FOX, TUF, and How Far the UFC Has Come

     For all the true fight fanatics that witnessed the wild, barely regulated shows, saw the first surge of brazilian jiu jitsu make a vociferous clash with traditional "american" fighting, and have seen a tall and goofy Forrest Griffin come all the way from reality tv kid to UFC world champion; August 18th 2011 was an important day. Just hearing the FOX Sports theme song, while seeing Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta gives me [and all MMA fans] the chills. While watching the UFC on FOX press conference, The panel of Championship level UFC fighters is in a league of its own in deserving such spotlight, and it makes me proud to say the day has come: UFC is on FOX.
The UFC has occupied the cockpit of the Mixed Martial Arts space shuttle, and for 10 years now have only steered the sport in the best directions at light speed. While realizing that there have been (and always will be) much criticism of the sport, Dana White, the UFC, and the rest of the hard working grinders involved in MMA have stuck it to the doubting haters by announcing the UFC on FOX seven year partnership. FOX Sports, the longtime top competitor in professional sports broadcasting, has served as home to some of America's biggest sporting events ranging from the World Series, to the Super Bowl, to Daytona 500. The UFC on the other hand is a self built corporation whom has successfully created a sport almost from scratch, and advanced it at such an astonishing rate earning itself much credibility as a "true sport".
     Today, to quote UFC President Dana White, "This is the pinnacle".
  The UFC's hit reality show, "The Ultimate Fighter" for years has developed greatly within itself, as well as boosted the UFC and their roster in a unique fashion. A farmer plants a crop, and as the he continues on to work on the fields, the plant grows and in time will produce and benefit the farm as a whole. If this farmer had created a new crop (that had never been thought of as a legitimate food) that would attract millions of people worldwide, then this would be the perfect analogy. The real message here is that The Ultimate Fighter was just one of the many crops that the UFC planted to build this phenomenon from the ground up. Today with the announcement of many exciting additions and changes to The Ultimate FIghter, the UFC is setting themselves up with an infinite supply of potential and has really excited the MMA and the sports world. With the constant income of viewers and fighters being born from this show, the UFC as a whole (Pay Per View events, television programming, free fights, and fan related events) will continue to thrive with the help of itself.
   The hard work of everyone, whether inside the octagon, or behind the scenes have shown its amazing payoff today. FOX news is a top dog in the sports world, and there now seems to be no limit on what the UFC can do, which includes pushing MMA to the heart of the sports world.