Tag: TV

MTV Caged: Youth Movement in MMA Should Have UFC Thinking Farm System

UFC is one of the biggest companies in the world and by far the biggest MMA business in the United States. With that said, the lack of a farm system keeps the sport from reaching new heights.While there is still a steady stream of fighters coming into …

UFC is one of the biggest companies in the world and by far the biggest MMA business in the United States. With that said, the lack of a farm system keeps the sport from reaching new heights.

While there is still a steady stream of fighters coming into the sport of MMA, the real development of a sport happens when younger people fall in love with fighting and start dedicating themselves to training.

If UFC wants to capitalize on the MMA craze that is sweeping through much of the United States, they need to develop a minor-league system that can be used to find the next great fighters from small towns with no big financial backing.

Will Broyles, co-producer of Caged and owner of Ring Rulers,  told the Shreveport (LA) Times about what the show is supposed to be:

The world is going to get to see what really goes on with fighters and their real lives. It’s about regular guys who put their pants on one leg at a time and who have to deal with family and friends as they ascend and rise to the next level or fail and don’t make it.

Dana White and the UFC have the chance to use MTV’s Caged as a gauge of just how interested fans are in the backstory of the fighters.

While that’s going on, White should put together a group that travels the country to small arenas and fight halls to pick the young prospects they want fighting in their octagon in a few years.

With a clearer barometer of where the young people are headed and how they’re going to get there, they will be able to focus more on training and keeping their life in order rather than whether or not they will be able to eat that day.

If I was in charge of the UFC, I would do my research and find out all of the Shreveport, La. kind of small towns that live on MMA. Those towns are where you find the next champion or the next fan favorite.

After finding younger fighters across the country, develop a school for MMA that also acts as a minor league fighting system that will allow the younger star to enter the UFC when the coaches feel he is ready.

That would ensure that the sport never stops growing and is a necessary step if UFC wants to continue their stranglehold on the sport of MMA.

 

Check back for more on Mixed Martial Arts as it comes, and check out Bleacher Report’s UFC Page to get your fill of all things UFC/MMA. For more on MMA/UFC, check out Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot topics.

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MTV Caged: Grass-Roots MMA Movement Proves Sport and UFC Are Here to Stay

Even non-fans of the teen dramas that MTV has become synonymous with can acknowledge that a show on the station about MMA means the sports has expanded to unbelievable levels. MTV’s Caged shows the lives of young fighters in Louisiana that just t…

Even non-fans of the teen dramas that MTV has become synonymous with can acknowledge that a show on the station about MMA means the sports has expanded to unbelievable levels.

MTV’s Caged shows the lives of young fighters in Louisiana that just try to make it through life after high school. It fits in with the kind of template the station uses for shows, but it is the influence that show will have on the youth that will start the wheels of change in motion.

Just a few years ago, MMA was frowned upon in the United States and compared to cockfighting. The sport has come a long way in terms of shedding those initial stereotypes. Most of the thank you belongs at the feet of Dana White and the UFC for bringing the sport to the mainstream.

There has always been an underground phenomena, but there was never a system of training new fighters and always moving the product forward. UFC is a machine that is building and climbing by the day. They are taking the UFC to new places and instilling into the youths of America that fighting is an option in life.

As big as boxing used to be in the United States and how much fans love the contact of football wrestling, it seems natural that many people would find MMA interesting. While the taboo that once kept people away has been lifted, it has been viewed as bloodsport by some people.

This new MTV program will open a whole new generation of people to the sport that will grow up without that misconception. That means as the years go by, MMA as a sport and UFC as a company will continue to flourish.

Imagine UFC being the NFL of MMA in a few years with just as many viewers. MMA isn’t a fad; it’s not going away.

When more and more teenagers start to take MMA classes and choose the path to fighting, it will become normal, and people will have no choice but to accept the sport.

My biggest concern for MMA is the long-term ramifications of each fighter’s health and whether there is a point where it’s deemed too violent.

Getting young people to accept it now will have them vouching for it later, so this is just the beginning of the full-on MMA revolution.

 

Check back for more on Mixed Martial Arts as it comes, and check out Bleacher Report’s UFC Page to get your fill of all things UFC/MMA. For more on MMA/UFC, check out Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot topics.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com