What is Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)

Mixed martial arts (MMA) is one of the fastest growing sports in America. Now that the sport is free of the overregulation of the past, the sport is really taking off - especially at the local level. The sport is often called Ultimate Fighting after the top promotion in America, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

The point of MMA is to bring together martial artists from different backgrounds to see who is the best overall fighter. So, on any given night, you could see fighters with backgrounds in wrestling, boxing, Muay Thai kickboxing, judo and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu.

The fighters battle it out in an eight-sided caged ring. To win, you have to knock out your opponent or make him give up. When a fighter can't take any more pain, he taps on the mat. That's why a submission victory is called a tap out.

MMA started to take off in the early Nineties with the advent of the UFC on pay-per-view. Early UFC fights were rather uncontrolled, as big guys were allowed to fight small guys and the beatings were quite brutal.

Royce Gracie dominated the early UFC tournaments with his style of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. In this style, a fighter is comfortable on his back in a defensive posture, and he is able to grab body parts to score submissions.

Ken Shamrock, who is more of a straightforward wrestler, was another of UFC's top stars in the early days. He and Dan "The Beast" Severn then went to the WWE, where they benefited from the notoriety of their UFC backgrounds.

This attracted a lot of unwelcome political attention for MMA, most notably from Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). While he wasn't able to get the sport totally outlawed, the UFC virtually regulated out of existence for a while. UFC did a fine job of cleaning up the MMA act by dividing the fighters into weight classes

Also, the action was broken up into five-minute rounds and judges were on hand to render a decision after three rounds (five rounds for title fights). Headbutts and groin strikes were banned. Most importantly, the UFC referees usually do a good job of stopping a fight when one man is getting pummeled to the point where he can't defend himself.

More states began to sanction the sport, which gave their boxing commission officials some extra paydays. The UFC was off and running, and the sport gained popularity again. In addition to a host of new stars like Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture, the UFC found a way to create new starts with a show called The Ultimate Fighter on Spike TV.

The show features young unknowns battling for a spot in the UFC. The format is similar to The Contender (boxing) and Tough Enough (wrestling). Spike TV is also running Ultimate Fight Night, a live UFC event that is a companion to The Ultimate Fighter. A recent episode featuring an Ortiz-Shamrock bout drew a strong rating.

I'm fortunate enough to sit right by the cage, as I am the announcer for Fightfest, a Cleveland-based MMA group. Our show airs on Friday nights at 10:30 on Sports Time Ohio. It's amazing how tough these guys have to be to take such beatings and then sometimes come back to win the fight. Anyone who steps into the cage has my ultimate respect.