If John McCain Wins the Presidency, Will Mixed Martial Arts be Banned in America?

For those who don't know, in the early days of Mixed Martial Arts in America it had alot of problems with angry politicians. I actually wrote an article awhile back on the rise of mixed martial arts that explains McCain's role. Here is what I wrote-Senator John McCain was so adamant about banning the UFC he was successful in making it illegal in all but 3 states. McCain, who is known for having connections in boxing, also had it removed from 90% of pay-per-view providers. Since then the sport has bounced back and is the fastest-growing sport in the U.S. today. Now what we don't know is if McCain still has strong beliefs about this issue. Its not likely that he changed his mind, the question is if he really wants to push the issue if he gets the presidency. I'm not a big supporter of his politics and this is an issue I wholeheartedly disagree with him on. As Dennis Miller used to say "Now I don't want to go on a rant here, but".

MMA is a sport, a beautiful sport and there are many reasons that this sport is growing so fast and yes one of them is the violence. The violence is probably what turns most people on at the beginning, but violence is also what turns people on to football, boxing and many others. Its just outright stupidity to want to ban a sport like MMA and endorse a sport like boxing, which is what McCain did awhile ago. Boxing has had more serious injuries and any person with half a brain can see the medical difference between getting hit, kicked or submitted for a short amount of time to getting punched in the head over a hundred times in a longer time period.

It really pisses me off when people who have never watched this sport automatically assume its "human cockfighting". If people(including Mr. McCain) would actually sit down and watch these fights, after awhile they would start to appreciate the incredible skill and intelligence these fighters exhibit, the way I and numorous fans do. It is a sport, there are rules that prevent the bouts from resembling street fights in any way.

So the question remains will McCain push the issue if he is elected? In my opinion its not likely to happen anymore because MMA is sanctioned in so many states around the country now. It has become big business and in that sense big business is hard to bring down for anyone, even the president. My advice to Mr. McCain, sit down, relax and watch a fight like BJ Penn vs Georges St. Pierre, Fedor vs Crocop or Tyson Griffin vs Frankie Edgar and speak to me about MMA being "human cockfighting". I will send the DVD's to Mr. McCain myself. In closing it is likely that if he gets elected that he will make some fiasco about it, but hopefully the people of the U.S. can see MMA for what it really is, a wonderful and a beautiful sport.

7 Things You Don't Want to See in MMA in 2008

I got this idea from a sherdog forum post. Of course there are many things we need to see, but there are many things that we don't need to have any part of.

7. Horrible Judges Decisions- Seriously do we need another Hamill/Bisping, judges need to be people who are obsessed with watching fights. They need to be fans of the sport and not just people who are doing a job.

6. More Fighters being Suspended for Steroids, HGH, etc.- I've said it before and I'll say it again steroids is the ultimate form of cheating in any physical sport. If you take PED(Performence Enhancing Drugs) your already doubting your ability to win a fight.

5. Smaller Organizations Go Under- I love the UFC, but I also love Cage Rage, M1 Global, WEC, Elite XC, HDNet Fights, K1 etc.. Some of the best MMA fights you will ever see will come out of the smaller orgs. Maybe the best fight I saw of 2007 was Marius Zaromskis vs Ross Mason at Cage Rage 22, track it down and watch it you will not be dissapointed.

4. Great Pride Fighters not Fighting- Where is Takanori Gomi? One of the best most exciting fighters in history isn't fighting anywhere. How about Mark Hunt, one of my personal favorite heavyweights, he should be fighting the best in the world. Get these guys in the ring, cage, my backyard or wherever and let them scrap.

3. Wanderlei Silva, Crocop and Mauricio Shogun Rua Losing- Three of the most exciting fighters in history, I hope they can turn it around for every MMA fans sake. Whether its the rule changes, the cage or whatever these extremely entertaining fighters need to figure it out because if they keep losing we might not see the dream matches we all hope for.

2. Chuck Liddell Fighting Rampage Again for the Title- I'm sorry but when you beat a guy so decisively 2 times in a row, that guy should'nt get a third crack at it. Same goes for Rich Franklin vs Anderson Silva, there's no point in it. So if Liddell and Franklin land a haymaker in the third fight, does that mean that they're better fighters? Don't think so, we already know who the better fighter is.

1. Fedor Fighting Cans- How in the world does Aleksander get to fight Josh Barnett before Fedor does? This is the best fighter I've ever seen, he should be fighting fighters who actually have a chance at beating him. We don't need to see him fight Semmy Schilt or Bob Sapp, which are some of the new rumors going around, because we all know what the outcome will be. Hopefully the Randy Couture fight will take place this year.

Why MMA Will Overtake Boxing

Hey guys here's an article I wrote awile back about why I think Mixed Martial Arts will overtake boxing. Below is the article in its entirety.

Boxing has long been the king of the pay-per-view airways, and that still holds true, just barely. Although the recent superfight between Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr. grossed a record breaking $120 million, this was not the fight to save boxing. This was not even a great fight. The fight sold well on massive hype and the fighters names, but a fight you tell your grandkids about it was absolutely not.

"This puts to bed this theory of boxing being in trouble, or being dead or dying," said Ross Greenburg, head of HBO Sports. "This fight would have never materialized if boxing was dying." Sorry Ross, but he knows whats going on and he knows exactly why his sport is struggling so much. It has become tradition for HBO boxing announcer Jim Lampley to say something derogatory about Mixed Martial Arts, saying after the De La Hoya vs Mayweather fight that "Mixed Martial Arts is entertaining. The kind of skill level you saw in the ring tonight - there's nothing in mixed martial arts which is within light years of what Mayweather and De La Hoya are able to do with their hands."

Cheap shots aside, Lampley knows MMA is winning some battles in the war. Colorful UFC president Dana White knows it too, saying in his 60 minutes interview "When you start watching the UFC, boxing sucks, boxing is boring". He may be right on the money with that statement. Why watch 2 guys use one form of fighting discipline on each other, when you can watch 2 guys not only use boxing, but Jiu-Jitsu, Judo, Sambo, Kickboxing, Muay Thai, submissions and many forms of wrestling. If Lampley wants to talk about skill level why don't you ask a boxer to take 4 or 5 leg kicks without crying, protect against a shoot and takedown or avoid getting arm-barred, choked out or leg-locked. Boxer's only have to worry about getting punched and throwing a punch. So don't bring skill level into the discussion.

Lets take a look at the main reason boxing was popular in its hey days. The most often overlooked aspect of boxing's popularity is the presence of one true champion, usually heavyweight. These days we have no clue has to who that is in part because nobody's good enough to completley dominate. Its the allure of being labeled "unbeatable" that draws people to that kind of champion. Where would golf be without Tiger Woods and what happened to basketball when Michael Jordan retired the first time. In MMA there is this "unbeatable" champion, Russian heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko. Fedor is a mild-mannered stone cold fighter who is versed in every aspect of the MMA game. He is considered unbeatable by most, which makes it all the more appealing to watch his fights. If he ever loses it will be a major shock to anybody watching, which is why people tune-in. This affects all the fights because you watch an up and comer and think "could he be the one to take down Fedor"

UFC owners Zuffa {owned by Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta} recently bought their biggest competitor, Japanese promotion Pride Fighting Championship. From the perspective of die-hard fans Pride was considered to have the best fighters in the world. It was extremely popular in Japan, until Fuji TV terminated their contract. Pride couldn't handle the loss and had to sell. With Pride on board many superfights that was thought never to be possible are. Popular fighters such as Fedor, Wanderlai Silva, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua and before the purchase Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson are now able to go up against the UFC's elite such as Randy Couture, Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell, Rich Franklin, B.J. Penn and Matt Serra. Being able to promote these kind of superfights will further cement MMA as a true young contender to an old champion, boxing.

One more aspect overlooked by skeptics is the fact that MMA has less serious injuries than boxing. Its not like in boxing where you may take over 100 punches to your head and midsection. Furthermore if you get knocked out in boxing you can get back up and take more punishment, in MMA if the ref thinks your knocked out for a second the fights over. So Lampley and other skeptics can moan all they want, but the facts are the facts and pay-per-view has a new shining prince waiting to be crowned king.

quotes provided by foxsports.com

Original Source

The Rise of Mixed Martial Arts

Hey everyone, this is an article I wrote a while back for a website, obviously alot of things have changed since then(like some people thinking Fedor isn't number 1 anymore), but its an educational article for someone who may be new to MMA.



In the early days of mixed martial arts the concept was simple. Fighters used their specific fighting discipline against an opponent with a different fighting discipline. To prove their style was better they simply got in the ring and used the only style they had trained in for years. This mix of styles often resulted in boring matches. In November of 1993 the first event was held by entrepreneur Art Davie and son of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu creator Helio Gracie's son Rorion Gracie. They named their event Ultimate Fighting Championship now known as the UFC.

The only rules in these fights were no eye-gouging and no biting, but other than that anything else was allowed including groin shots and head butts. The event became popular as people were drawn to the violence and technique. Then came politics as many politicians denounced the sport for its brutal nature. Senator John McCain was so adamant about banning the UFC he was successful in making it illegal in all but 3 states. McCain, who is known for having connections in boxing, also had it removed from 90% of pay-per-view providers. While the UFC was struggling mightily, a promotion in Japan called Pride Fighting Championship was flourishing.

Pride fights were fought in a traditional ring and had slightly different rules than UFC. The UFC was bought by the Zuffa organization in 2001 a company with money and connections. Zuffa is owned by Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta with Dana White being the president. Zuffa was able to get the sport sanctioned in most states that McCain got it banned from. They also inserted boxing like rules with a point system, weight classes, outlawing techniques such as kicking a downed opponent along with rules that were already in place such as glove wearing, no groin shots and no head butts. With these rules in place viewers were able to see the amazing techniques used by the fighters realizing it wasn't just an all-out street brawl with no abilities. Fighters now combined many different fighting styles in fights including jiu-jitsu, boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, judo, sambo, greco-roman wrestling, submissions and other forms. Fighters in Pride and UFC became celebrities.

UFC owners Zuffa bought Pride recently and is now able to have Super-Fights that many people thought would never happen. Some examples would be Chuck Liddell vs. Wanderlai Silva(Now on for December 29th at UFC 79), Fedor Emelianenko vs. Randy Couture and Couture vs. Silva. One of the things that makes MMA so popular now is the fact that there is a consensus greatest fighter in the world in Fedor Emelianenko. Boxing was at its finest when there was one man on top and Fedor is considered unbeatable by most, so if he does lose it would be a major shock. The allure of one guy dominating a sport like Tiger Woods or Roger Federer always makes the sport more popular because everybody is after him but no one can beat him. This sport will continue to grow as the reality TV show "The Ultimate Fighter" on Spike TV lets people in on the world of MMA. MMA is NOT a fad that will go away, its here to stay.