Your introduction to MMA?

[El Hardee]

In 87 i was in 7th grade takin Hapkido and a dude in the school had a old Gracie tape from Brazil, on it were a bunch Rickson Vale Tudo fights in Brazil, there were also some of the Dojo challenge matches in So Cal when the Gracies were first makin a name for themselves. It was awsome, a couple years later UFC 1 came out so I was on it.

[Gold Chain]

The early UFC where the sumo guy fought the little guy and sumo guy ended up breaking his nose on the cage.

I also remember casually hating Tito Ortiz after seeing yet another douchey interview by him.

[SDM]

The early UFC where the sumo guy fought the little guy and sumo guy ended up breaking his nose on the cage.

I also remember casually hating Tito Ortiz after seeing yet another douchey interview by him.

This fight? I love the headkick... http://goga.tv/view/1136/gerard-gordeau-vs-teila-tuli/

Kind of amazing how far the sport has come.

[Gold Chain]

The early UFC where the sumo guy fought the little guy and sumo guy ended up breaking his nose on the cage.

I also remember casually hating Tito Ortiz after seeing yet another douchey interview by him.

This fight? I love the headkick... http://goga.tv/view/1136/gerard-gordeau-vs-teila-tuli/

Kind of amazing how far the sport has come.

The very one.

Come very far. You've got handsome champ, well-spoken Bones on Leno now...........

This sport will probably be Top 3 in 10 years, it's only going to get bigger.

[Starkiller]

Tank Abbott vs. John Matua. Can't remember which UFC it was but it was early. Saw that fight, and I was hooked ever since.

[Shaazzam]

I remember watching Royce pop that guys arm out to win the first UFC and having no clue, and IIRC neither did the announcers, what the hell happened.

Now, other than watching SIlva kick Belfort in the face, subs are my favorite part of MMA.

[duppyy]

I remember watching Royce pop that guys arm out to win the first UFC and having no clue, and IIRC neither did the announcers, what the hell happened.

Now, other than watching SIlva kick Belfort in the face, subs are my favorite part of MMA.

I like when the one guy tapped out of frustration..couldnt get gracie off him lol.

The original UFC events were great. It was pretty much Style vs Style like in movies.

BJJ was just far superior and nobody could stop gracie.

[Mike Hunt]

My story is virtually identical to the OP. Huge wrestling fan and they snuck the UFC tapes in with the WWF stuff. Took one home. Watched it and thought it was cool. Started watching the tapes with my uncle on aregular basis but the store that carried them soon closed down (with no way to watch it, it faded out of my life).

Around that same time, I started getting into boxing and I just fell in love with it. I even joined a gym for some time (though, the fact that I did not enjoy getting punched in the facemade me quit).My love of boxing hasn't diminished over the years. I still think it is one of the greatest sports in the world.

The reason I got back into MMA is actually because its rise led to the boxing coverageon my TV channels to be reduced. We used to have Friday Night Fights and often Tuesday Night Fights air on one channel and the other channel would have fights from other organizations (i.e., showtime) every week or two. Now, we're lucky to get 3 shows a month. I'd still rather watch a decent boxing card over a good MMA card.

At first, I resented MMA so much that I intentionally avoided it (it doesn't help that one of the first modern PPV I saw was a snoozefest between Arlovsky and Tim Silvia). I tried to watch it a few times on TV but it just bored me. It wasn't until the bar I worked at started picking up PPVs that I started actually paying attention. The crowds entusiasm kind of pulled me in. I think I officially became a fan after watching a Couture/Nogiera battle. I'd seen a few PPVs by then but for some reason, that fight seemed to flick the switch on.

Since then, I watch tons of MMA (new and old). I have a true appreciation for it (especially the ground game). That being said, it will never come close to my feelings for boxing. The variety that makes MMA what it is allows for weaknesses in one discipline to be covered up by strengths in another. The sport is still so young that I'm not sure how many true mixed martial artists there really are (how many MMAers have been doing it since childhood. Most are converts). It feels flawed to me that you can have MMA champs who are very weak in certain aspects of the sport (it makes sense that some fighters will be better at certain aspects of a sport but I look at a guy like Brock Lesnar and his boxing, in terms of technique, would probably place him in the bottom 10 percentile of his division, yet he still managed to beat 2.5 well regarded fighters. Boxing is a singular discipline. It's a pure competition of guys doing the thing they do best.

I strongly believe that if boxing didn't have 17 000 different promotions/associations, but instead had one governing body that mandates fights, such as MMA essentially has with the UFC/Dana White, it would still be king in combat sports or we'd at least be looking at much more similar levels of popularity. Outside of the heavyweight division, boxing is still relatively stacked. Unfortunately, we almost never see the top-2 fighters in a division square off (nor do we often see "even-money" types of fights). All fights are scheduled with the intent of builfding up a fighter or maintaining a fighter's status as champ by giving him filler defenses.

[funkatron101]

Man, don't turn this into a MMA vs Boxing thread.