by Marshall Newton
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) was first formed in 1991 and was portrayed as a barbaric, gladiator-like sport. It received negativity from the media for about a decade and almost disappeared, until the Fertitta brothers and Dana White, now the current UFC president, revamped the organization and laid down stricter rules to make it an official sport. Hosting a wide variety of fighting styles for its competitions, the UFC began to attract more fans and fighters. To help promote the UFC, a reality TV series called Ultimate Fighter began airing in the early 2000s, where several different fighters live together in one house as they train and compete against each other for a $100,000 contract with the UFC.
More recent fighters, such as Conor McGregor and Rhonda Rousey, helped change the face of the UFC and popularize it by bringing a personality to the fights. Smack-talk in front of the camera stirred up interest and relevance for the matches, more and more spectators curious to see if fighters could back it up in the ring.
Currently, the UFC employs the weight class system to ensure opponents are more evenly matched. The classes are as follows: Heavyweight (206+lbs), Light Heavyweight (205lbs), Middleweight (185lbs), Welterweight (170lbs), Lightweight (155lbs), Featherweight (145lbs), Bantamweight (135lbs), Flyweight (125lbs), and Strawweight (115lbs). Since these are all considered separate divisions, they all have seperate champions, such as Khabib Nurmagomedov who was the champion of the Lightweight division in 2018-2020 and Daniel Cormier (aka DC) who was the champion of the Heavyweight division in 2003-2008.
The UFC is different from other fighting events such as World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) or traditional boxing and wrestling matches because it incorporates all combat disciplines. This means that if a person wants to be a successful UFC fighter, then they need to be “versed in all of them,” according to Minarets history teacher Ben Regonini, an avid UFC fan.
Also, according to Regonini, the UFC takes big losses when its famous fighters choose to leave and/or retire, such as George St. Pierre and the undefeated Khabib Nurmagomedov who has been the only UFC fighter to retire with a record of twenty-nine wins and no losses. When popular fighters leave, it causes less fans to watch, since most only watch matches for the fighters they know and care about. But just as famous fighters can leave, famous ones can join. Regonini explained that Gary Tonen will soon join the UFC, a well known jiu jitsu fighter.
But, like every other sporting event, the UFC has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The UFC has limited the number of people allowed into its stadiums and requires rigorous COVID-19 testing. The fighters and coaches are tested multiple times during fight camp, before they get on planes, after they get off planes, at their hotel, as well as on the day of fight, stated Regonini. In the early stages of the pandemic, the UFC had all fights televised with only essential workers being allowed in the stadiums. Now, re-opening phases have been implemented, with approximately 2,000 people being let into a stadium designed for over 18,000. It’s a slow process, but President White is doing everything possible to keep everyone safe as they move towards opening up completely.