The rise and rise of the UFC
One thing you might have noticed recently is the rise in popularity of the UFC. For those
of you who may not know what exactly that is it is the Ultimate Fighting Championship. It involves two men in a cage with one objective….Beat your opponent until he submits or the referee stops the fight. This might sound barbaric but it has a huge appeal worldwide and it is now the fastest growing sport in the world. And it is big business. But how exactly did this seemingly brutal sport become so popular??? And how is it that it can put on an event nearly anywhere in the world and sell out the arena in minutes?
The UFC itself is a U.S based mixed martial arts organisation, that is currently recognised as the major mixed martial arts promotion in North America.
The UFC organization follows a rich history and tradition of competitive mixed martial arts dating back to the Olympic Games in Athens . About 80 years ago, a Brazilian form of mixed martial arts known as Vale Tudo (anything goes) sparked local interest in the sport.
Then, the UFC organization brought mixed martial arts to the world. The goal was to find “the Ultimate Fighting Champion” with a concept to have a tournament of the best athletes skilled in the various forms of martial arts, including Karate, jiu-jitsu, boxing, Kickboxing, grappling, wrestling, sumo and other combat sports. The winner of the tournament would be crowned the champion.
However early UFC fights, while accomplishing the goal of determining which style was best, were less sport than spectacle, which led to accusations of brutality and “human cockfighting” by opponents of the sport. Political pressures eventually led the UFC into the underground, as pay-per-view providers belittled and ridiculed UFC programming, nearly eliminating the UFC’s public visibility. However as the years have gone by the UFC have enforced stricter rules and began to market itself as a legitimate sporting event. It dropped its no holds barred image and adopted the image of a mixed martial arts organisation.
The organisation currently has a television deal with Fox Sports Net and now Spike TV in the states and now the UFC is currently undergoing a remarkable surge in popularity through out the world. The UFC can now be seen in the United States, as well as in Britain, Canada, Japan, Mexico, and Brazil. The sports growing popularity was recently confirmed at a UFC event in Anaheim in the U.S when it attracted more than 17,000 people which was the largest audience ever to witness a UFC event. This kind of attendance is not just confined to the U.S. I personally attended a UFC event last January in the O2 arena in Dublin and the place was full to capacity that night. This shows the global rise in popularity of the sport because ten years ago there would be no way that the UFC would have sold out any were in this country. Whatever you think of the sport itself there is no denying that it has a massive global appeal. It may be gruesome and barbaric but people can not get enough of it. Maybe it is just something in human beings but the fact is historically people have always liked violent combat. Go as far back as the Romans they used to gather for the gladiator fights in the Colosseum and they loved it. And now even in 2009 people gather for the modern day equivalent except our gladiators don’t fight in the Colosseum, they fight in the Octagon! And just like the Romans did back then we love it!
