Follow Up: UFC an Official Sport

I recently read an article on CBS.com about the up and coming sport of Mixed Martial Arts. The writer of the article, which aired on 60 Minutes, discusses the sport as if he's never viewed a combat, or for that matter, contact sport.

In reference to fighter and fan-favorite Matt Hughes, the writer calls Hughes' time in the octagon a "testosterone-fueled world of money and sex", a stark comparison to the life Hughes leads outside the octagon, having grown up on a farm in Illinois.

This kind of uninformed journalism is the main reason the UFC, despite its profits, despite its regulations, and despite its rising level of popularity, can't catch a break from the mainstream media.

If we were to define any American sport by the same standards as the author, would any fail to fit the description of a "testosterone-fueled world of money and sex"?

Take the NFL for example. There was recently a 120+ day lockout over labor disputes between players and owners, disputes over the multi-billion dollar industry that is the National Football League, a league built on sound business decisions, ingenious marketing strategies, and above all else, testosterone.

Critics of the UFC continue to say it's too "barbaric", too "violent." Yes, the UFC is a combat sport, meaning that two competitors, and world class athletes at that, are competing in hand-to-hand combat. But if one looks at football in the same regard, one finds violence of a different sort.

Take for instance the new rule that allows kicking teams to kick off from the 35 yard line. This rule is designed, and has succeeded, in limiting the number of times a return man will bring the ball up field. This, the NFL hopes, will result in fewer "violent" collisions between players, and thus, fewer brutal injuries.

The UFC is no different. Since its inception, the UFC (as the face of MMA) has undergone a radical transformation, and a profitable one. True, in the beginning the UFC was nothing more than violence porn. There were no weight classes and very few rules. The product was based less on competition, and more on spectacle.

However, in the years since its creation it has been purchased by a savvy boxing promoter and amateur boxer named Dana White. With the help of investors, White was able to purchase the UFC for 2 million dollars. After White's purchase, the UFC has never looked the same.

He instated weight classes, a strict set of universal rules that have the athletes' safety in mind, a scoring system that provides an objective way of gauging the fight, and a great deal of time and effort marketing the new and improved product.

And it has paid off. The UFC is now reported to be worth nearly 1 billion dollars, with no sign of slowing profits. If anything, the author of the CBS article gets one thing correct: Dana White and the UFC have captured the waning attention of the male, 18-34 audience, and after signing a deal with Fox to air preliminary fights in 2012, the expansion of the UFC into new markets shows incredible potential.

Yet the UFC can still not catch a break from the mainstream sports media. It is still largely viewed (due to misconception and bad reporting like the CBS article) as a brutal, violent, free-for-all.

Sadly, it's anything but. It's incredibly complicated, and the athletes who compete are world class. There may even come a time (sooner than later) that the UFC eclipses boxing entirely. The UFC may be new, but it's no different than boxing.

Except it's less corrupt.

Currently, if my math is correct, there could be a possible 90 champions in five different major leagues and 18 different weight classes in boxing. Pardon me if I don't care.

Even while the majority of Americans couldn't care less about boxing (or name any five top-twenty boxers), top UFC fighters continue to get more public attention, despite a lack of coverage from the mainstream media.

Bud Light, a longtime sponsor of the UFC, has recently run commercials featuring current Light-Heavyweight champion Jon "Bones" Jones and UFC President, Dana White. The current fighters, some of the best to ever train and compete, are gaining popular attention through other means. GSP, ex-professional wrestler Brock Lesnar, and the greatest pound-for-pound fighter of all time, Anderson Silva, have become household names.

The UFC will continue to grow, as will coverage of this burgeoning sport. It will gain greater popularity, and hopefully, much-deserved notoriety. The question is not if the media will get on board (because they will; where there's money, they always will) but when. For my money, I'll be watching Saturday night fights on pay-per-view.