The UFC has become a billion dollar business complete with a UFC magazine, UFC fighter action figures, apparel, etc.  I am starting to wonder why not many people consider that fighting is fighting and business is business.  In other words, is UFC popular because of its approach to sport fighting, or because it is now a huge capitalist enterprise?

Have people forgotten that when the Gracie brothers were cage fighting (in the UFC’s early stages) that you had to watch late-night cable to see these not-so-widely know fighters “ground and pound.”  The only people who watched these older fights were martial artists, or people who discovered these fights accidentally when channel surfing.  At some point, the UFC owners dumped tens of millions of dollars into marketing and promoting the UFC, and now it is almost as popular as any other sport in America.

My point is:  if someone made the same financial commitment to promote Thai Boxing or Kung Fu San Sao fighting, I am sure they would be become pretty popular as well.  People may be underestimating the effect of the almighty dollar when it comes to the UFC.  After all, many UFC fighting moves are taken from traditional martial arts, so why is the UFC so big? It is a business, and a very successful one, but is that because of the fighters or the owners . . .

Please don’t think that I am taking away from the athletic ability of the UFC fighters.  Their conditioning and fitness is unparalleled in the martial arts world, and I respect how much work it takes to get fit like they do – see my FIT TO FIGHT page.  At the same time, lets separate the athletes from their sport.  Athletes train and compete because it is in their nature to do so (as in any sport), but sports exist because of money.

MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) has become a very popular training method due to the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championships) – which is now a billion dollar business.  Many people consider the UFC style fighting (Mixed Martial Arts) to be superior to any other kind of martial arts training.  My professional opinion about MMA is that there are both positive and negative aspects to the UFC and that anyone who is a spectator or aspiring competitor should consider both.

The good things about UFC:

• MMA training requires a lot of conditioning and a high level of fitness.  This emphasis on physicality motivates many students and instructors to train harder.
• The training apparel designed for MMA is far superior to anything traditional.  Finally we have functional garments to train in.
• Because of it popularity, more people in the US are thinking and talking about martial arts, in general, than ever before.  That increased awareness is good for everyone in the martial arts world.

The not-so-good things about UFC:

• UFC fights are extremely violent.  Using martial arts skills for violent sport fighting might be morally questionable.
• Do we want our sons to idolize men who have cauliflower ear and enjoy beating other men up for a living?  UFC fighters may not be the best role-models for young people.
• As far as the martial arts goes, UFC is a sport with a referee, not a fight.  Sport fighting (boxing, wrestling, MMA, etc) will always be more limited in a combative sense because there are a limited amount of target areas.  In a street fight, any target is legal, there might be multiple attackers and/or weapons as well.

Anyone watching UFC or training in MMA should look beyond the marketing and hype and try to understand it for what it is, not how it is sold to the public.