The NewFC

UFC 114 is rapidly approaching (as in it's tomorrow night) and it's been getting a lot of coverage from the mainstream media, notably ESPN. Part of it is because of the big feud between Quinton Jackson and Rashad Evans, whose bout is the main event, but it's also because MMA and the UFC in particular are getting more attention. UFC president Dana White's been all over ESPN from MMA Live to Rome is Burning to The Sports Guy Bill Simmons's podcast. Sportscenter did a short preview on tomorrow night's main event. This kind of coverage was unthinkable in the not so distant past.

I started following the sport fairly recently, maybe around four or five years ago. I attended an event (UFC 59) with my brother, and soon after I started reading Sherdog. To this day I still don't remember how I found that site, but it's where I learned most of what I know about MMA and its history. For some reason I just loved it and started looking for videos of past fights, whether it be UFC, Pride (its main competitor at the time) or even smaller shows like Rumble on the Rock or Strikeforce (which has grown into the UFC's current competitor).

At that time MMA was beginning to grow in popularity, spurred largely by the UFC's reality show The Ultimate Fighter. Still, it wasn't mainstream at all, so it was jarring for me to be watching ESPN and all of a sudden hear Sage Steele talk about how Rampage Jackson would deal with Rashad's speed and wrestling and the title implications of this fight.

It's a good first step, but it will definitely take time. Honestly I still know very little about the tactics and mechanics of MMA, so I'm sure sports anchors will need time to learn about it until they get to a level where they can go into a more detailed discussion as they would for basketball or football.

It's been an interesting journey to see MMA grow up in a sense and really start to make its mark on the sport and entertainment industries. Even as a relatively late adopter, I've seen a huge transformation in how MMA is viewed and presented. I'm excited to see where it goes from here.

But...if I could ask for one thing, one thing that would really indicate to me that it's been more accepted and understood, I'd love to hear the anchors and talking heads pronounce the Brazilian names correctly. I didn't get this for the longest time, but apparently R's (or maybe just the first R? I don't know) are pronounced as H's. With guys on top right now like Shogun Rua and legends like Royce Gracie, it's a small but very noticeable detail. As dumb as it sound even as I'm typing it out, that little change will make a big difference in my mind.