MMA 101 - Lesson I

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With the emergence of the freak show and youtube sensation that is Kimbo Slice, and the popular reality show: The Ultimate Fighter on Spike TV, the mainstream public has been introduced (finally) to the world of Mixed Martial Arts, or MMA for short. I am an avid follower/fan/enthusiast of this fast-growing sport and have been for quite a long time now and felt compelled to impart some of my knowledge to our loyal readers in hopes that you will become TRUE fans of the sport as well. The world of MMA is a little confusing and it is important to separate the real from the ridiculous and absurd. So I decided to start by busting some common myths in the world of MMA. So let us begin Lesson I...

Regardless of what ESPN will have you believe, the Ultimate Fighting Championships(UFC) is not the only organization that puts on MMA fights/events. Not even close. They are certainly the pioneers of the MMA world because they created The Ultimate Fighter reality show four years ago and their popularity has been growing by leaps and bounds due to the success of the show, but it pains me to hear people talk about MMA and refer to it simply as UFC fighting, or even worse, CAGEFIGHTING! For God's sakes never use that term please, I beg you. Yes, UFC fights do take place in a cage, an 8 sided cage specifically known as: The Octagon. But the truth is that not all MMA fights occur in a cage, in fact some take place in a standard four sided boxing ring.
The other myth that I would like to dispel for everyone is the whole Kimbo Slice phenomenon. Kimbo, the former youtube street fighter from Miami, sucks ass! He is horrible and should be put back on the streets of Miami where he belongs. EliteXC, the organization that promotes Kimbo (a rival company of the UFC), is trying to capitalize on his popularity with the naiive teenager demographic who think he is cool or a good fighter. He is a joke, plain and simple. The problem is that EliteXC was able to ink a network television deal with CBS (the first in MMA history) and the masses were subjected to their propoganda that Kimbo is a legitimate mixed martial artist. He is the farthest thing from that. He holds a MMA record of 3-0 with one being a very controversial win and the other two coming against fighters who were worse than he was and basically paid to take a punch and go down (for further reference: this type of fighter is known simply as "a can"). His last fight, the controversial one, came on the first ever televised MMA fight card on CBS to a fighter named James Thompson who is famous in the MMA world for getting knocked out (KO'd) in almost every single one of his professional fights. And what happened...Kimbo couldn't knock him out for three rounds. I'm tired of hearing about this Slice, this "street fighting legend" and from here on out will never mention his name again when I am discussing legitimate MMA topics. I promise myself that, as well as you fine people.

That is all for now folks, just a short little intro. So to recap today's lesson: in order to not sound like a complete moron, refer to this tremendous sport as MMA or Mixed Martial Arts and never ever refer to Kimbo Slice at all.
And just to make it clear, this is only the beginning. There is more to come, much more. Stay tuned.

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