Much to be thankful for this year

Might as well have put this together for Thanksgiving, but looking over some of the various top 10 lists on this and other mma sites got me thinking....it's been quite a year for quite our sport: MMA

 

From Bellator to UFC 100 to Strikeforce to regional shows to every other element that forms part of our sport......It's been another interesting roller coaster year. I remember days when Sherdog and a few other news outlets were the only place I could go for bits and pieces of info about fighters. Nary a fighter had their own website and having to flip back and forth between two networks to watch a number of intriguing fights was never an issue like it was this past weekend with Strikeforce and the WEC. Seriously. We finally know a bit of what NFL or NBA fans feel like with concurrent games running on different networks. Soon, perhaps in a perfect world we'll need Sunday direct ticket ala 3-4 different MMA events taking place concurrently around the world. The ailing heavyweight division is improving and has become of interest again. More gifted athletes are coming to the sport and this will continue to rise as the money improves. We've seen great fights this year, great submissions, devastating losses and all the circus madness that follows the life of fighters. Fighters have always been and always will be a different bunch. 

From porn industry b-day brawls to the loss of an industry supporter there and visible since the beginning, our sport has honestly defied words in this past year.

We've become a bit spoiled as fans to be honest. I used to rent the UFC on VHS from blockbuster just to see it and lied to my mom as to what it was so I could watch it with the volume turned down low while she was at work.  There was a virtual media blackout and shows were cancelled, fighters arrested or threatened with arrest in the hours before events were held. Now, I have to literally pick and choose between different regional shows to drive an hour or so to see, somehow get home in time for a PPV, and then I spend my Sunday perusing the MMA news sites and downloading other fights from shows not broadcast here in the states. Being a fan of this sport is a full-time hobby.

This is how far our sport has come. So yes, we complain, but we also know deep down the sport has come a long way since many of us started watching. For those that think it is a fad, mma won't go away. It existed during the days of early catch wrestling, in "pass the hat" barroom fights that allowed kicks and wrestling. It existed in Brazil and luta livre and challenge matches before that.....it existed when Count Koma was proving his Judo in exhibition halls. It was the premier event in the Olympics....more watched as a spectator sport than any other event during its day.

It is, after all, the world's oldest sport....and it's not going anywhere.