They possess nicknames like “the Dean of Mean,” “Rampage,” and “the Muscle Shark.” And they know that at any moment they could be leveled by a punch or a kick, have their teeth knocked out by a knee, or feel the excruciating pain of a joint being dislocated by an inescapable submission lock. But for mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters, it’s what they endure before the bout that really makes them want to puke. In the last two years, MMA has become a sports phenomenon akin to the NASCAR boom just a few years back. Bouts hosted by the sport’s three main organizations—Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Bodog Fight, and the International Fight League—are filling arenas worldwide and drawing record audiences on cable TV and pay-perview. Fighters, like NASCAR drivers, are burgeoning entrepreneurs, producing their own nutritional supplements and clothing lines as well as starring in big-budget Hollywood movies. And while its fighters still compete for purses that would be chump change to top boxers, MMA is supplanting boxing in the hearts of more and more fight fans every day. Indeed, HBO, boxing’s longtime home, is reportedly in talks with UFC, MMA’s biggest organization, to bring the sport to the network. It’s the kind of coup that would certainly further ring the bell on boxing’s popularity.
Yet despite meteoric success and potential breakthroughs, MMA is still scrapping to overcome its controversial past. It has yet to be sanctioned, for instance, by the New York State Athletic Commission, and it has received scathing criticism from the pro boxing “establishment” (such as it is)—which largely still regards MMA as a passing fad and a barbaric sideshow. “A bar fight” is how HBO boxing commentator Jim Lampley reportedly described MMA competition. And WBC juniormiddleweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr.
boasted that any skilled boxer could knock out a UFC athlete. “UFC fighters can’t handle boxing—that’s why they’re in the UFC,” he said last spring.
It may be easy to dismiss such comments as the last wailings of a desperate sport, but the notion that boxing remains the “sweet science” is still ingrained in the minds of many disbelievers. “Ironically, MMA is often viewed as the least complicated sport,” says Greg Jackson, who runs one of MMA’s winningest fight teams, out of Albuquerque, N.M. “People think, ‘Oh, you just get in a cage and swing,’ but it’s not like that. It’s like playing three-dimensional chess.”
Sure, as in boxing, the occasional fightending haymaker provides a memorable finish, but a big punch is only one way to win an MMA bout. As the sport’s name suggests, fighters must develop myriad skills culled from a plethora of martial arts styles. And any of them could yield a fight-ending highlight. Boxing, Muay Thai kickboxing, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and wrestling are the major cornerstones of the sport, and punches, kicks, knee strikes, elbows, and submission holds are all viable tools to secure a win. “You have to be skilled in so many areas, and you have to have incredible physical conditioning on top of that,” says Jackson.
MMA is drawing competitors from other sports seeking to ride its wave of popularity—and cash in. But because the sport is so new, they often underestimate how di
Copyrights
Sean Hyson, C.S.C.S. Clash of the Fittest. Copyright 2007 Men's Fitness.
