Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) And the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) - A Real

[Clifton Sweeney]

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