UFC 74: Guida vs Aurellio
I’m excited. Big Kev excited. The UFC – that’s Ultimate Fighting Championship – is coming to Australia next year (or so the rumours suggest). I’m a huge fan of MMA (mixed martial arts) and am happy to jump upon my rather tall horse and defend the sport (yes, it is a sport; there are rules, governing bodies and professional athletes).
MMA has an interesting history in Australia, with different states allowing different forms of competition. For example, fighting in the cage is illegal in Victoria however the same rules in a boxing ring are a-okay. I don’t quite understand that. What this means for Victorians is that they have to travel interstate for cage-based MMA (CFC are massive in Sydney and I expect the UFC will hold their first show somewhere in the harbour city early -mid 2010).
So, now it’s time for some people to get their knickers in a twist about the brutality of the sport without bothering to first learn about it.
Ruth Brown (someone I admire as a martial arts writer) recently put together an article on this very topic and it can be read at crikey.com.au.
Here’s a small excerpt:
Next year, one of the biggest sporting organisations in the US is coming to Australia, and it’s going to make a lot of people very angry.
It’s the UFC, or Ultimate Fighting Championships — the world’s largest Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) promotion — where the best fighters in the world battle it out for squillions of dollars, and millions around the world pay to watch on PPV.
MMA is already a favourite target of Australia’s mainstream media, who trot out a lazy WON’T SOMEBODY THINK OF THE CHILDREN!?! article every few months on a slow news day.
Make up your own mind, but please do some thinking and learning first.
