any of his fights because he is quick to lock his opponent in a submission and force them to tap out within the first three minutes or so of the first round.

Lyoto Machida has made it an art to out point and evade opponents to win decisions in all of his fights. Only recently has he decided to find some knockout power, which keeps opponents off balance.

Boxers have to worry about the opponent’s hands in relation their movements and their tendencies. Mixed martial artists have to out think their opposition because any fighter could just as easily knock them out as submit them on the ground, or grind out a victory from the judges.

Take into account that MMA is on top of the whole substance abuse crisis that has face baseball and seeped into football among other sports and it is almost impossible to deny its credibility. Why can’t people see past the roots of MMA to see its bright future?

Why must boxing be allowed to remain unchecked or without major criticism when a sport that improves on it comes along and makes it a point to keep itself in check in the face of major criticism and heavy checking?

Look at the marketability of the sports. Boxing had The Contender to bring in guys off the street and give them a shot at the big time. How many notable boxers came from that show?

The Ultimate Fighter did the same thing for MMA and the UFC and most of the top fighters on each season of the show have gone on to find success in the UFC or make a name for themselves in MMA. The Contender isn’t around anymore. The Ultimate Fighter is headed into its 10th season.

What does that tell you about the popularity of the respective sports? I can’t do much to convince anyone because most people have their convictions about the sport and are perfectly fine with judging it based on its past.

I can understand why people don’t enjoy watching fight sports. But to place a double standard in the sport is unfair. MMA has proven that it is willing to change to garner a greater fan base, while boxing has remained much the same since its inception. Isn’t the world meant to strive and thrive on change?

If the brutality of the sport is what has turned so many people off to MMA, then I can’t help but bring about the obvious question. Review the respective histories of boxing and MMA and tell me, how many deaths have been recorded in relation to injuries suffered in the venues of each sport?