Any UFC fans out there?

Love the UFC and Pride fighting. Personally, I think boxing is much more dangerous with repeated hit after hit after hit to the head. The REFs in UFC are all experienced in MMA and they know what is going on at all times. If you want to talk violent, check out some of those Asian Muay Thai matches. Man, that stuff is out there. As for the Gracies, back when UFC started most of the contestants were amateurs and weekend warriors. Very few of the contestants were on the level of what you see today. It was the dentist with a black belt kind of thing. Today, all these guys are professionals and are prepared for whatever comes thier way. Sure, it is still violent. This is martial arts and martial means war. It looks much worse than you think especially if you over-react to bloody noses. Check out your Sunday football and you get to see guys playing with broken arms. How is that for violent?

I thoroughly enjoyed that one. Yup, that's another addiction of mine. 40 bucks a pop, better than crack I guess.

Match:

You make some good points. Many MMA critics point to the "ground and pound" as being too violent, but in reality those punches are way less dangerous than boxing strikes. On the ground, the fighter on top does not do a full wind up and slug away with full force as that would leave his arms open to a counter, such as an arm bar or other submission hold. UFC has banned small joint manipulation. Elbow strikes are still allowed, but they tend to look worse than they really are.

2007 will be the year to see if people are truly into MMA, as opposed to being just UFC fans.

Regards, Rich

BTW, early on in UFC it was a bit more violent considering that most fighters were amateurs and such things as punching in the groin were allowed. Anyone remember seeing that? Plus, no weight division so a giant could fight a little guy. Today there are lots of rules and weight classes just like in boxing. Plus, Big John McCarthy is an excellent ref and I don't think he would allow any fighter to get needlessly hurt under his watch.

The UFC and MMA will run boxing out of town in time. Boxing is a dying sport.

I enjoyed watching skinny Royce Gracie in the early no-weight-classes, one-night tournaments. I guess I had more appreciation for a martial artist who could subdue his opponent without beating him to a bloody pulp and leaving him possibly damaged for life.

I used to play judo with a man in his 70's who could beat me three out of four times, both of us going full blast but of course within judo rules (I was in my early to mid 30's at the time, and arguably in pretty good shape). My friend could beat most of the guys in their 20's too. How many 70+ year old veteran boxers do you see stepping into the ring and going full blast with guys young enough to be their grandchildren or great-grandchildren?

Duke