The Ultimate Fighting Championship and Mixed Martial Arts By: Donald Tabor

 UFC: The League  MMA: A contact sport that allows for a wide range of fighting techniques including striking, kicking and grappling  Different cultures = different techniques and styles

 Live events hosted internationally  600 fighters in the UFC  Male and female  Massive media presence  Various streams  Global market reach  Increasingly popular  Competitors and fan base

 Barbaric in nature  Organized street fighting  “Human Dog-Fighting”- Boston Globe  Promotes violence  Competitors viewed as role models  Impacts on youth, morals, values

 “A sport that involves activity that itself creates a significant risk of loss of, or serious impairment to, some basic capacity for human function” – J.S Russel

 The ongoing operations of MMA under the governing body of the UFC are in good spirit and promote healthy competition amongst participants.

Dangerous Sport and Historical Development:  Ancient Greece  Greco-Roman era  Olympia and Delphi: The Pythian Festival (every 4 years)  Wrestling, Boxing, Pankration (wrestling & boxing)  Presence of dangerous sport in modern Olympic Games (Boxing, wrestling, judo, extreme sports)  Growth of MMA in viewership and participation

Self affirmation through dangerous sport:  “Confronting and pressing beyond certain apparent limits of personal, and indeed human, physical and psychological capacities in ways not afforded by other normally available human activity” – J.S Russel

Intent to harm:  Victory is only achieved in an agreed upon circumstance NOT malicious intent.  Consent  Rules & illegal maneuvers  Intent to harm in other sports  NFL “Hit List”

 “Fight club”  tie back to rules and regulations, legal consent and understanding  Betting  parallel it to football, extreme sports, professional nature, big business, etc.