The Ultimate Fighting Championship has come a long way since the days of potbellies, eight-man tournaments and taglines like “there are no rules.”
The UFC that entered the public lexicon on Nov. 12, 1993, no longer exists. For much of its early inception, the UFC amounted to little but sanctioned barbarism, a human steel cage match where everyone beat the holy hell out of one another with headbutts and strikes to the nether regions.
It was a sport on the fringes of existence, only loved by true zealots and despised by the American government. The UFC that existed then would have no chance of existing now. The increased attention on concussions would have killed the sport before it ever got off the ground.
It’s amazing just how much 20 years can accomplish.
Now, UFC is a heavily regulated, regularly covered mainstream sport that may be the most popular pugilistic endeavor on the planet. Dana White‘s vision has helped mixed martial arts not only get sanctioned by the government but emerge as arguably a safer and more skilled profession than boxing.
Though the 20th anniversary has technically passed, those at MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday will get to see just how far the UFC has come. Before a filled house at one of boxing’s most prominent venues, White’s promotion will put on a card befitting this historic occasion.
In many ways, this is the perfect card to show the dichotomy between what was, what is and what could be the future in mixed martial arts.
Of course, UFC 167 is headlined by Georges St-Pierre, who will defend his UFC Welterweight Championship against top contender Johny Hendricks. Depending on how you feel about Jon Jones, St-Pierre is either the best or second best pound-for-pound mixed martial artist in the world. He hasn’t lost since August 2007 and became the undisputed welterweight champion the following April after winning the interim belt in December 2007.
A heady fighter who is more tactical than powerful and more patient than bloodthirsty, GSP is the opposite of the barbarism that once defined the sport. He can harness a level of aggression—which is needed to reach this level—but St-Pierre thrives with systematic destruction of his opponents rather than one-shot knockouts.
Each of his past six fights has gone to the judges’ scorecards, all with the same result: a unanimous-decision victory for St-Pierre.
Hendricks is an interesting opponent who packs every bit of that one-punch power that could shock the MMA world. He has perhaps the best left hand in the sport and is difficult to defend because he’s an adept grappler on the ground as well.
Although “Bigg Rigg” is well-respected and has only one loss, St-Pierre’s presence makes the matchup seem preordained. The Canadian will flex his genius once more, dispatch a touted up-and-comer and move onto the next beautiful landmark he can turn into a parking lot.
He’ll give us a tactical masterpiece so great that we’ll forget about the words “Tank” and “Abbott.”
The co-main event will carry nearly as much intrigue for a completely different reason: the cult of personality.
White has long recoiled at being known as the “Vince McMahon of UFC,” but the comparison is more apt than any MMA head would like to admit. He’s counseled his fighters to develop personalities beyond the ring, cultivating the hero-villain concept that has allowed the WWE to thrive for decades
Perhaps no man has ever worn the villain hat in MMA better than Chael Sonnen. Secretly one of the more thoughtful men in the history of the sport, he has made up for what he lacks in the ring with some world-class buffoonery. He’s made questionable comments on race that have drawn the ire of fellow fighters, cracked wise on domestic violence and offered countless other claims that make him one of the most hated fighters in the sport’s history.
He often draws criticism from fans of the “sport” because he gets a platform perhaps more deserving fighters should have. But he’s thrived in understanding the “entertainment” part of his job. And you know what? That’s good for the sport.
The casual fan knows who Sonnen is—good or bad—and that’s going to draw a ton of more eyeballs on his fight with Rashad Evans.
Evans’ career has been about as up and down as can be, with his back-to-back losses to Jon Jones and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira jeopardizing his status among the world’s best. But his victory over Dan Henderson in June put him back in good standing within the light heavyweight division, and that will probably continue against Sonnen on Saturday.
No one would call Evans a fighter you’d enjoy taking home to grandma, but in all likelihood Sonnen will get another moral comeuppance—to the delight of the hooting and hollering fans in the stands.
Still, any result is good for White and the UFC. Their work is already done. The secondary market is flooding with fans hoping to pay top dollar for tickets, and pay-per-view buys seem almost certain to take a spike.
And that all comes before the year-end UFC 168, which features two of the biggest names in the sport—Anderson Silva and Ronda Rousey. Rousey represents White’s latest alteration of his sport; he created a women’s division for her after years of denying it would ever happen.
That’s kind of the story for the UFC, isn’t it? Twenty years of people saying this or that can’t or won’t happen, and then the sport thumbing its nose and making it happen anyway. Sometimes it was the United States government; other times it was gender equality. On Saturday, the UFC will show the world once again just how world class its athletes are.
The UFC may not be perfect, but it’s come a long way from punches to the groin.
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