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Rise of The Ultimate Fighting Championship
MMA in the United States was a bit slow to grow. In the the early 1990's Royce Gracie rocked the United States by showing us that everything we believed about fighting was wrong. This little skinny 170 lb man was able to effectively beat up every other man in a no holds barred tournament... regardless of size difference.
It proved an age old saying that size does not matter. Its not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in dog. Over the next 20 years fighting would be completely revolutionized not just in the United States, but in the world. Ground fighting was the hot new kid on the block, and every tough guy wanted a piece of this 'mysterious' fighting system.
Even though ground fighting was shiny and new in the United States, other countries such as Brazil had been participating in no holds barred fighting for over a hundred years. Vale Tudo was a popular form of combat in Brazil and ground fighting was fairly wide spread. The United States was just slow to catch onto this concept.
Discovering ground fighting did however have its limitations. As collegiate and former Olympic caliber wrestlers discovered that they too had quite a bit of potential in no holds barred fighting, and tried their hand in the cage. This led to long drawn out fights, where two guys would lay on top of each other for 30 minutes to an hour jockeying for control. That is where what would become Ultimate Fighting lost a lot of its appeal.
It wasn't until Zuffa bought the UFC in the early 2000's and re branded the Ultimate Fighting Championship as an athletic competition. They incorporated a list of rules, and implemented strict time limits to speed up the pace of the competition. They also focused heavily on re branding what was "No Holds Barred" into Mixed Martial Arts.
Three years later and nearly 30 million dollars in debt the UFC managed to pull itself out of impending financial disaster by teaming up with Spike TV and creating the Ultimate Fighter Reality TV show. This would immediately ignite new interest in the concept of Ultimate Fighting and launch a new generation of Mixed Martial Arts fans.
Today, the UFC is bigger than ever. Consistently selling out arena's and selling millions of dollars in PPV. The fall of boxing has also helped the Ultimate Fighting Championship secure its role as an industry leader in combat sports.
The freight train that is the Ultimate Fighting Championship shows no signs of slowing down, and it could easily become the next truly international sporting event. Rivaling boxing, professional wrestling, and even soccer.
It proved an age old saying that size does not matter. Its not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in dog. Over the next 20 years fighting would be completely revolutionized not just in the United States, but in the world. Ground fighting was the hot new kid on the block, and every tough guy wanted a piece of this 'mysterious' fighting system.
Even though ground fighting was shiny and new in the United States, other countries such as Brazil had been participating in no holds barred fighting for over a hundred years. Vale Tudo was a popular form of combat in Brazil and ground fighting was fairly wide spread. The United States was just slow to catch onto this concept.
Discovering ground fighting did however have its limitations. As collegiate and former Olympic caliber wrestlers discovered that they too had quite a bit of potential in no holds barred fighting, and tried their hand in the cage. This led to long drawn out fights, where two guys would lay on top of each other for 30 minutes to an hour jockeying for control. That is where what would become Ultimate Fighting lost a lot of its appeal.
It wasn't until Zuffa bought the UFC in the early 2000's and re branded the Ultimate Fighting Championship as an athletic competition. They incorporated a list of rules, and implemented strict time limits to speed up the pace of the competition. They also focused heavily on re branding what was "No Holds Barred" into Mixed Martial Arts.
Three years later and nearly 30 million dollars in debt the UFC managed to pull itself out of impending financial disaster by teaming up with Spike TV and creating the Ultimate Fighter Reality TV show. This would immediately ignite new interest in the concept of Ultimate Fighting and launch a new generation of Mixed Martial Arts fans.
Today, the UFC is bigger than ever. Consistently selling out arena's and selling millions of dollars in PPV. The fall of boxing has also helped the Ultimate Fighting Championship secure its role as an industry leader in combat sports.
The freight train that is the Ultimate Fighting Championship shows no signs of slowing down, and it could easily become the next truly international sporting event. Rivaling boxing, professional wrestling, and even soccer.
