With the 20th anniversary of the Ultimate Fighting Championship this past weekend, the company has grown into one of the biggest combat sports companies in the world.
On the anniversary card, a star of the company, George St-Pierre, won a controversial decision to challenger Johny Hendricks to earn the most wins in UFC history.
Even though the company has been thriving in the past few years, with major television deals with FOX and continuing to pull major pay-per-view buys, the sport is still trying to become a mainstream sport such as football or baseball.
Bryan and Ryan will discuss whether or not the UFC deserves a place among the major sporting events not only in the United States, but across the globe.
Bryan:
UFC should absolutely be considered among the top tier of major sports organizations in the U.S. It is already wildly popular all around the world, but the process has taken much longer here in the United States.
Over the past few years, it would be impossible to say that it does not deserve to be among the upper echelon of sporting brands.
UFC is constantly putting on top-quality mixed-martial arts fights, and is displaying the top level of mixed-martial arts athletes in the world.
Some people may say that watching people fight is not moral or is not appropriate, but as a fan of the sport, this is simply ridiculous.
Football is one of, if not the most popular sports in the country. Week after week, grown men run full speed into one another, bashing helmets, making hard tackles and putting themselves at risk on every down.
But, for some reason this is looked upon as being less dangerous than what professional fighters do inside the UFC octagon.
I think it is ridiculous that people do not acknowledge the fact that this is one of the most rapidly growing sports in the world and I believe it is only a matter of time before it takes over the mainstream and is the No. 1 watched sport.
Ryan:
I have to agree with Bryan on this one. Ultimate Fighting is a sport that deserves to placed right next to some of the greatest American pastimes.
Now, given that the UFC is a relatively new organization, it has not had as much time to grow as football and baseball, but it will get there in due time.
These fighters, who now include women, are top notch, world-class athletes who dedicate their lives to a sport they know they are going to get hurt doing.
UFC has been growing ever since they got the opportunity to have a fight nationally televised.
Brett Rogers, the man who won the first ever televised MMA fight, is the reason that this sport has grown to what it is today.
People are willing to pay enormous amounts of money to watch two people get into a ring and beat the crap out of each other.
UFCThe biggest thing about UFC is the atmosphere that surrounds it.
People from all around the world can watch and be connected to something that dates back to the first forms of a sport and that is just pure fighting.
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