Martial Art Mecca

by Sarah Aswell

“Ultimate fighting” refers to the Ultimate Fighting Championship, which is an MMA organization. Many fans new to the sport will make the mistake of saying they like watching ultimate fighting instead of saying they like watching mixed martial arts – and it’s a good way to tell how knowledgeable a person is about the sport. The UFC is the biggest and most successful MMA company and, with a few exceptions, has contracts with the most talented and well-known MMA fighters.

The UFC was founded in 1993 by advertising executive Art Davie. At the time, MMA had fewer rules and regulations and was seen as a brutal spectacle. Still, the company found some success with Pay-Per-View events and limped along until 2001, when the company was bought out by Zuffa – headed up by the Fertitta brothers and boxing promoter Dana White. A few television deals and successful corporate sponsorships later, and the UFC was able to successfully bring the world of MMA into the national spotlight.

“Cage fighting” is an antiquated term for mixed martial arts. As practitioners of the sport strive for uniformity and consistency in order to make MMA legitimate, vocabulary like “cage fighting” is becoming unpopular. Not only does it assume that all MMA bouts take place in a cage when many bouts take place in a ring, but it also makes the sport seem less professional. People who use the term are usually older fans of the sport who have followed it since the early 90s, when the term was more acceptable.