Mixed Martial Arts, in its current inception, is a sport. When it began 20 years ago, it wasn’t. Not because it was more violent, which it was, but because it wasn’t conceived or presented as a sport. It was designed, in equal parts, as an earnest attempt to pit one martial arts style against another and as a violent spectacle. The Ufc was started, essentially, as a live-action martial arts infomercial by the Gracie family, the pioneers of Brazilian Ju-Jitsu, who were anxious to demonstrate their vastly superior style against all comers, as they had been doing in Brazil for half a century. Matches generally weren’t the brutal blood-sport people might expect. More often than not, they were simply ugly fights between frequently unskilled competitors.
In less than 20 years Mma, still known to most people as Ufc fighting, has gone from being a nearly unknown fringe interest to...
In less than 20 years Mma, still known to most people as Ufc fighting, has gone from being a nearly unknown fringe interest to...
- 3/30/2011
- by Mike Waldman
- SoundOnSight
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