I really should get over the shock of seeing positive MMA coverage in the MSM. From the WSJ comes To Some, the Ultimate Fight:
Saturday night in Las Vegas, Randy Couture will step into an eight-sided ring surrounded by a steel cage and stare down Brock Lesnar, a 31-year-old former NCAA wrestling champion who is six inches taller, at least 40 pounds heavier and 14 years younger. Mr. Couture, who is 45, will then have 25 minutes to knock his opponent unconscious, force him to quit or control him thoroughly enough to win by decision.To do this will take everything he’s learned in a lifetime of fighting: a deep knowledge of leverage and posture earned over decades as an Olympic-caliber Greco-Roman wrestler, Brazilian jiujitsu techniques honed over the last 12 years against top Russian, Japanese and Dutch fighters, specialized boxing tactics and a peerless ability to read and exploit a rival’s weakness. All of this has made Mr. Couture the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s heavyweight champion and one of the greatest masters of mixed martial arts, a sport that has developed over the last 15 years from a novelty into a legitimate rival to boxing that some consider the world’s most sophisticated combative art.
Pay-per-view-television experts say it’s possible that Saturday’s fight, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, could draw more than a million buys at $44.95 apiece, which would match the sport’s record and rank higher than all but two boxing matches from the last four years.
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For more than a century, this primal drive to watch people fight has been satisfied by boxing, a traditional sport that tests combat ability along just one dimension: punching. Mixed martial arts permits a much wider range of striking (kicking and open-hand hits are permitted, as are most blows below the waist) as well as submissions, takedowns, and ground fighting, testing ability of all three. Fighters combine elements of martial arts including muay Thai, a form of boxing that allows the use of the knees, elbows and feet; sambo, a Russian variant of judo; and even karate. To be effective, a fighter has to develop a well-rounded game. Without extensive training, even a world-class wrestler or boxer can be thrashed.
[...]
Today, the sport puts on about two dozen major events a year here, mostly on pay-per-view television. Although there are other promotional bodies and feeder leagues, the UFC is the largest and most established: It hosts fights in largest venues, purses and bonuses for major fights can surpass $2 million, and is now sanctioned in 37 of the 45 states with athletic commissions.