UFC Thoughts - Part 1

For a long time, I’ve wanted to write about the Ultimate Fighting Championship. I wouldn’t consider myself a fan, but I’m not a hater either… generally, I feel conflicted. So before writing about it, I actually did my homework (note: I rarely do my homework when writing a blog, because it is only a blog and I assume my memory is always correct… but I felt a strange sense of obligation this time). I read about the UFC’s history, caught an episode of The Ultimate Fighter, developed an understanding of how the organization (and mixed-martial arts as a whole) is governed (and make no mistake, it is governed), and, finally, watched an actual UFC pay-per-view (UFC 100). And, I will full-well admit, I wanted to see UFC 100.
Before I begin, I should establish a few things for those of you who know nothing of what I write.
MMA – Mixed Martial Arts. Some would argue it’s a fancy name for cage fighting, and perhaps it is… but that’s what the sport, as a whole, is called.
UFC – Ultimate Fighting Championship. Far and away the most powerful and popular mixed-martial arts organization. The WWE is to wrestling what the UFC is to mixed-martial arts.
I think that’s clear.
Anyway, to understand UFC – and its rise to power – you need to go back to the beginning.
The beginning of UFC
No one knows this, but UFC was created in some guy’s basement. I can only imagine it went something like this:
Guy A: “Man, I wonder what would happen if a kick-boxer fought a sumo wrestler.”
Guy B: “Man, the sumo wrestler would kick his ass.”
Guy A: “I dunno man. What about a karate master against a boxer?”
Guy B: “Man, karate master, for sure.”
Guy A: “No way.”
Guy B: “Yea, way.”
Guy A: “Has anyone tested this?”

And, with that, someone decided to organize such a competition. The early UFC’s featured no weight categories, practically no rules (you couldn’t bite, but you could kick a guy in the groin, pull his hair, or fish hook… which would be pretty effective considering biting was banned), and drew the whitest of white trash to arenas in those crappy states none of us want to visit or acknowledge (sorry to all of my readers in Biloxi, Mississippi).
It was, without question, the lowest common denominator.
To the surprise of no one, the UFC had a hard time getting sanctioned. Apparently two guys fighting in a cage with no rules (“human cockfighting,” as one grandstanding politician once called it), and the “sport” could only maintain a small, cult following. Once a few politicians saw cage-fighting as an easy sport to rally against (notably, former presidential candidate, John McCain!), even sanctioning in the aforementioned crappy states became a challenge. The UFC was losing money, and its founders were willing to sell it for a song.
Enter current omnipotent UFC kingpin, Dana White. White is the owner/president/governor/manager/ruler/commissioner of UFC. But back then he was a small-time player who liked to take chances, and the UFC was his chance.
People will argue whether White is a genius, or just lucky. I tend to think it’s more towards the latter, but he must be fully credited with doing the one thing that changed the UFC’s fortune – instituting actual rules.
Instead of making the UFC a complete free-for-all, the reincarnated UFC had 37 basic rules, weight categories, and was slightly more organized mayhem (sidenote: the UFC also adopted “mixed martial arts” as its category of sport… somehow that was a classier moniker than “cagefighting”). Sanctioning was still a challenge, but now White could take an actual set of laws to commissions, and justify his ability to hold events. You could still bludgeon a guy to death – in fact, it was encouraged – but you couldn’t do it by gouging his eyes first.
In its own way, UFC was evolving.
But how did the UFC grab such a foot-hold (or an arm-bar if you will… zing!) on North American society… or more specifically, the only part of society that anyone cares about (males, aged 18-39)?
Why the UFC has succeeded
Poor Competition – The UFC has two main competitors in the combat entertainment market: boxing and wrestling.
Boxing is suffering for a number of reasons. First off, the number of sanctioning bodies (there are four major bodies, and then about 10 smaller ones) means that every notable boxer has a belt, and mega-fights are rarely made. Boxing has been governed to death, while the UFC is under the thumb of White, and White alone.
Secondly, boxing lacks American (or even Canadian) stars. The days of Muhammad Ali, Larry Holmes, Evander Holyfield, and Mike Tyson are over. The best heavyweights are all hulking Soviets. And while I personally love the Klitschko brothers, they don’t have the same cachet in North America. The other weight categories are all dominated latinos.
And, finally, the lack of star power means a boxing mega-fight only comes around once a year – if that. People get excited for Mayweather-De La Hoya and fights like that, but how many grab the public’s interest? It sure doesn’t help that most mega-fights (Mayweather-De La Hoya included) ended up sucking.
Wrestling, while obviously not real, panders to the same demographic as UFC. Violence, blood, and a lone organization run by an egomaniac (Vince McMahon). But wrestling’s heyday was the late 1990’s… currently, it lacks a single interesting star, and with Hunter Hearst Helmsly calling the shots and keeping himself in the spotlight until his inevitable heart-enlarged steroid death, it’s going to be tough to turn the corner.
Giving the public what it wants – Say the public wants to see Wladimir Klitschko fight Nikolay Valuev (I know no one wants to see that, but theoretically). Will that fight be made? Probably not. And if it was to be made, it would probably come three hours late. And be hosted in Munich. And not appear on television. And feature three undercards that no one cares about in the least, including the people who buy tickets and only show up for the main event.
The UFC, by comparison, features 5-6 fights on every card, many of which interest the average UFC fan. The stadiums are packed throughout the events (not just for the headlining fight), and if the public demands a mega-fight, all White has to do is set it up.
Pad-stating does not exist in the UFC. You know how every boxing mega-fight features guys who are 42-0 and 39-1? Those records are inflated by fighting tomato cans and cardboard cut-outs (fun fact: Floyd Mayweather’s 12th victory came when he knocked me out at the Northlands Agricom). So while a boxer who has a 10-6 record is considered junk, a UFC fighter who has a 10-6 record could be a champion, or at least a contender.
Violence/hatred – The general public loves violence. The best sports are violent, the best movies are violent, and the best video games are violent. UFC caters to this.
And unlike boxing hatred, which seems contrived (every press conference has an unnecessary push and/or shove… more often a shove than a push, in my opinion), and wrestling (which is obviously staged, and, even then, it’s usually involving juice monkeys who are approaching their 50’s and can’t move anymore), a good UFC storyline seems legitimately interesting. Even I was curious to see what would happen in the Brock Lesnar/Frank Mir and Dan Henderson/Michael Bisping grudge matches.
Undeniably entertaining – If a boxing match sucks, it’s an hour of boredom – and that’s it… you only get one main event. A UFC match ranges from nine minutes (for a non-title fight), to 25 minutes (for a title fight). Even if one fight sucks, there’s a good chance the other 4-5 on the card will be good. And even then, no fight is a major time investment.
Mind you, a number of fights end on the ground, which is rarely as much fun to watch as the stand-up. I thought the type of people who are huge UFC fans would be uncomfortable watching two mostly-naked men wrestle around on a mat and holding each other in different (and occasionally slightly disturbing) ways, but apparently the average UFC fan is a lot more liberal-minded I thought.
Evolution/credibility – There are a plethora of ways to lose a fight in the UFC, and if a fighter has a weakness, the other fighter will likely expose it. Whether you like UFC or not, both fighters are trained tacticians. The early UFC days – where a 275 pound farm boy from Alabama could fight a toughman from Iowa – have been replaced by jiu-jitsu experts from Brazil, sambo specialists from Russia, and muy-tauy specialists from whever muay-tuay originated from.
With weak opposition, and a sport which speaks to current society (and, I must admit, I’m a member of society, and I often want to punch someone in the face), the time was right for UFC. Word has it that the last UFC buy rate could possibly reach 1.5 million buys – the highest for any pay-per-view ever.

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That’s it for Part 1. Later this week I’ll discuss how the UFC is operated in 2009, , and what I think the rise of UFC means to culture as a whole (you’ll be surprised!), and the ups and downs of watching a UFC event.http://scotttougas.blogspot.com