Mixed Martial Arts: A Sport?

[x635 4,066]

I'm just wondering if anyone here feels that the new(er) sport, mixed martial arts fighting, such as the UFC, is a legitimate sport?

[tjd1012 5]

absolutely a sport,better than most boxing fights i have seen the last few years as well.

[Guest MVFD334]

The training regiments these guys go through are without the hardest I have ever scene or participated in of any sport.

[DaRock98 76]

Absolutely. If cheerleading is considered a sport then mixed martial arts is for sure. JK

[JohnnyOV 2]

without a doubt...the brutal hits that these guys take time and time again would be enough to knock everyone of us on our a** with one blow. Their intense training and unparalleled skills are thousands of times greater then any other sport I've seen.

[Guest feraldan]

While it started out as a poorly organized gimmick, the Fertittas and Dana White did an awesome job of organizing and legitimizing it. Boxing is suffering a decline so its a choice time for MMA to move in.

[Guest alsfirefighter]

Without a doubt it is. Their organizers are some of the smartest marketing people going the way they have gained popularity and as someone said with boxing talent on the decline and the fact that even the shittiest of fights go pay per view, the sport by going on free TV has exploded.

[Guest]

although i can't stand it, i would consider it a sport.

[CAM502 6]

It is most definitely a sport. The training and sheer athletic ability needed to excel at it should speak for itself.

[BIGRED1 71]

If martial arts is in the Olympics then yes it is a sport without a doubt. Judo, Tai Kwan Do, Karate all components of MMA. MMA is more entertaining anyway then boxing. With boxing you get what two styles, regular and south paw. With MMA you get two different styles competeing against each other. They are TRYING to hit each other rather then that lame predictable boxing throw little jabs and pokes with not real power. Also MMA fights are only 3 or 5 five minute rounds, so with Pay Per View i can see maybe 3 or 4 fights in one night.

When was the last time someone gave up in a boxing ring? Case Closed

[CTFF 65]

I am a pretty big fan of MMA and without a doubt it is a sport. At the highest levels of the sport the fighters are gifted in multiple disciplines. Most of the fighters are strikers (muy thai, TKD or boxing), have a wrestling background and some from of submission grappling ( Brazilian Ju-Jitsu, judo or sub grappling).

The sport is hitting the TV big time. UFC on Spike, WEC on versus, CBS will begin showing EliteXC and there are fights on HDnet as well. It's a great sport and the fights can be some of the best fights I have ever seen and I still love boxing.

[ex-commish 490]

Being a parent of a high school varsity wrestler I can appreciate when two people who train very hard to go up against eachother and give it all they got. It is the spirit of competition. Those who participate in UFC in my opinion are probably the best athletes ever in organized sports so I would have to say yes it is definitely a sport.

[antiquefirelt 994]

While I agree 100% it's a sport, let's not base it solely on physical training. Plenty of people consider auto racing to a be a sport, or the Olympic string twirling. Now-a-days a Sport is anything competitive people do for the entertainment of others. I eagerly await the Olympic Rap-a-Thon.