The popularity of MMA has grown across the United States, in fact, it has become one of the fastest growing forms of entertainment internationally. While it has inspired new fans to faithfully watch weekly television programs, purchase monthly Pay-Per-Views and take up martial arts training. It has also raised the concern of many who view the matches as barbaric. Those who protest the most say that because many of these matches take place in a cage and that the two fighters are encouraged to either knock out, choke out or cause such pain that the other fighter is forced to submit that this is no more than human cockfighting and not a sport.

It is easy to see how in the states the questions of the sport arose. Way back in November of '93, the first UFC was held with eight fighters from eight different types of martial arts pitting them against each other in a tournament style event. The idea was to determine which martial art was the best. So they had no weight limits, no time limits, no gloves, and of course, no rules. Except of course for the biting and eye gouging. The fights took place in a steel, chain link, octagon shaped cage giving no one a place to hide or a distinct advantage. This first show was built up as a brutal event, however, the fights were won by Royce Gracie who defeated all of his opponents by way of submission allowing all to walk out of the ring under their own power. But the event promoters billed the sport as extremely violent and brutal in hopes of making scads of cash off the shock and awe of it all.

(Just a little commercial break here - This version of the UFC went bankrupt and was dropped from all PPV schedules due to political pressure. Although SEG tried to save itself by implementing the rules that we see today, they did too little too late and were forced to sell to Zuffa in 2001. Since then, Dana White and the Fertitta brothers have begun rebuilding the brand into safe, sanctioned and profitable sporting events.)

Nonetheless, even though changes have been made such as the fights now being sanctioned, the end results of a match can still be brutal as the potential for injury is great. Of course, MMA is not the only sport known for its brutality and chance for bodily injury. The NFL for instance, representing arguably the most popular sport in the United States, where players are consistently facing serious bodily injury due to being hit. In ice hockey it is not uncommon to watch two players drop the sticks and gloves and fight bare fisted as an accepted, and often the most exciting, part of the game. Still, perhaps the best comparison is boxing where two men are determined to knock the other out in front of millions of spectators. In fact, the standing eight count of boxing makes the sport potentially more dangerous than MMA as brain damage accumulates over a number of rounds whereas in MMA when competitors cannot "intelligently" defend themselves the match is immediately halted for the combatants' safety. Furthermore, the only method of victory in boxing is to out strike your opponent. While MMA offers the striking aspect other techniques are also used to score points such as takedowns, effective grappling and submissions.

Overall, MMA has greatly changed from its initial brutality into a popular sport. This young sport combines the sound techniques and strategies of numerous other combat sports and finds a new way to test human determination and competitive spirit. Mixed Martial Arts is a sport and its popularity will only increase as it draws new competitors, almost daily it seems, from their respective arts looking for a new challenge and place to test their skills.