Great Aricle On UFC's Growth Into a Sport

[Bullock]

It is too long to post but it is an excellent read.

http://www.philly.com/dailynews/spor...IMATE_LEE.html

[NixHex]

Class A chit mayne.

[The Sundance Kid]

Great Article, thanks alot Bullock.!!!


I would Rep but it says I have spread too much rep over the last 24 hours, so whatever.

[BIG FLO]

Fantastic article.

[smoogy]

Another blatant use of the incredibly incorrect ZUFFA MYTH. Zach Arnold at FightOpinion.com has chronicled how Zuffa continuously feeds media outlets a patently false version of the history.

When White and the Fertittas purchased UFC for the seemingly rock-bottom price of $2 million, their wisdom in acquiring the franchise was questioned. UFC had previously marketed itself as "no holds barred" and "anything goes," prompting Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain to denounce it as "human cockfighting." McCain went so far as to call for the abolition of mixed martial arts, which seemed a more likely outcome than a growth cycle, given the fact that few states sanctioned what many believed to be a gratuitously violent enterprise.

A reform initiative was launched that included a meeting with Larry Hazzard, head of the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board, in July 2000, at which time Hazzard outlined rules modifications that would make UFC more palatable to nervous pols.

"The unified rules now in place were hammered out at that meeting," Ratner says. "If that hadn't happened, I know Nevada never would have approved the UFC doing events there. The format for the UFC shows was still going to be fast-paced and exciting, but what few loose rules there were became more structured and formalized."

Goodbye to knees to the groin, eye-gouging, hair-pulling, rabbit-punching, throat-punching and head-kicking. Hello to, well, what true martial artists such as Bruce Lee considered a spiritual calling.

Now lets cross-reference that interesting piece of fiction with reality:

Originally Posted by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_Fighting_Championship

The UFC became a hit on pay-per-view and home video almost immediately due to its originality, realism, and wide press coverage, although not all of it favorable. The nature of the burgeoning sport quickly drew the attention of the authorities and UFC events were banned in a number of American states. Senator John McCain (R-AZ), an avid boxing fan himself, was sent a tape of the first UFC events and immediately found it abhorrent. McCain himself led a campaign to ban Ultimate Fighting, calling it "human cockfighting", and sending letters to the governors of all fifty U.S. states to ban the event. As a result, the UFC was dropped from the major cable pay-per-view distributor Viewer's Choice, and individual cable carriers such as TCI Cable. Thirty-six states enacted laws that banned "no-holds-barred" fighting, including New York, which enacted the ban on the eve of UFC 8, forcing a last-minute relocation of the event. The UFC continued to air on DirecTV PPV, though its audience was minuscule compared to the larger cable pay-per-view platforms of the era.

In response to the criticism, the UFC increased its cooperation with state athletic commissions and redesigned its rules to remove the less palatable elements of fights while retaining the core elements of striking and grappling. Weight classes were introduced at UFC 12; gloves became mandatory and kicks to a downed opponent, hair pulling, and groin strikes were banned at UFC 14. UFC 15 saw more limitations on permissible striking areas: strikes to the back of the neck and head, small joint manipulation, and pressure point strikes were banned. With five-minute rounds introduced at UFC 21, the UFC gradually re-branded itself as a sport rather than a spectacle.

As the UFC continued to work with state athletic commissions, events were held in smaller U.S. markets, including Iowa, Mississippi, Louisiana, Wyoming and Alabama. SEG could not secure home video releases for UFC 23 through UFC 29 in a period known by some fans as the "Dark Ages" of the UFC. With other mixed martial arts promotions working towards U.S. sanctioning, the International Fighting Championships secured the first U.S. sanctioned mixed martial arts event, which occurred in New Jersey on September 30, 2000. Just two months later, the UFC held its first sanctioned event, UFC 28, under the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board's "Unified Rules".

It is amazing how well they have managed to sell this bullshit.

[Bullock]

History is easy to rewrite, especially when you have a big fucking pen.


But the article doesn't really credit the UFC, it credits the Athletic Commission.

[The Sundance Kid]

Originally Posted by Bullock[TTR]

History is easy to rewrite, especially when you have a big fucking pen.

Also, Saying "fuck" alot helps, and deep pockets don't hurt.

[Bullock]

f-bombs = class

[Ubermensch]

Thanks Big B want to but can't rep it.