There’s so much going on in the world of Mixed Martial Arts these days. When I watch my monthly UFC bouts on PPV, I always think about how interesting the sport is and how lucky I am to live in these times. The last generation that got to watch anything like this actually knows When Fell the Coliseum. If MMA is a symptom of the downfall of our society, than I say burn baby burn, because it’s a great watch, and MMA is destined to stand in the pantheon of popular sports.

First a thought about the coverage. I watched a great pre-fight show on Spike called “UFC 113 Countdown: Machida vs Shogun”. The best part was a segment where Rua and his camp, as well as Machida and his team, sat and re-watched the last Machida vs Rua fight, round for round and made comments. Machida’s camp, including his father, were dressed in traditional karate uniforms, called a gi, and Rua and his team were in modern workout clothes used in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu training, compression shorts, etc. Total Old School vs New School!

While the comments were very interesting, the production of the piece was also worth noting. The use of the comments, the music, pacing, etc. were all well done, but what really stood out was the freezing of the footage during hard contact in the fight and the blowing up of that contact so we could better see the reaction of the face punches, the perfection in Machida’s front kicks, toes extended backwards, and the devastation caused by Rua’s soccer kicks to Machida’s midsection and legs. I’ve never seen this effect used in this way before, and it was highly effective by being enlightening and entertaining.

That’s all part of a new sport that is growing right before our eyes. The rise of MMA means new developments both within the sport as well as its coverage. It’s the new frontier, ripe for trail-blazing.

The Big Daddy, King-of-the-Ring trailblazer in MMA is The Ultimate Fighting Championship, UFC, which was conceptualized and founded by the trail blazing, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) Masters, Rorian and Royce Gracie. After establishing the modern MMA business, UFC was taken over by Zuffa, LLC consisting of the Fertitta brothers and more famously, Dana White. They refined the UFC, turning it into the greatest sport success story of the 21^st Century.

The UFC’s top announcer is Joe Rogan, whom I hated for years, knowing him only as the un-funny Joe Garrelli on NewsRadio and the mean spirited host of Fear Factor, who had no respect for any of the contestants and didn’t even seem like he wanted to be there.  

However, one day, after I thought his career had made an overdue exit, I found Rogan announcing UFC fights and, to my surprise, he was so good at it! Turns out he was very knowledgeable about MMA, especially BJJ which is the dominant Martial Art-form in the sport. I often say the exact same thing that Rogan does during the fights, at the exact same time. It’s unnerving, and a man for whom I had little respect for, suddenly made a 180 degree turn-around on my respect/disrespect ratio, like Bob Saget did in 2006.

So Joe Rogan’s career survived, and it actually seems like he’s found his calling. Another MMA success story.

Another thing that I have learned observing MMA, is that Brazil excels at more sports than just soccer. MMA is dominated by Americans (we’re pretty violent, so that’s no surprise), Asians (where all the famous Martial Arts such as Karate and Kung Fu were invented), and Brazilians. Why Brazilians?

Before the (Brazilian) Gracie family invented modern MMA, all I knew about Brazil was Pele and Bossa Nova music. It turns out they’ve invented their own Martial Arts (Caipoiera, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, etc.) and they love to fight. UFC was based on Brazil’s Vale Tudo tournaments which were the precursor of the UFC. Why this South American country has become the leader in modern Martial Arts is an interesting story, one too long for this posting, but suffice it to say, Brazil is truly a mix of cultures, and its people are competitive, in great shape and they have a loooong history of fighting, pride and machismo.

This leads me back to Machida and Rua, two Brazilians vying for the Light Heavyweight Championship belt tonight. Lyoto Carvalho Machida is a Japanese-Brazilian MMA fighter, the son of a Japanese Shotokan karate master who married a Brazilian woman. Machida has studied Karate, BJJ and Sumo Wrestling. He is a shining example of Brazil’s diversity in ethnicity, culture and techniques of violence, much like my own wonderful and exciting country.

Mauricio “Shogun” Rua has more connections to Asia than just his nickname. He studied the Thailand based Muay Thai fighting as well as BJJ. Rua made his name in Japan, becoming a Pride Fighting Champ.

Watching this fight, I am reminded that the world is shrinking and we are all becoming one. An American company, founded by a Brazilian family, that mastered a Japanese martial Art, Jiujitsu, is hosting two Brazilian fighters. They’ve both studied the hybrid martial art, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. One has studied Japanese Karate and Sumo Wrestling, the other Thailand’s national Martial Art, Muay Thai as well as hybrids of Grecco-Roman wrestling. Between them, they have flowing in their veins the blood of African slaves, Japanese immigrants, European settlers. Millions will watch tonight’s event. The world is truly coming together, even if it’s to fight each other!

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