Vote for MMA as Top 10 sports breakouts of the decade
Mixed martial arts: Into the ring — or the octagon — exploded mixed martial arts, a sport with roots in…
Mixed martial arts: Into the ring — or the octagon — exploded mixed martial arts, a sport with roots in ancient Greece but as modern as short attention spans. The sport combines wrestling, boxing and open-fingered gloves mostly in three five-minute rounds, and, since the Ultimate Fighting Championship arrived in 1993, has popularized men such as Kimbo Slice, Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture. In 2001, UFC was sold for $2 million. By 2008, according to Forbes, it had the power to generate $250 million in revenue. Another example of MMA growth: UFC.com says The Ultimate Fighter on Spike averaged 3.4 million viewers this fall, 72% higher than the average audience for the first 14 weeks of the NBA on TNT.