I love the UFC.

Ultimate fighting is my newest fascination. I first became interested in it about a year (or so???) ago, but it wasn’t until recently that I really started following it. I blame this rediscovery on Spike TV which airs UFC Unleashed and The Ultimate Fighter 2 right after reruns of CSI (which I sometimes watch out of boredom). So, why do I love Ultimate Fighting? Well, it is, as they say, “as real as it gets.” We’re not talking any pansy fighting here. It’s a combination of striking, grappling and submission holds which combines techniques from many different fighting styles. (Learn more at the Wikipedia entries on UFC and mixed martial arts or at the UFC site.) The variety in styles makes the fights more interesting (in my opinion) and also requires the fighters to be more versatile. I think it’s great that you can watch two different fights that hardly resemble each other. One may be fought entirely on the feet with punching and kicking and the other could be fought entirely on the ground.

I haven’t learned much about different fighters yet, but my current favorite is Rich Franklin. He’s a great fighter (and current middleweight champion), but the real reason he’s my favorite (at least for now) is that he used to be a math teacher. Since I’m a math geek, that certainly makes him stand out in my mind. Obviously, he’s cool because math is so cool. :) My other favorite fighter is Georges St. Pierre for another completely superficial reason. I was amused when I saw him start break dancing after winning a fight. So obviously, he’s cool because breaking is so cool. :) Hopefully I will eventually find better reasons to like (or not like) different fighters. But regardless of who is fighting, I’m always happy to watch an ultimate fight. I love the UFC.