Ultimate Fighting Championship
If you have never heard of the UFC then you do not know what real competitive martial arts fighting is all about. It is possibly the only competition (Besides PRIDE) where two experts in fighting can get in an octagon, fight to the end and then be buds at the completion. Some think it is very violent, but that is what Martial Arts competition is all about. I have learnt a lot from it. Now they want to ban it even where it is legal. What do you think?
I haven't watched the UFC in a while, but the few that I did watch a couple of years ago were very intense. It is interesting to see the different fighting styles matched against each other. While the sport is very brutal, it is a true depiction of how effective a fighting style can be. I remember seeing people knocked out cold in these competitions. It definitely isn't for the faint at heart.
Although it is still savage to some people there are many rules now that did not exist years ago. In fact you cannot hit a certain way, you cannot hit certain parts of the body and so on which in my opinion severely limit some martial art styles.
I saw some matches and I think UFC is maybe the toughest martial art style. In my opinion, compared to UFC, K1 is for kindergarten.
(I saw some older matches ... I don't know if they changed the rules or not, but what I saw there was a bit scary. One match ended in maybe 15 sec ... KO after a high kick)
Basically in the UFC there are three kinds of fighters - stand-up, ground and mixed. I have noticed that the winning style is no longer ground as it was in the beginning with Gracie, but now a little of both leaning towards stand-up. I think if a person can knock another professional out with a high kick then that is truly amazing since kicks - especially high kicks are not the popular angle for knockouts as much as to stun or injure so that a follow-up is made with the hands in the form of a upper jab or swing to the chin.
Most UFC fights I saw, you're right, ended on ground, but the one I mentioned was spectacular because of the speed of execution ... poor fellow didn't saw it coming and dropped like a sack of potatoes.
Offtopic but, did you see KAOKLAI KAENNORSING vs MIGHTY MO ? (in K1) check out https://www.so-net.ne.jp/feg/k-1gp/ |
I have always been a fan of Tank Abbott. I saw him win 1995 Ultimate Ultimate tourney by KO and the 1996 Ultimate Ultimate by submission. He has lost one more in tournament fighting then he has won. He was eventually kicked out of UFC and most likely led to some of the rules being changed. I am also a fan of Tito Ortiz. I haven't kept up with it for a couple years and don't know if he is still fighting. I would like to get back into watching it. Is pit fighting considered a marshal arts form? I didn't think it was because it looks more like street fighting.
I did not know Tank was kicked out, but Tito is still in and although he has reached far he does not have the zap of some of the other champions.
Offtopic but, I do not know if Pit Fighting can be considered a Martial Art since there is no particular style or discipline involved, however I am sure that Martial Artists do participate. |