I have been following MMA now since the first couple of UFC events, back when a little unknown dude with a little unknown style of fighting was destroying larger dudes. MMA has come a long way from the first UFC events, back then there was no gloves and very few rules. Westernize karate and taekwondo was mainstream and 99% of people viewed martial arts as flashy kicks and punches. Who would have known that someone with a hybrid form of Judo with a command of the ground game would change the face of fighting forever. Its this very sense of styles make fights that makes this game constantly change and appeal to the masses.
MMA fighters today are some of the greatests athletes in the world, with some of the toughest training and conditioning programs around. Back in the early days what Royce Gracie did was illistrate what a great martial artist can do when they excel in a style, and bring the fight to where they want it to go. Fighters now a days must learn to adapt their game plan when preparing for a fight, and be willing to go to war. Each fighter brings a unique set of skills into the Octagon, and much like a chess match they must impose their gameplan on thier opponent. This has been illistrated time and time again, wrestlers against strikers, strikers against juijitsu experts, or even strikers against strikers as a match can go from on the feet to the ground to submissions in a blink of an eye.
Fighters need to have a solid base in one of three areas: wrestling, striking, or some form of juijitsu to compete, as well have a solid defence on the weaker part of thier game. There are only 24 hours in a day and fighters sometimes only have a few weeks or months to prepare for a fight, and a well executed training schedule is needed to fight a smart fight as technique will only take you so far. Fighters cannot go into a fight now with just solid boxing skills, or a great ground game. They must have a well balanced training schedule to include grappling, striking, strength and conditioning to compete at the highest levels....being able to pull off a well executed flying armbar, or torando kick does not make you the best fighter. Technique now has to be in tandum with strength and conditioning to last throughout the fight.
MMA is taking the world by stride and in the next few years it will have the biggest sporting fan base in the world. The UFC is paving the way with events now being showcased in the US, Canada, Austraila, Europe, and coming soon into Abu Dhabi. Smaller organizations that have ties in MMA are already in Asian, and Russia markets and I am sure that the UFC will be there soon. UFC 100 was a record setting event and surpassed alot of major sporting events attracting an audience of around 500 million people in 70 countries. This number will only continue, and the trickle down effect will mean that we will see more localized amauter MMA, and sregional MMA organizations around. The economic stimulus is massive. You will see MMA as the next Karate or Juijitsu but only bigger....in the United Arab Emirates jiu-jitsu is now a required course in school, what happens when it becomes an olympic event?
Now a days with tonnes of footage available to the masses (web, television, dvd's) people are more and more exposed to fights and more and more fans are tuning into the next event. The desire to train like a warrior will fuel a new bread of fighters. Some teenage kid out there that watched some of the early UFC fights with his dad as a kid, is now training and will be better than the best fighters around today. In the next 5 years we will see fighters as experts in all areas of the game (wrestling, juijitsu, and striking) and the fights will be fast and full of transitions and talent that the majority of us can only dream to pull off.....and I for one can't wait to see it.
