Ultimate Fighting Championship Quick Info.

The UFC is undoubtedly the fastest growing sport's organisation in the world. Its evolved in leaps and bounds from the common reaction of, "Sure its only a street fight in a cage". UFC is now the most common name associated with mixed martial arts (MMA). Previous owners often promoted the events with a ,"Two men enter, one man leaves" attitude. It's evolution began in the form of Dana White and Zuffa


Dana White, a former boxing promoter, and Zuffa, an American sports promotion company specializing in the promotion of mixed martial arts, purchased the UFC franchise back in 2001. Risking their own money, actually loosing $40 million in the first 3 years, they worked effectively, efficiently and tirelessly to change the brutal image of commonly associated with UFC . The sport was banned in almost all of America, however with new owners, the Sports Commission of Nevada recognized UFC's potential and granted them permission to stage major events. Although there is no official hometown of the UFC, there's no doubting that Las Vegas is the place where it is popularity began and is continuing to blossom, hosting a vast majority of the events every year


Now the UFC has become far more technical with many more forms of mixed martial arts being added to its competition. From Greco Roman Wrestling to Sambo, Kick-boxing to Thai-boxing to traditional boxing, Abu Dhabi to Judo and (literally) countless more. World champions from each of the respective sports compete in the MMA events to test their skills against others. No matter what level/grade an athlete has achieved in his preferred style, it's never good enough to depend too heavily on one skill to succeed in MMA. Wrestlers will have to learn some form of stand up, Strikers will have to learn submission defences and/or take-down defence etc.


There are numerous MMA competitions and organisations all over the world. However the most dominant organisation existing today if the Ultimate Fighting Championship Organisation. The UFC possesses almost all the current top names from the MMA world. The only other organisation that posed any form of threat WAS the Japanese run Pride FC. Pride was widely believed to be corrupt with ties to the mafia. Despite the rumour mill, Pride continued to awe the Japanese audiences with top names/athletes


These athletes included Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Wanderlei "The Axe Murderer" Silva, Dan "Hollywood" Henderson, Anderson "Spider" Silva, Fedor Emelianenko and many, many more


However, Dana White and Zuffa (owners of UFC) purchased Pride and acquired almost all of these assets amongst several more

The UFC's popularity grew for thousands (including myself) from the reality show "The Ultimate Fighter". White and Zuffa recognized the common trend in t.v at the time was "reality shows", so they both decided to jump on the band-wagon to try recoup some of their losses. This show aired on the American TV station Spike TV and its ratings were so positive that the U.K station Bravo aired it for the British and the Irish audiences (Thank God). The show consisted of two teams being coached by future hall of famers and (then) UFC light-heavy weight champion and number one contender Randy "The Natural" Couture and Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell. Each contestant battled it out for a prize of a 6 figured contract in their respective weight division. 2 contracts were up for grabs, one in the welterweight division and one in the light-heavy division. Each fighter battled it out from quarter-finals to semi-finals and (the eventual) final. The welterweight finale consisted of Diego "Nightmare" Sanchez and Kenny "Ken-Flo" Florian. Nothing really worth mentioning as Diego made easy work of Kenny (who competed in a weight above his own just to gain recognition) with devastating strikes which lead to a T.K.O in the first round after 2 minutes. Diego now has made himself a top contender in his division and is currently looking to overturn his 0-2 record of his last 2 fights to return to title contentions. Florian has dropped to his natural weight class of light-weight and fought for the title. Although he lost, he has built up a 3-0 fight streak and is looking closer and closer to a rematch for the title


Now for the main event, the finale of the light-heavyweight division. The finalist were Stephan "American Physco" Bonnar and Forrest Griffin. The fight was an all out war between 2 determined and driven contenders. Both were known for their stand-ups, so a grappling or submission style match was not predicted. Fireworks were expected AND delivered. Although no knock-outs were seen, punches were traded and landed for the entire duration of the 15 minutes. Both fighters fought hell-for-leather and left it all out in the octagon cage. None of the attending audience expected history to be made in this fight, and none of them were left in their seats. Both fighters sustained battered and bruised faces. The fight was a judges worst nightmare. The match looked completely even and the result was known by no-one. I had Bonnar backed, due to....well, the fact Griffin looked worst. However the judges obviously didn't agree with my "expert" analysis and ruled in favour of Griffin. The fans roared and screamed for both fighters and their efforts were fully appreciated. Dana White recognised this and offered both fighters the contracts. The fight is still known as the fight which drew in thousands, if not, millions of new fans. Spike TV offered UFC a series of contracts for more reality shows and suddenly a phenomenon was born