A reminder of what MMA can be

An incredibly stupid fight card from Spain was a great reminder of what MMA has lost.

Illustration by Chris Rini.

The UFC’s run to regulation has become a cornerstone of the Zuffa story. It’s probably less spin than Dana White gives most of his memory when he talks about how the Fertittas bought a promotion not just one the brink of collapse, but one that could barely find a state that would sanction their brand of ‘no holds barred’ violence.

Truthfully, of course, the UFC had started running toward regulation well before White & Co. stepped in. It didn’t take many events for the SEG owned version of the company to realize that their dojo-heavy tournament style wasn’t going to last. The increasing number of wrestlers and professionally trained athletes opened up the likelihood that some member of the strip mall Karate black belt contingent would get seriously hurt in a no-rules tournament format.

As such, figures like ‘Big’ John McCarthy and Jeff Blatnick and Joe Silva started putting together rules and regulations for the Octagon in conjuction with the ABC and State Athletic Commissions. No Groin strikes, no headbutts, no fish hooking. Gloves became more the norm, etc. etc...

What Zuffa brought, more than anything, was an understanding of the politics of regulation. An ability to lobby. The right money, connections, and a set of new rules already in place paved the way for MMA to become an officially recognized sport and eventually a normal part of the American sporting landscape (if still something of a niche interest).

Along the way, however, there was another, less celebratory outcome from the UFC’s success and eventual market dominance. Namely, the blanding of mixed martial arts. NHB, for all its faults, really was the true sandbox of combat sports. Fighters with limited understandings of the potential for true fighting given room to test themselves with few limitations. Can the TaeKwonDo guy really stay off the ground? Can the BJJ guy force someone to grapple? Can the ninjitsu guy actually disappear?

Insistance on gloves and wraps, credit for top control, and a flat playing surface with cage walls all helped emphasize a wrestle-boxing archetype. Nevermind that wrestlers were also training at a much higher level than most traditional martial arts.

I don’t want to say that the MMA meta would have looked dramatically different had the UFC taken a different path—or not have become the market dominating juggernaut that they ended up as—but it’s hard not to feel a bit like we’re in the most McDonalds version of MMA possible today…