Mixed Martial Art (MMA) / Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

It’s the fight that millions watched and the fight that actually turned out to be a savior for the Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC). It was Fifteen minutes of unabashed ferocity. Two men went foot-to-face, hand-to-body, with each punch and kick they threw full of rage.

They kept on fighting until their skins were stained red with bruises and scratches and blood covered the arena mat. The arena was sold-out completely, the crowd noise was deafening as the final bell rang. Inside the middle of the octagon ring, the two fighters who were all battered and bruised up shared a big hug.

Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar were the two fighters who punched and kicked throughout The Ultimate Fighter finale. It was considered as the most crucial fight in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) history, it slung the UFC into the hearts and minds of sports’ most desired viewers.

It was the first fight after which people gained more knowledge about what MMA is all about, before that people were not very aware of MMA. That was the fight that actually initiated the MMA boom.

Mixed Martial Arts can be best represented as the bloody love child of boxing and professional wrestling, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is as complex and technical as ballet, and as bloody as two men beating on each other to death in a cage. MMA is the world’s fastest-growing sport. During the past five years MMA has gone from underground to a mainstream sports.

On April 24, At Rogers Center over 55 thousand fans were there to watch the match between Georges St-Pierre and Jake Shields at UFC 129. It was in Canada’s largest city and even last March during MMA debut in Vancouver tickets were sold out in minutes.

In United States of America, as per the Association of Boxing Commissions, Professional MMA are allowed in most of the states. However in states like, Connecticut, New York and Vermont, MMA is still considered illegal and legislation for it is still pending.

In Sweden Mixed Martial Arts competitions are legal, It runs under the Swedish Mixed Martial Arts Federation (SMMAF) which itself was formed in 2007 and later in 2008 it began overseeing Mixed Martial Arts Events.

Canada is the hub of Mixed Martial Arts, In most of its provinces MMA competitions are legal. But still Mixed Martial Arts is not as mainstreamed as it should be but now it’s growing and evolving to make room for itself globally.