Is MMA Really a Sport?

Mixed martial arts also known as MMA, may be the reason why Sam Vasquez of Houston, Texas has died. Vasquez sustained injuries in a recent sanctioned MMA competition. He collapsed in the ring after taking multiple punches, medical personnel worked on him there just prior to his being rushed to the hospital. With his passing on November 30, 2007 the medical cause of death may make Vasquez the first person to die in a sanctioned MMA match.

Mixed martial arts, MMA, has been considered highly controversial and banned in a few states within the United States in 1990's. This combat sport had recently grown in popularity due to pay - per - view events of UFC here in the United States. The UFC, Ultimate Fighting Championship is based in the United States and is a MMA organization. Started as a tournament to find the best fighters in a relatively no holds barred fighting, limited rules, where the fighting is violent. It has been compared as being human cock-fighting.

The UFC fought its way to becoming a sanctioned fight with stricter rules and changing to be more marketable for better acceptance of the public. Modern MMA is putting different styles of martial arts against one and other in fighting competition with a minimum of rules in order to establish which would be the best in real unregulated combat.

There are two main styles of MMA; sport and street. In Sport MMA, the matches typically have 2 unarmed people fighting it out with the basic rules being; no eye-gouging, no biting, no inserting fingers into bodily crevices such as mouth or nose, and no groin attacks of any kind. In Street MMA, includes the use of weaponry, mainly the stick and/or knife, common place, though this type of style is not as popular as Sport MMA.

I have seen this on television but not as a spectator paying to view, it was a documentary of mixed martial arts competition done in a secluded spot in another country because of it being underground. I must tell you not only was it horrifying to see bits and pieces of this but to imagine humans willing to fight in such a manner for nothing more then a trophy of some sort. I would not consider this a sport of any kind but rather a blood bath for individuals in to hard core masochistic fighting.