ROLANDO DELGADO lay motionless on the canvas unaware of the euphoria unfolding around him. He had just been floored by a crushing right hand from Britain’s Andre Winner that turned his lights out and tucked him into bed. Winner celebrated his debut with this devastating knockout victory that sent adrenaline pumping through the bodies of everyone in attendance for UFC 105 at the M.E.N Arena. It was a sight that would have sickened many, but to those inside the arena it was a raw act of brutality that they had paid to see.
Over the past century the art of combat, packaged as a sport, has been primarily conducted in a square ring with red padded gloves to remove the viciousness of the ensuing contest. If you replace the ring with an octagon shaped cage and replace the symbolic red gloves with thin black gloves, whose only purpose is to stop the shattering of knuckles, then you will begin to understand the exciting world of MMA (mixed martial arts).
UFC…Michael Bisping is one of Britain’s brightest stars.
Boxing has been transformed into an art form, a glorious mix of beauty and brutality, but its superiority in the fight world is being challenged. Fight fans who either do not appreciate the fine artistry of boxing or those disillusioned with the sport have found in MMA, primarily under the banner of the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship), an exciting alternative.
Fists fly, bodies slam and knees crash over three five-minute rounds (or five five-minute rounds for championship bouts) with a fighter hoping to secure a knockout or submission within the scheduled time limit, although judges are on hand should the fighters survive the allocated time. MMA encompasses a wide variety of fighting styles including boxing, wrestling, jiu-jitsu, muay thai, karate and kickboxing. The fighters are machines, training six hours a day to master various fighting styles, resulting in a well rounded lethal weapon capable of crashing a right hook to the head or bending your arm to breaking point. The octagon is home to Olympic athletes, K-1 champions, karate masters and more black belts than Primark.
However, this was not always the case. In the early days, around 1993, the UFC rules were practically invisible, fighters with boots, bare fists and in one bizarre case, a single boxing glove. Politicians were outraged with recent presidential candidate John McCain calling it “human cock-fighting”. Lacking legitimacy and commercial appeal the company was transformed primarily under a man named Dana White. Now UFC president, White recognised the need for strict guidelines and, crucially, air-time on American cable TV to attract the masses. The breakthrough came in 2006 with the launch of reality TV programme The Ultimate Fighter, as it followed 16 fighters competing for the chance of a lucrative six- figure UFC contract. Television audiences have exploded since, with Time Magazine calling it “the fastest growing sports brand in the United States”.
It was The Ultimate Fighter that helped penetrate British audiences in season three as Manchester’s own Michael “The Count” Bisping was victorious. It was the watershed moment for UFC in the UK. Ten UK fighters were on the card for UFC 105 this month, drawing a sell-out crowd at the M.E.N.
The UFC succeeds where boxing fails. It has under contract over 350 fighters, there are no tailored fights for easy victory and has only five world champions in five weight classes. Boxing has four major sanctioning bodies with the sport boasting 17 weight divisions with over 50 world champions, none of them being undisputed. The UFC regularly stages events meaning the fighters are well-known and the fans understand the nuances of the sport. Perhaps significantly there are very few mediocre or irrelevant under-cards giving fans the justification for the high price of tickets.
UFC president Dana White’s hopes of toppling boxing look promising given that the UFC earned over $300 million from pay-per-view in 2008, contrasted to HBO’s boxing revenue of $190m. His claim that the UFC will be “bigger than soccer” may be as far-fetched as me becoming world champion, but the meteoric rise of the UFC can no longer be ignored. Welcome to the Octagon.
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