What's All the Excitment Over the UFC?

Since the days that Gladiators battled in the coliseum of Rome, modern day man has tried to duplicate this sport. And now with the new and revised UFC the dream has "almost" came true.

On November 12, 1993 the legacy of the UFC began. The term "Ultimate Fighting Championship" was coined by an SEG (Semaphore Entertainment Group) employee named Michael Abramson.

In The Beginning

The first UFC tournament was the idea of Rorion Gracie who is an expert in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. Gracie was looking for a way to promote his jiu-jitsu school which was famous for "the Gracie challenge." Gracie then pitched the idea of a tournament to SEG and the first UFC tournament began.

Since UFC 1 when Royce Gracie caught Gerard Gordeau in a rear naked choke hold the virtually "no holds barred" tournament became an overnight success. The excitement of the early UFC tournaments was due to no weight classes. A much smaller man could be brought out to fight a giant, which then resembled a modern day fight between David and Goliath.

Weight classes would later be defined in UFC 12. All fighters were allowed to wear their traditional clothing according to their style. Now days all competitors are forbidden from wearing shirts; which seems to be fine with the multitude of lady fans.

After Royce Gracie won 3 out of the first 4 UFC tournaments, it was established that a ground game was definitely needed in the octagon for success. Now, future fighters were beginning to critique their skills and added ground wrestling techniques into their skills before they entered the octagon.

The Growth of the UFC

The evolution of the UFC according to Dana White (UFC president) "was haphazard because it was never meant to happen." The UFC then did so well on pay-per-view that the promoters decided to have another one, then another, and so on. Now the UFC has created another sport entirely. Interest in the UFC rapidly began to grow across the nation and beyond.

Now you're able to watch men fight as close to a street brawl as you could get with good fighting skills. Soon more rules and regulations where added to the UFC, hopefully to appease the critics, and also to help to form the UFC into a legitimate sport.

Several critics and one Senator also alleged that the UFC was akin to "human cockfighting." This just seemed to fuel the fire of the UFC which made it even more popular. Although the UFC is a very brutal sport no "life altering" injuries have been sustained since its creation.

Then in 2005 Spike TV released its first season of "The Ultimate Fighter" with a substantial advance from the UFC for the production of the show. This show featured a group of UFC hopefuls as they competed for fighting contracts.

This was the first time fans could actually watch a UFC fight on cable television outside of pay-per-view. Now with cable TV coverage with expansions into Canada and Europe, the UFC was now gaining extreme popularity along with main stream media coverage.

Today's UFC

Now in 2010 viewers can watch UFC programming in over 34 countries around the world. Spike TV also features such shows as: "UFC unleashed" and has also signed on to broadcast "UFC Fight Night."

Seven members of the UFC such as: Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock have been inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame. The current heavyweight champ of the UFC is now Brock Lesnar.

The UFC is also very popular in the video game industry. Some of the UFC video games are: Tapout 1&2, Throwdown, Sudden Impact, and UFC 2009; undisputed.

UFC Action figures are also in production of such legends as: Royce Gracie, Brock Lesnar and Chuck Liddell. These action figures are scheduled to be released in November 2009. Also scheduled for release is an "Official scale Octagon playset." With all of the media coverage and merchandising the "Ultimate Fighting Championship" is now at the top of it class.

Sources of information:

www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=LearnUFC.History
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_Fighting_Championship
entertainment.howstuffworks.com