Mixed Martial Arts has officially become a gateway to Hollywood as well-respected and talented fighters transition from the cage to the big screen.  Popular MMA super stars Randy Couture, Cung Le, Gina Carano and more recently Tim Sylvia and Rampage Jackson have ditched their 4oz gloves, mouthpieces and Vaseline in favor of movie scripts, make-up and probably better health coverage.  Randy Couture can already be seen in half a dozen movies including Big Stan, The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior, and most recently The Expendables. 

Cung Le has co-starred in Tekken, an action flick based on a popular martial arts video game and had a supporting role in Fighting alongside Channing Tatum.  Cung Le has also (more recently) completed Pandorum, a Sci Fi flick where he has a supporting role alongside Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster—Pandorum is due out in theatres Friday, September 25.  Notably, Cung Le has formally given up his Strikeforce Middleweight Belt in favor of an acting career.

Gina Carano, in addition to her extensive television exposure on American Gladiators, was featured in the Michael Jai White film Blood and Bone and will star in a Steven Soderbergh (Erin Brockovich, Traffic, Ocean’s Eleven) film titled Knockout.

Moving right along, Tim Sylvia will play the next Jason Voorhees (and the perfect Jason he will be!) and we will soon find out what Rampage Jackson has to offer the big screen—I really hope Rampage is cast in a comedy because I have a difficult time imagining him in anything else.

So MMA has gone Hollywood, is it at trend? Probably. But I think the more “creatively-gifted” fighters such as (ahem) Cung Le will continue on with lucrative acting careers while others (ahem, no comment) slink back into the MMA world.

Oh and did I mention Chuck Liddel is on Dancing with the Stars??  Perhaps we will see him in the next rendition of High School Musical?

Cung Le in the new Sci Fi Thriller Pandorum

Jason David Frank (the green ranger from the popular T.V series Mighty Morphine Power Rangers) is just one of a string of fixated celebrities expressing interest in the world’s “fastest growing sport” but before we completely rip him apart for daring to show interest in a professional fighting career lets quickly review his qualifications. 

Sixth degree black belt Jason David Frank earned his black belt in Karate at the age of twelve.  The thirty-five year old went on to become a young instructor and by 1988 (until 1990) was a nationally ranked competitor.  In 1994 Frank was enacted into the American Kung Fu Federation Hall of Fame and in 2003 he was awarded “Master of the Year by World Karate Union Hall of Fame.  In 2006, after beginning his training in Muay Thai, Jason Frank earned the Ruff Man Grand Champion Title in Indiana and in the same year won a Gold Metal at Master Toddy’s Full Contact Muay Thai Competition.

 In addition to these accomplishments, Jason David Frank has carved out a unique Americanized style of Karate known as “Toso Kune Do” which mixes his own philosophies with practical applications of different martial arts in a sort of “street-style” defense (I have no clue how useful/practical this style is, I’m just saying).  Jason Frank is now training with UFC lightweight Melvin Guillard with hopes of making his professional MMA debut very soon

So, despite time spent in a tight green spandex suit (negative points but no worse than professional wrestlers right?) you have to admit this particular “has-been” seems relatively qualified in pursuing a legitimate mixed martial arts career—at the very least he will be hugely entertaining to follow.

I wonder what promotion is going to sign him.

Saturday night in Portland, Oregon, Randy “The Natural” Couture battled Antonio “Minotauro” Noguiera in an exciting 15-minute bout that kept fans standing, screaming and thinking “the end” had come several times before the fight finally went decision. 

Forty-six-year-old Couture, appearing as phenomenally fit as his 33-year-old opponent, stands and exchanges with Noguiera in the first round, landing some solid combinations and avoiding excessive punishment from the larger Noguiera. Noguiera's combos, damaging and precise, keep pushing the pace and halfway through the first round a single potent straight right knocks the legend to the ground.  Noguiera attempts to sink a D'Arce choke but in a spectacular display of talent and experience, Randy escapes and returns to his feet.

The second round quickly goes to the ground as Noguiera shoots in, taking Couture down and once again attempting to submit him (with an arm-triangle choke from the top). The Natural, having never been submitted in his UFC career, once again--and to the delights of thousands of screaming fans--avoids what looks like the end.  Randy (again) gets back to his feet and the fight carries on into round 3.

Round 3 the fighter stand and exchange but the fight goes to the ground after Noguiera lands a well-calculated and powerful right hook; he looks to finish Randy with an intense flurry of ground and pound but Couture avoids the TKO, reversing into the dominant position and finishing the third round atop Noguiera.

Antonio Noguiera had set a brutal pace for this fight forcing Randy to spend the majority of each round countering and defending his relentlessness.  Randy’s MMA experience revealed itself in his astonishing ability to avoid submission and TKO but Noguiera’s strength, skill and capacity ultimately dominated.  Despite all three rounds clearly belonging to Antonio Noguiera, this fight was exciting, technical and certainly worthy of praise; it was undeniably “a damn good fight” (Randy Couture).

Like every sport, MMA suffers its share of shortcomings—combine billions of dollars, media and politics with competition, and you will always wind up with some form of controversy—it is inherent to any professional sport.  However, given MMA’s relatively new fledgling status, this sport tends to suffer a slightly larger (and undeserved) amount of criticism, usually from those whose knowledge in martial arts is as profound as a Saturday morning re-run of The Karate Kid.

A common criticism and the most offensive in my opinion is that MMA is “too violent.”  Well, yes, it is violent so to speak—it’s a combative sport! However, the implication that “violent” is all that MMA stands for, is incorrect. Violence [alone] is erratic, undisciplined, unpredictable and distasteful—usually the result of emotions gone haywire (perhaps exacerbated by alcohol and an illegal drug or two).  MMA is an extraordinary mix of multiple techniques derived from ancient and modern martial arts practices—Karate, Jiujitsu, Muay Thai, San Shou, Wrestling, Judo and others.  The violence is simply a byproduct of such intricate disciplines.

Originating in Brazil, mixed martial arts came into existence within the boundaries of the U.S in the 1980s when Rorion Gracie, son of Brazilian jiujitsu master Helio Gracie, moved to California to spread his family’s art.  Rorion, upon relocating, proclaimed a martial arts challenge known as the “Gracie Challenge” where he (like his father in Brazil) offered $100,000 to anyone who could defeat him or either of his brothers (Rolls and Rickson) in a “vale-tudo” match—a challenge that dubbed Gracie jiujitsu against all other forms of martial arts or hand-to-hand combat (essentially, MMA).  These challenges were the building blocks that later became known as “ultimate fighting.” 

MMA earned a bad rap when it was dubbed a “no holds barred” form of combat—it originally lacked rules, regulations and legitimate guidelines and was thus strongly campaigned against by politicians (Senator John McCain) eager to gain political prowess.  Rorion’s justification for the sport’s lack of “rules” wasn’t dishonorable as he declared that he did not want to limit any martial art form in its entirety.  As a result of this violent stigma attached to MMA, it almost died out in the United States.  The sport only began to revive when Zuffa, LLC bought the franchise and sought to legitimize MMA through creation of a “good, clean sport with actual rules.”  By 2001 mixed martial arts, previously banned from television, returned to PPV; The Next Ultimate Fighter aired on Spike TV and MMA quickly became the fastest growing sport (in popularity and practice) in the world.

Jiujitsu as well as Muay Thai and Wrestling are three of the more dominant disciplines practiced within MMA as they cover the likes of effective stand-up—kicking, punching, kneeing and elbowing (Muay Thai), grappling and submission (Jiujitsu) and  take-down, take-down defense and ground control (Wrestling).  Typically a fighter enters MMA with a background in one (or more) of these three disciplines (but could also come from disciplines such as Judo, San Shou, Karate, etc).  The aspiring fighter then works fervently to develop lacking skills that are necessary in becoming a well-rounded mixed martial artist. 

Competing in mixed martial arts requires uncanny athleticism, intelligence, dedication and mental stamina—it is analogous to a sort of physical chess match that is as complicated as it is technical.  The capacity to learn, practice and apply MMA in a physically demanding, mentally draining and emotionally stressful environment (the cage) results in an incredible spectacle of courage, strength, determination and talent.  In retrospect, mixed martial arts is violent, but it is undeniably so much more.

In what was likely the most anticipated women’s MMA event in history: Strikeforce’s Gina Carano v.s Cristine “Cyborg” Santos, the powerful Brazilian and popular MMA poster-child certainly delivered (albeit for only one round).

The fight began with Cyborg and Carano exchanging punches and round kicks. Cyborg proceeded to take Carano down (rather easily), once attempting a heel hook but mostly trying to dominate via ground and pound. The experienced Gina managed to avoid submission and obtain the dominant position several times, ultimately getting back up to her feet (where she seemed more comfortable).

Gina managed to muscle Cyborg to the ground once but backed away and allowed the Brazilian to stand up. Cyborg, clearly stronger than Gina, continually landed heavy punches that left noticeable damage to Carano’s face and undoubtedly shook her up. Gina’s punches were landing but they were not comparable to the caliber of damage that Cyborg doled out.

In the last minute of the fight Cyborg took Gina down once again, this time pinning her up against the cage. Gina was unable to escape or defend Cyborg’s fury and the fight was stopped at the very end of the first round, literally the very end—in fact it was difficult to discern whether the ref stepped in because the round ended or because Gina was finished.

A coach once told me that in the end the winner is the one who can take as much punishment as they deliver, this certainly proved true last night.

In a somewhat embarrassing performance that looked more like a little brother trying to get the best of a much stronger, swifter and confident big brother, former UFC light-heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin gets knocked out at 3:23 into the first round by current UFC Middle-weight champ Anderson “The Spider” Silva.

After suffering several well-placed strikes to the head (and failing to successfully counter these lightning-fast slugs) Forrest went down as he rushed Silva, receiving a solid jab to the lower jaw. While this jab was delivered with power and gusto it was nonetheless a jab and thus quite an embarrassing end for such an experienced and accomplished heavyweight as Griffin.

Although physically not as large as Griffin, the impenetrable Silva, accustomed to fighting lighter, faster moving fighters, had an advantage in regard to speed as well as skill. It became blatantly obvious that Forrest Griffin was not prepared to counter these advantages and if he had any kind of game plan he threw it out the window moments into the first round; Forrest insisted on rushing Silva with slower, less calculated strikes. Trying to “out-strike” the quicker, highly competent Middle-weight was simply the wrong plan of action.

In comparison to the BJ Penn vs. George St. Pierre fight where an undersized Penn rose a weight class (from 155lbs) to fight the epic, 170lbs GSP and was horribly overwhelmed, Anderson Silva appeared comfortable, powerful, and not significantly smaller than Griffin at 205lbs.

Anderson seems to match well with the light heavy weights and may potentially accomplish a great feat by ruling both middle and light heavy weight classes. However, to attain this achievement he must first defeat the equally impassable (friend and fellow Brazilian) Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida.

This fight, without a doubt would be legendary to the extreme (and I would be forced to name my first born after the winner) . . .

The UFC is currently one of the most popular MMA organizations in the U.S thanks to the hit reality series on Spike T.V known as “The Next Ultimate Fighter.” However, in addition to this popular organization there exist many a great domestic and international leagues, some that have been around longer than the UFC (such as the IFL) and others that are quickly gaining momentum and popularity as they partner with television networks and/or form alliances to bring the worlds’ top fighters together (Strikeforce, Dream, M-1 Global). While the UFC is successful it is by no means the best.

Dana White’s grandiose claim that the UFC houses “90% of the world’s top fighters” is both arrogant and amusingly contradictive as White is known to fervently shop around in other leagues (such as Strikeforce) as well as acquire organizations (Pride, Affliction) in an attempt to secure all the worlds’ top fighters—quite a daunting task as the world is a very large place.

However, as White continues his shopping spree, fighters (such as Fedor Emelianenko and female MMA super star Gina Carano) are increasingly turning his offers down to stay within the realm of growing organizations that offer more flexibility, good exposure, and great international reputation.

The California-based organization known as Strikeforce for instance, has recently allied itself with Japan's “Dream.” In addition to its recent partnering with (Russian) “M-1 Global” and its arrangement with Showtime, this growing league has established a very lucrative position. 

Taking into consideration the domestic and international talent of Strikeforce, Dream and M-1 Global (as well as the domestic and international fan base following these 3 organizations) it is safe to say that the UFC is “good” but it is not “the best” and it certainly does not house 90% of the world’s top fighters.

The reality of the situation suggests that perhaps the UFC is simply a big fish in a very small pond.

Ever since Affliction (a clothing co. sponsor turned promotional organization turned [back to] sponsor) folded a couple weeks ago following the cancellation of highly anticipated heavyweight bout: Fedor Emelianenko v.s Josh Barnett, Fedor Emelianenko has been a free agent, so to speak. Fedor has actually been an unsigned agent under the influence and control of Russian manager, Vadim Finkelstein, owner of the promotional organization M-1 Global.

Scott Coker, CEO of promotional organization Strikeforce did not feel the same way and was more than willing to budge on the issue of co-promotion stating: "We are extremely excited to have the opportunity to work with M-1 Global and Fedor . . . Fedor has been the reigning king of MMA's heavyweight division for quite some time now so being able to work with M-1 and Fedor will substantially increase the level of competition amongst athletes in this weight class" (Coker, MMA Weekly).

So what do MMA and Major League Baseball have in common besides Jose Canseco?

Steroids.

Like MLB, MMA is seeing its share of athletes testing positive for performance enhancing drugs. Athletes such as Vito Belfort, Pawell Nastula, Kimo Leopold, Stephan Bonner and more recently (and for the second time) Josh Barnett are being pulled from fights, fined and suspended following random testing before and after events.

There exist a variety of steroids currently available to fighers: Boldenone (Barnett and Bonnar were busted for this) is an anabolic steroid used for rehabilitating injured horses, Hydroxytestosterone (Belfort, 2006) and Stanozolol (Leopold, 2006) are also anabolic steroids, Nandrolone (Nastula, 2006) is an anabolic steroid that is naturally present in the body and is typically used to treat testosterone deficiency. Regardless of this plethora of drugs’ chemical make-up and/or intended function, they all serve the same purpose—increase protein synthesis [which results in] the buildup of cellular tissue—namely bigger, stronger muscles.

However (and quite ironically), the majority of fighters who have tested positive for steroids have been on the losing end of their fights. So it may be worth asking: to what extent do steroids really contribute to a fighter’s presence in the cage?

In the end it would seem that skill, ability, experience and talent greatly overshadow the benefits of steroid use in MMA. And although I personally do not believe in the use of steroids it is difficult to condemn athletes who likely utilize the drugs as a means of enduring the rigorous training (usually with injuries) leading up to a fight.

In other words I do not support it, but I understand.

Bad Behavior: Brock Lesnar and MMA Fans

Following UFC 100 there was quite a bit of buzz about the behavior of heavy weight champion Brock Lesnar and his seemingly unsportsman-like antics. While I do agree that his laps around the cage with his middle finger in the air and his trashy victory speech were less than classy, they didn’t seem entirely unprovoked. I guess in a sense I am sticking up for the unpopular Lesnar who may have simply been responding to the ungrateful and (likely) overly intoxicated MMA fans who were booing and shouting following his overwhelming victory over Frank Mir.

In an attempt to further shift the blame I must point out the abhorrent behavior of MMA fans--not just at UFC 100 but at MMA events nationwide--who seem entitled to insult, boo and jeer the professional athletes who train 2 hours a day 6 days a week only to put their necks on the line for the very fans who seem to turn on them the minute the fight is not providing them the bloody entertainment they thought they signed up to watch. Sorry folks, MMA can and will often get very technical so you must educate yourselves on the sport and perhaps you will better understand what is going on and feel less obligated to riddle MMA events with your loud ignorance.

It all comes down to respect people, I wish MMA fans had a little bit more.