THE BLOODY TRUTH ABOUT AMERICA’S FASTEST GROWING SPORT

THE BLOODY TRUTH ABOUT AMERICA’S FASTEST GROWING SPORT
I’m sure nearly everybody that reads this blog has heard of Hulk Hogan or the WWF (World Wrestling Federation). Surely, even some of you remember when you were little kids sitting in front of the TV watching Hulk Hogan pick up 600lb Andre the Giant in Wrestle Mania, hold him in the air, body slam him to the mat, and win the championship belt. THAT WAS SOME VIOLENT STUFF!!… right???

It seems that America is craving yet even more violence. It’s hard to believe that this violence, more recently, has become greatly overshadowed by a new emerging sport. The Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fight format has indeed came into the picture and has yet to slow its momentum of popularity. According to an article posted by the Los Angeles Times in Sept. 2008, MMA is a high adrenaline fight format that is illegal in 18 states, it is not just a sport, it’s a lifestyle, and is quickly becoming a branded magnet that will attract most every slice of pop culture pie which includes bar room brawlers, parents, and kids. It first appeared not that popular in 1993 in the pop culture radar under the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) League because it was basically an “anything goes- bar brawl spectacle”. It wasn’t until the league reformed to actually having rules, weight classes, and round formats before it currently became the fastest growing, yet bloodiest sport that has ever been allowed to be broadcast on TV. According to an article released by the New York Press there’s even been talk about the UFC totally eclipsing the sport of boxing.
Despite the fact that I absolutely love the sport, I think that young children should not view this sport. In watching this sport I have seen people knocked out, bloodied up, broken limbs, broken noses, and eyes swelled completely shut. Even before the UFC came out there were many articles and statistics that show the effects violence can have on children. TV and Film Violence
What are your thoughts on the sport itself and thoughts about this new nature of violence? Do you think in the future that there will be sports allowed on TV that are even more violent? When will this trend stop? Will it?
The UFC Corporation uses many things that relate to topics we have discussed in our PR classes. News releases are distributed every day on the UFC website. In these news releases are upcoming fights and other information that is going on around the league. People and the media crave this broadcasted information. The UFC uses many things such as the internet, face book, TV commercials, action figurines, nutrition and strength supplements, among many others to get the “Seeing is believing message across” to the millions of fans out there.