Where From Here for UK MMA?
The beasts of Britain battle it out on the world stage
21 fights, 2 events, and 1 World Heavyweight Title bout; a busy week in life of the Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC).
By a margin the smaller of the two events, UFC120 took place at London’s O2 Arena, followed a week later by the much hyped UFC121 at the Honda Centre in California, USA.
Giving Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fans worldwide plenty to debate in gyms, bars and online forums, the main attraction was undoubtedly the UFC121 Heavyweight Championship bout between undefeated Mexican poster boy Cain Velasquez and Champion Brock Lesnar: a man that resembles an ungodly fusion of Viking Warlord and waxed grizzly bear.
Billed as the most significant fight in Mexican MMA History, Lesnar vs Velasquez was in reality a bout between two Americans; promoted as a cross-border battle to rally the worldwide Hispanic community behind title contender Valasquez. A well practiced ‘bad guy’ from his days as a WWE Wrestler, Brock Lesnar has been the UFC’s most polarising and in-demand character in the company’s relatively short history; selling more event tickets, Pay Per Views and merchandise than any other fighter. By comparison, Velasquez is a relative unknown, rendering his first round demolition of Lesnar a potentially large financial setback for the UFC.
Whilst far less significant to worldwide MMA than UFC121, London’s UFC120 event was arguably the most high profile in UK Mixed Martial Arts history. So, with a total of 9 British fighters competing over the 2 events, how did the UK fare against its foreign counterparts and what does the future hold for British MMA?
Fights worthy of note include Michael Bisping’s well rounded and tenacious performance against Japanese judo master Yoshihiro Akiyama, Liverpudlian Paul Sass’ record breaking eighth victory by way of triangle choke against Canadian Mark Holst, and Paul Taylor’s high octane defeat at the hands of frequent ‘Fight of the Night’ winner: Canadian Sam Stout.
As Michael Bisping is now the only Brit anywhere near touching distance of a UFC title shot, it’s impossible to deny that the UK is falling increasingly behind the likes of the USA and Brazil. So, why are these particular international competitors able to produce hotly tipped young stars such as Cain Velasquez, Jon Jones and Junior Dos Santos, when by comparison, the UK’s output suffers?
Firstly, it’s an issue of population. Put simply, the UK have less people (and therefore fighters) to choose from. With the increasing popularity of MMA worldwide, larger countries such as The USA and Brazil will inevitably have an advantage in the numbers department.
Secondly, British culture is generally less violent than that of its counterparts. Across most of The Americas, freestyle fighting (which roughly equates to street fighting) and boxing have been a big part of the underground subculture for many years, spawning competitors such as the infamous youtube sensation Kimbo Slice. In the USA, wrestling plays an important role in school and college sports programmes, and in Brazil, martial arts, in particular Jiu-Jitsu and Capoeira, are widely practiced by people from a young age. Whilst the UK has produced some great boxers over the years, combat sports never really managed to take hold of British youth culture in the same way that raving, football and football hooliganism did.
Thirdly and finally: media interest. Whilst MMA has been fairly popular on the UK underground scene for over a decade, it has, until very recently, struggled to achieve dedicated press coverage in the UK as it was deemed by many to be too violent and therefore unmarketable to a mainstream audience.
So, where from here for UK MMA?
With regard to population, this is not an issue the UK will ever be able to fully overcome, but, as a fairly small nation, our output in music, scientific discovery, and various other sports has been historically strong, so there is nothing to say that with hard work, the British can not carve out some glory in MMA competitions such as the UFC.
Our culture may be traditionally less violent than many others, but there is no question that combat sports are quickly gaining popularity in the UK thanks to the likes of the UFC and the successes of home grown boxers such as David Haye, Amir Khan and John Murray.
Whilst commercial sports media used to pay little attention to MMA, there is now a deluge of coverage coming from all angles, including the likes of Sky Sports and The Sunday Telegraph. In addition, advancements in web technologies means that British consumers and hobbyists have increasingly better access to international MMA media, the highlights of which include the video interviews of Ariel Helwani: a remarkably knowledgeable, natural and effective interviewer who has gained huge popularity with UK MMA fans.
In the post UFC120 press conference, UFC President Dana White alluded to the possible formation of a UK fight league and Ultimate Fighter TV Series similar to that which exists in the USA, currently airing in the UK on Sky Sports. Were this to come into effect, then MMA would almost undoubtedly experience another rapid growth spurt that could even result in it eclipsing boxing as the UK’s most popular combat sport.
Everything considered, it’s still too early to know how the UK will fair in MMA competitions over the coming years. The sport is still rapidly evolving and expanding and even if the British start to close the gap on the Americans and Brazilians, the likes of India, China and Africa are yet to mount the UFC gravy train. Once they do, who knows what gigantic weather-beaten War Lords could be unearthed in the process?! There remains only one certainty: fight fans worldwide are in for some serious action over the coming years!
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Guest: andyknhThu 28 - Oct - 2010, 03:09Jay you twat, bragging about the high violence in British culture, i'm a Brit myself living in Australia and your comments make me sick. Living in the US for years and not seeing a fight? Lucky you, most of the time people get shot instead of fistycuffs you idiot -
Guest: jaymo70Wed 27 - Oct - 2010, 07:01What a load of Shite, Britian has a hugh culture of violence more so than the USA, i lived in the US for years and never saw a street fight (probably because they all carry guns). The reason the country at this stage is reaching only a certain level in MMA is that British fighters are primarily strikers and have little experience in ground work. Boxing and kick boxing are very popular in the UK unlike wrestling, which is taught in most schools and collegues in the US. Britian will always fall short untill the popularity of wrestling and BJJ take's hold. believe me it won't be long. C'mon England
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Guest: paulspragetTue 26 - Oct - 2010, 11:29UK MMA has been making the world sit up and take notice for a while now. In The Ultimate Fighter S9 the UK fighters destroyed the US fighters. Bisping has been steadily rising up the UFC ranking and will probably get a MW title shot within a year as long as he keeps winning. Dan HArdy went five rounds with one of the best pound for pound fighters on the planet, Georges St-Pierre, for the WW title back in March. Paul Daley was ranked #8 WW in the world before his stupid post-fight suckerpunch on Koscheck got him fired from the UFC. UK organisations such as BAMMA and Ultimate Challenge MMA are rapidly gaining in popularity and are learning the ropes from the trail blazed by the UFC.
