UFC 139: Mixed martial artist set the bar for professional athletes

MMA is a game that stands alone for many reasons. In today’s world of sports, competition often gets diluted with the many regulations and team-based structures. In its introspective temperament, MMA is the purest form of competition. The extreme nature of MMA is so incredibly intricate with so many disciplines involved beneath the violent crust.

Two athletes stand toe-to-toe using nothing but their own highly conditioned body en route to victory. Mixed Martial Artist are required to work harder than most athletes simply because their own well-being depends on the invested effort. These raw athletes push through gruesome training camps, challenging their mental and physical limits in hand-to-hand combat. Every once in a while two athletes will step into the cage and put on a brilliant display of fighting propelled by undying heart and soul. This happened on Saturday.

MMA history was made at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California Saturday night as UFC 139 delivered a night of unforgettable fights. The main event between Mauricio Rua and Dan Henderson shed light on the fact that a truly different breed of athletes is what makes the sport of MMA so special. These two light heavyweight legends clashing for a 25-minute melee redefined the saying “leaving it all out there”. The exhausting battle of back and forth willpower kept the crowd breathless and on their feet, while Henderson and Rua shed blood, sweat, and tears that painted the octagon floor. As soon as one fighter appeared to be inches from finishing the fight, the other would rise from the brink of defeat with his last dying breath and reverse the momentum. Shogun had already proved his toughness with the many wars through out your career, but at no point in his life was he able to conquer such adversity. With the ecstatic 13,000 fans on their feet for this epic fight, at certain moments the chants of “USA! USA” and stark pandemonium revitalized the wobbly light heavyweight warriors.

When the fight ended, people were trying to regain their consciousness, left completely indifferent with who had actually won the fight. There seems to be a correlation with the ability to overcome pain and the fear of it, to the ability to give everything a person has inside them every time. The heart possessed by these two Mixed Martial Artists created something that no other sport is capable of. It wasn’t the result, but the journey that two men had forged in front of the MMA world that will be engraved in history.