It's been over 15 years since UFC debut and people were astonished by how this tournament style competition emerged. This classic martial artists competed and showed their unique fighting skills to the world that their fighting style is more superior than the other. Viewers from all over the world were excited. Cheers roaring and echoing all over the stadium watching their fighters execute their superior skills and technique against an opponent of another art form. This is a real life martial arts competition more like the competition we see in "Bruce Lee" and "Jean Claude Van Dam movies". This is an Amazing concept from former UFC headman the great Rorion Gracie who is an expert of brazilian jiujitsu and a break through phenomenon in the martial arts world.
Early UFC was far more different than the UFC now. Aside from the established differences from the rules currently and the selection of fighters, UFC at present does not exploit the intricate details and the essence of a true martial art style and technique. UFC now still has great fighters, the program is more renowned world wide, they have better pay rate for fighters, and the event has more sting and popularity compared to then, but yet something is missing.
The way UFC is running now really contradicts what the true meaning of mixed martial arts, or MMA as what most people refer to, represents. What is UFC focusing into? What does UFC represent world wide? Do people see this event as a sport or mere brutality? How I see UFC now, in my opinion, is another "Tough Man" competition sport. The unpredictability is gone. Fighters now are more predictable with the style they're going to use. There are no varieties of art that a true martial artist want to see. For the average Joe, beating somebody up into a knock out or submission from multiple blows sends them to euphoria. Time limits are enforced, ground fighters are put back on their feet when they're on the mat too long. I mean, what is this? Almost all UFC fights just turns into a blow by blow match. It is comparable to a brawl fight staged in a ring that is so called "the octagon". What I mean by all this is the true essence of the sport is not being explored the right way. It is overrun by athletes focused and driven in the aspect of ground and pound till submission, and the unique quality of each fighter's style is overshadowed by their brute strength and rough and brawny qualities. The popularity of boxing, for example, flourished into a sweet science due to it's intricate techniques and flow and the ability of boxers to fully execute their techniques to win strategically in the ring. The great "Muhammad Ali" was able to float like a butterfly and sting like a bee and was able to combine his graceful moves and flow with the sport.
What's missing in UFC nowadays? People get tired of seeing Brazilian Jiujitsu, Muay Thai fighters, wrestling, and Vale Tudo all the time. Early UFC has different representations from different styles such as kung fu, sumo, judo, aikido; current UFC fighters are almost redundantly the same in the styles they use. Without a doubt it works well in the octagon, but the question is, do people see you win executing your discipline's technique or do they see it as just choking them out or beating them out to submission or knockout using your brute physical strength? UFC needs a wide selection of fighters from different art. UFC needs a different set of rules. UFC needs three categories instead of one. What I mean by that is, ground fighters should have a different sanctioning body separate from stand up fighters. That way, other martial art disciplines will get a chance to show their techniques standing up and vice versa. Another sanctioning body may be for MMA fighters who are t rained in both stand up and ground fighting techniques. If boxing has WBC, WBO, IBF, WBA, why can't UFC have the same concept that way the event won't be focusing on MMA fighters alone?
Will Dana White who is the current top man in UFC change it? Maybe or Maybe not. Why? Well, of course money talks. Serious assessments and review must be done first whether people will buy the idea or not and how it will affect it's programs' current status.
