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Mixed martial arts in 2011: The year that was

Roar Rookie
27th December, 2011
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Mixed martial arts, or MMA, is a young sport that has been struggling to find its legs over its 20-odd year history.

Still not sanctioned in all 50 states of America, it has considered barbaric by some, been called human cockfighting and has been deemed immoral by various politicians that grace our great planet. In spite of this, 2011 will go down as one the biggest years for the sport, in and out of the ring.

Let me take you on a journey through the past 12 months and explain why 2011 is now a landmark year in terms of MMA.

We will start with the obvious – the fights. Recently, such contests as Jones/Machida, Henderson/Rua and Dos Santos/Velasquez have dominated the headlines. Dos Santos dethroning Velasquez was the biggest heavyweight fight in combat sports for the past 10 years.

Henderson and Rua embarked on a five round war that had fans around the world on their feet, cheering their hearts out – it was a perfect example of two warriors leaving it all in the cage.

Jones solidified his status as the #1 Light Heavyweight fighter in the world, defeating three former champions in the calendar year.

If you consider the fact that he fought Ryan Bader, a young and relatively inexperienced fighter, in February and by the end of the calendar year, he had dispatched PRIDE legends Shogun Rua, Rampage Jackson and former UFC Champion Lyoto Machida, this puts it all in perspective.

Is he the best MMA fighter in the world right now? Probably – Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre might have something to say about that though.

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Speaking of Anderson Silva, the man only fought twice this year but one of those fights will be remembered for many years to come. Silva defended his title successfully against Vitor Belfort at UFC 126 and this fight will not be forgotten due to one technique – the front kick.

Usually reserved for creating distance, Silva utilised it to devastating effect, laying out Belfort cold on the ground and cementing himself on highlight reels for years to come.

There were many other fights that etched themselves into this sports young history – who can forget Edgar Maynard II and III, Machida vs Couture (KO via Crane Kick – yes, straight from the Karate Kid), Henderson vs Guida, Aldo vs. Hominick, Nick Diaz vs. BJ Penn… the list goes on.

The cage was not the only big stage for MMA – the UFC were very active in the business world as well.

The two biggest points of note are the purchase of Strikeforce into the Zuffa family. Zuffa, for the uninitiated, is the parent company that owns the UFC. The company bought out PRIDE, WEC and now Strikeforce.

Although Dana White has insisted that Strikeforce would operate business as usual, we’ve seen a number of fighters roll over into the biggest MMA promotion on the planet – Nick Diaz, Alistair Overeem and Dan Henderson to name a few of the bigger names.

This means that fans will start to get those dream match-ups – Overeem vs. Lesnar, Diaz vs. Georges St-Pierre and more.

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The other landmark moment for MMA was the UFC signing a broadcasting contract with one of the biggest sports networks on the planet, FOX.

What does this mean for MMA and the UFC? Unprecedented access to millions of people around the world.

By offering free fights, more interest will be generated, fighters will start to get bigger fan bases which leads to more revenue for the UFC.

Some say that it is just more money for a large corporate machine but I disagree – the UFC are the fight business and guess what, I am in the business of watching and enjoying fights. It works out to a win-win situation for fight fans.

Overall, 2011 was a monster year for the sport that I love. The year is not quite over yet – UFC 141 will pit the two biggest Heavyweights in MMA against each other and I honestly cannot wait: Brock Lesnar vs Alastair Overeem. The only question left is what will 2012 bring?

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