MMA: The Breakout Sport of the Decade?
by Zak Woods on Dec 18, 2009 1:01 PM EST
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PrintUSA Today is holding a vote for the top sports breakout of the past 10 years and you will never guess what sport is included: MMA.
Here's how USA Today describes the rise of MMA.
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.
Currently MMA is leading the vote for breakout sport story of the past decade with 52% of the vote.
What are you waiting for? Go vote!
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yea, but
he is the reason for those TUF numbers
"That's an Awfully Big Mustache"-Frank Drebin
watchkalibrun.com
agreed
i have no problem with him. he was thrust into the spotlight and made some money for himself, smart on his end. i hate the attention and the idea people might look at him as an mma fighter. not his fault though, it is frustrating
"That's an Awfully Big Mustache"-Frank Drebin
watchkalibrun.com
according to what my friend told me…so don’t quote me as being for sure…in the actual newspaper version of USAT, 10 athletes are mentioned for various sports for the last decade….and kimbo was the MMA guy. Im hoping he misread and saw this same article you posted a link to…but he was pretty confident….and disgusted….as am i.
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