UFC vs MMA
The fundamental difference between UFC and MMA stems from the fact that MMA is a kind of sport whereas UFC is an organization that conducts this sport. It is something similar to asking ‘what is the difference between Tennis and French Open?’ Where, everyone knows that tennis is a sport and French Open is a popular tennis tournament. But because of the overwhelming popularity of UFC, there are some who feel that it is bigger than the sport it promotes. That is why such people remain puzzled by the difference between MMA and UFC. This article will put to rest all such doubts from the minds of the readers.
What is MMA?
MMA stands for Mixed Martial Arts. Mixed Martial Arts or MMA does not fall under fixed sport such as Karate or Judo. In fact, MMA comprises features of many such martial arts from different countries. It even has elements of kickboxing, which is a sport in itself. MMA has been popular ever since it was promoted as a spectator sport. However, MMA attained prominence only when it was organized by UFC.
To say more about MMA, first MMA was promoted to find out the best martial art to face real unarmed combat situations. At that time, there were only a few rules. As the game developed, fighters began to add more techniques to their fighting styles. At the same time, promoters began to add more rules to make it safer to the fighters and acceptable to the society. This was because when first it was introduced, the sport was not accepted by the society as it was too violent due to the lack of rules. By now, MMA is one of the most watched sports. Also, with its pay-per-view business, it is now even fighting with professional wrestling and boxing for popularity.
What is UFC?
UFC is Ultimate Fighting Championship. UFC was found by the Gracie family in 1993. They were the ones who brought the sport to USA. The credit for founding UFC goes to Robert Meyrowitz, RorianGracie, and Art Davie. Currently, UFC belongs to Frank Fertitta, Dana White, and Lorenzo Fertitta since they purchased it in 2001. The company that owns UFC is Zuffa, LLC. UFC has its headquarters in Las Vegas. Also, it has its offices in London, Toronto, and Beijing.
UFC is a very successful organization. It produces more than 40 live events annually. UFC broadcasts in over 149 countries and territories. Also, UFC broadcasts in 30 different languages. All this was possible because in 1993, when UFC started MMA, it caught the fancy of the people with live spectators as well as televised shows all over the country. The word MMA for the fights organized by UFC was coined by Olympic wrestler Jeff Blatnick.
What is the difference between UFC and MMA?
Thus, UFC is for MMA like what NFL is for football or NBA is for basketball. It is futile to differentiate between the two. However, it can be said that despite being very popular, UFC is never more or greater than MMA, which is the sport it promotes.
• MMA is a sport while UFC is an organization that conducts this sport.
• MMA stands for Mixed Martial Arts, which is a sport that got popularized through UFC, known as Ultimate Fighting Championship.
• UFC and MMA are interrelated in much the same way as football is related with NFL.
• MMA that was not so popular in the beginning became popular with the intervention of UFC.
Images Courtesy:
- MMA via Wikicommons (Public Domain)
- UFC by (CC BY-SA 3.0)
