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The success of the UFC is fascinating to me. I really disliked the culture of MMA back in the early 2000s, but nowadays I love the sport. The technical skill of

The success of the UFC is fascinating to me. I really disliked the culture of MMA back in the early 2000s, but nowadays I love the sport. The technical skill of these guys fighting is amazing, and the near monopoly of the UFC has actually created a situation where big fights are constantly happening, rather then the years of negotiation that some boxing matches have required. As ownership now diversifies among several groups, so will the focus of the UFC, and I'm curious how that will affect things going forward.

danso 10y ago
I'm glad I grew up in the age of Karate Kid movies, when having a black belt was enough to scare kids from beating me up in school. I remember how the first UFCs utterly demolished the movie-mythos of Kung fu/karate, as Royce Gracie and other grapplers made strikers look rather impotent. I kind of missed the early days of UFC, when things were much more no-holds-barred. There weren't rounds or time limits or weight classes (for the most part), which meant that Royce had to beat an opponent 80 pounds heavier for the championship (Dan Severin, but I swear I thought Gracie had to beat even heavier opponents [0]). The flip side was that watching 20 minutes of one guy sitting atop another was not very compelling, and probably unfeasible as pay per view TV. [0] http://www.gracieacademy.com/news/gracie-breakdown-royce-gracie-vs.-dan-severn.asp http://www.gracieacademy.com/news/gracie-breakdown-royce-gra...
- feklar 10y ago
  The Karate guys in the UFC and cleaning up these days like Stephen 'Wonderboy' Thompson. Early MMA/UFC until recently was battle of the PEDs Royce was juiced to the gills in those marathon early matches. Selling UFC right now was a good exit, the barrier to entry has fallen where competitor promotions can easily move in now since early UFC did all the arduous regulatory lobbying to legalize these matches and create a PPV market.
  - zarkov99 10y ago
    Royce was juiced to the gills? How do you figure that? He looked as scrawny as ever.
  - Steko 10y ago
    > Royce was juiced to the gills Haha. I'm not sure when Royce started using and he may have been on it from the start but 'juiced to the gills' is a joke of a description when he was regularly facing much larger opponents. http://www.chud.com/articles/content_images/53/reviews/UFC_5_6_7_8/UFC5-8rev02.JPG http://www.chud.com/articles/content_images/53/reviews/UFC_5...
forgetsusername 10y ago
>I'm curious how that will affect things going forward. The most interesting thing to me will be fighter pay/unionization. It's happened in every sport, and I believe all the chatter about the subject for the past year or so is a big reason why Zuffa sold out. People are smartening up when it comes to not being well compensated for exposure to potential brain damage, all for entertainment. Conor McGregor has, sort of, set the stage for the "it's about the fighters, not the organization" mentality. It's been reported that he made ~$20 million in 2015, which is about as much as Georges St. Pierre-- a popular, long-time champion-- made in his whole fighting career, including endoresements. Times are changing, quickly.
partisan 10y ago
I disliked UFC until I watched it. At that time, I was very much into going to the gym and working out and that seemed to bring out some aggression that the UFC absorbed. Lately, I just can't see it as anything more than brutality. I guess I realize we live in such violent times and we are surrounded by it. The last thing I can do now is kick back and watch a violent sport to decompress from it all.
- rm_-rf_slash 10y ago
  Considering that the majority of humanity does not have to worry about being attacked by wild animals or leave old/sick relatives behind on the march to the next food source, I would say we are hardly living in times as violent as you might think.
- hyperion2010 10y ago
  The visceral nature of MMA and the blood makes many people dislike it, but compared to the long, slowly developing brain damage induced by boxing, MMA is a far more humane sport.
  - iaw 10y ago
    Funny thing, I never thought about this, but compared to Football and Boxing, UFC is unlikely to cause debilitating long-term damage. As you are alluding to, what we are now becoming aware of as a society is that by padding our combative athletes we've shifted the trauma from the exterior to the interior and thus made it more severe.
  - dublinben 10y ago
    Thankfully, this isn't an either or situation. Boxing's popularity was significantly diminished for years before UFC brought fighting sports back to a forefront.
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
- 10y ago
donavanm 10y ago
Which circuits were you watching back then? I enjoyed the asian stuff (pride/rings/k1/dream) substantially more than early NA/UK promotions. The late 2000s early 2010s it became obvious the NA (and ufc/strikeforce) was the dominant market. I havent really paid attention the last couple years myself. The focus on short term hype and serialization (ultimate fighter) over sport became a bit much for me.
- seanalltogether 10y ago
  I only watched it casually at the bars back then, but it was really that I found I couldn't identify with the "Tapout" culture of MMA then. You can say I was being a snob, but it didn't appeal to me. Nowadays I just feel like things are operating at a higher caliber, the commentators, the post fight analysis, the fighters themselves, and I'm way more engaged now.

danso 10y ago

I'm glad I grew up in the age of Karate Kid movies, when having a black belt was enough to scare kids from beating me up in school. I remember how the first UFCs utterly demolished the movie-mythos of Kung fu/karate, as Royce Gracie and other grapplers made strikers look rather impotent. I kind of missed the early days of UFC, when things were much more no-holds-barred. There weren't rounds or time limits or weight classes (for the most part), which meant that Royce had to beat an opponent 80 pounds heavier for the championship (Dan Severin, but I swear I thought Gracie had to beat even heavier opponents [0]). The flip side was that watching 20 minutes of one guy sitting atop another was not very compelling, and probably unfeasible as pay per view TV. [0] http://www.gracieacademy.com/news/gracie-breakdown-royce-gracie-vs.-dan-severn.asp http://www.gracieacademy.com/news/gracie-breakdown-royce-gra...

feklar 10y ago
The Karate guys in the UFC and cleaning up these days like Stephen 'Wonderboy' Thompson. Early MMA/UFC until recently was battle of the PEDs Royce was juiced to the gills in those marathon early matches. Selling UFC right now was a good exit, the barrier to entry has fallen where competitor promotions can easily move in now since early UFC did all the arduous regulatory lobbying to legalize these matches and create a PPV market.
- zarkov99 10y ago
  Royce was juiced to the gills? How do you figure that? He looked as scrawny as ever.
- Steko 10y ago
  > Royce was juiced to the gills Haha. I'm not sure when Royce started using and he may have been on it from the start but 'juiced to the gills' is a joke of a description when he was regularly facing much larger opponents. http://www.chud.com/articles/content_images/53/reviews/UFC_5_6_7_8/UFC5-8rev02.JPG http://www.chud.com/articles/content_images/53/reviews/UFC_5...

forgetsusername 10y ago

>I'm curious how that will affect things going forward. The most interesting thing to me will be fighter pay/unionization. It's happened in every sport, and I believe all the chatter about the subject for the past year or so is a big reason why Zuffa sold out. People are smartening up when it comes to not being well compensated for exposure to potential brain damage, all for entertainment. Conor McGregor has, sort of, set the stage for the "it's about the fighters, not the organization" mentality. It's been reported that he made ~$20 million in 2015, which is about as much as Georges St. Pierre-- a popular, long-time champion-- made in his whole fighting career, including endoresements. Times are changing, quickly.

partisan 10y ago

I disliked UFC until I watched it. At that time, I was very much into going to the gym and working out and that seemed to bring out some aggression that the UFC absorbed. Lately, I just can't see it as anything more than brutality. I guess I realize we live in such violent times and we are surrounded by it. The last thing I can do now is kick back and watch a violent sport to decompress from it all.

rm_-rf_slash 10y ago
Considering that the majority of humanity does not have to worry about being attacked by wild animals or leave old/sick relatives behind on the march to the next food source, I would say we are hardly living in times as violent as you might think.
hyperion2010 10y ago
The visceral nature of MMA and the blood makes many people dislike it, but compared to the long, slowly developing brain damage induced by boxing, MMA is a far more humane sport.
- iaw 10y ago
  Funny thing, I never thought about this, but compared to Football and Boxing, UFC is unlikely to cause debilitating long-term damage. As you are alluding to, what we are now becoming aware of as a society is that by padding our combative athletes we've shifted the trauma from the exterior to the interior and thus made it more severe.
- dublinben 10y ago
  Thankfully, this isn't an either or situation. Boxing's popularity was significantly diminished for years before UFC brought fighting sports back to a forefront.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
10y ago

donavanm 10y ago

Which circuits were you watching back then? I enjoyed the asian stuff (pride/rings/k1/dream) substantially more than early NA/UK promotions. The late 2000s early 2010s it became obvious the NA (and ufc/strikeforce) was the dominant market. I havent really paid attention the last couple years myself. The focus on short term hype and serialization (ultimate fighter) over sport became a bit much for me.

seanalltogether 10y ago
I only watched it casually at the bars back then, but it was really that I found I couldn't identify with the "Tapout" culture of MMA then. You can say I was being a snob, but it didn't appeal to me. Nowadays I just feel like things are operating at a higher caliber, the commentators, the post fight analysis, the fighters themselves, and I'm way more engaged now.