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[Noob]

UFC vs MMA. Who's winning?

by Dean Fadel (Contributor) 5 comments Filed Under: MMA, Randy Couture, Mark Cuban, UFC, Fighting
Are you a fan of mma (mixed martial arts) or are you a fan of the UFC? I’m a fan of mma first, and UFC second. My level of appreciation for the UFC comes from their ability to showcase “A” level fighters competing against one another. I can watch any kind of mma though. It doesn’t matter to me if it’s in a UFC cage or another organization’s ring, but not everyone views this sport with the same eyes as mine. The UFC has become “the thing” of today, but what were to happen to mma in North America if the UFC became a thing of the past?

The casual fans today aren’t full of knowledge and passionate about the sport. They are fans of UFC first, and mma second. I can remember when the mma used to be barbaric and disgusting to some of my girlfriends back in the day, and suddenly those same girls are gathering around the television cheering on their favorite UFC fighter. It’s cool now, but you still couldn’t get these new fans to sit and watch an IFL show on Saturday Night.

A huge sign of North America’s lack of appreciation for the sport is the booing during matches that aren’t portraying bloodshed and someone’s nose being bent in the wrong direction. You would never hear something like that during a show taking place in Japan, where the fans love the sport and understand what they’re watching, whether the fight was taking place on the ground or standing. So, what if something was to happen to the UFC and they went under? Will all those fans be able to watch another organization with as much interest as they showed with the UFC?

In 2005 the UFC put on only five pay per views. In 2006 they doubled that with 10 pay per views, and in 2007 UFC will have aired 19 live shows, 13 of which were on pay per view. We also get an Ultimate Fight Night every Friday and on top of that they have a reality show that airs once a week. This is a whole lot of exposure, and this causes the casual fan to only know mma as UFC.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m not so sure if mma is the fastest growing sport in North America, or if the UFC is the fastest growing company. I have yet to be convinced that this new craze that has burst into North America is going to hold the history and tradition that boxing was able to hold for so long. It seems as if so many of the UFC fans today are just jumping on the wagon, and if things slow down they are going to jump off and never look back. Some other companies need to step up to the plate and legitimize themselves as an equal show.

M-1 is an up and coming company, and signing the best Heavyweight in the World, Fedor Emelienenko, shows that they mean business. If they can manage to get Randy Couture after his contract with UFC is up, then they will not only host the biggest fight in mma history, but they will save this sport in North America because it proves that UFC isn’t the only company that can put together a good show with top tier talent.

Also, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban has expressed a whole lot of interest in opening up a mma company. Mark definitely has the money to do this, but it takes more than just money to run a good fight company. I’m sure Mark knows this, and hopefully he will put together a team of professionals who know mma and the business well enough to get the ball rolling.

In the end we can only hope that these companies do well and compete with the UFC. All competition will do for the UFC is force them to work harder and it will end up benefitting the fighters by giving them more of an opportunity to make some money. Most importantly, if Dana and the Fertittas sink ship, the whole damn sport won’t go down with them.

Thanks for reading.

Peace

Ezzedean Fadel.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/3...Who_s_winning_

[ufobydeath]

Interesting article, and I'll have to say that I agree. I really hope that M-1 gets good or K-1 grows even more so that the casual fans can really get into it.

[b0sH]

Interesting article, but im not sure I agree totally.

There maybe some truth in the whole Dana sinking the ship idea but with the ammount the UFC are making now compared to what theyre paying out, that aint gona happen any time soon.

In some ways an organisation is good in that it pushes the UFC. But then as you can see has happened with Fedor, it can create problems as well.

If one of these organisations were to pop up and for instance have a death in the sport due to their poor organisation or something like a paralysis then this not only sets back that organisation but MMA in general as well.

If these new MMA organisations are run in the same fashion as the UFC then fine, but so far who apart from Pride has even come close to that model? If they are run badly they just give further ammunition to people making claims of unsafe cock fighting etc.