Beta Labs MMA

UFC stands for Ultimate Fighting Championship.
It is one of the most popular sporting events in the world and is ever increasing its reach worldwide. It has had the largest pay per view viewing ever.

Brief history
The UFC was created in 1993 and is very different to todays popular fighting style. Zuffa promotions brought UFC organisation in 2001 and has lead it from strength to strength.
It is in an octagon fighting arena rather than a boxing ring or wrestling ring like some MMA (mixed martial arts events)
The octagon has 30ft of fighting matt which makes the whole cage a fighting arena. The sides are metal chain links and stands 5ft 8ins tall.

UFC rules
There are very strict rules and have developed since UFC 1.
The main rules include: -
No headbutting
No eye poking or goudging
No hair pulling
No fish hooking
No groin attacks
No orifice poking
No tampering with cuts on your opponent
No rabbit punches
No direct elbow striking
No kneeing on ground
No stamping on opponent
No wrestling piledrivers
No throwing opponent over the octagon
No holding the octagon fence
No attacking opponent when being assessed by referee or doctor
No unsportsmanlike behaviour
No fighting after the siren goes for the end of the round
No hiding or running from opponent
No throwing in the towel – unlike boxing this cannot happen

The scoring if it goes to the distance is the ten point must scoring system exactly like the boxing system.

Usual fights are three five minutes rounds and championship bouts are five five minutes rounds.

The weight classes are
Lightweight: 145 to 155 lb (67 to 70 kg) 10 stone 4lbs to 11stone 1lbs
Welterweight: 156 to 170 lb (71 to 77 kg) 11 stone 2lbs to 12 stone 2lbs
Middleweight: 171 to 185 lb (78 to 84 kg) 12 stone 2lbs to 13 stone 3lbs
Light Heavyweight: 186 to 205 lb (85 to 93 kg) 13 stone 3lbs to 14 stone 9 lbs
Heavyweight: 206 to 265 lb (94 to 120 14 stone 9lbs to 18 stone 13lbs

Like most fighting organisations, if a fighter cannot fight for a title if didnt reach the weight limit.

Current champions include
Lightweight – BJ Penn aka The Prodigy
Welterweight – George St Pierre aka Rush aka GSP
Middleweight – Anderson Silva aka The Spider
Light heavyweight – Rachad Evans aka Sugar
Heavyweight – Brook Lesnar

How fighters win
Submission – this is when a fighter puts another in a move and their opponent taps out (given up)
Technically knock out – this is when a fighter is unable to continue and the referee steps in and stops the fight (so like a knock out and go to sleep etc)
Decision – 3 judges review the match and judge the fight on 10 point basis, 9 for the fighter who loses the round or an 8 if they are knocked down or dominated

Unlike other sports…..
Unlike wrestling it is not staged and the winner is not chosen before the fight.
Unlike Boxing most fights actually happens and is not too political
Unlike other sports, UFC fighters are contracted to a number of fights with the organisation
Unlike other sports, number one contender is actually the number one contender, and there is usually only one championship belt (recently this has changed as the interim heavyweight champion is Frank Mir)
Unlike most US dominated sports it regularly holds main events in other countries, like Canada and London, England at the o2 centre. It has also recently visited Ireland and looks to branch out further.

UFC can be viewed in the UK and Ireland on Setanta Sports 1 and is free to view without any pay per view like in the States.
The next few fights are scheduled for: -
Ultimate Fight Night – 07/02/2009 starts @ 2am
UFC 95 – 21/02/2009 starts @ 8pm
UFC 96 – 07/03/2009 starts @ 3am

For the best UFC news check out
The official site
For the best RSS feeds check out Alltop MMA
For televised news and programs check out Setanta

Danny Denhard