ultimate fighting championship in UK - UFC - mixed martial arts event -

The PR company had informed us that this was to be a "Press education day" - to shed some light on what the UFC and Mixed Martial Arts are about, with an emphasis on safety, regulation and of course the athletic prowess of the fighters.

As the press filed in, they were presented with press packs containing UFC press cuttings, info a cap and a T shirt.

The conference opens up with a a highlight video old UFC footage, a 'greatest hits' - lots of KO's. Then blends into some short video clips of Frank Mir, Ian Freeman, Matt Hughes, Kevin Randleman, Carlos Newton and more KO's.

ufc dana white

Dana White

Dana White, the UFC president then took the stage. Dana gives a short history of Zuffa's involvement with the UFC and name checks SKY, RDA the PR company etc. He then says, rather than try and explain the UFC, it will be better to show the press a video called "What is the Ultimate Fighting Championship".

The video is pretty thorough. Going through the early days, and why and how the UFC came about. It explained that Mixed Martial Arts is an amalgam of already popular sports like boxing, wrestling, judo and karate. Interspersed were FACTS in black and white such as : " FACT - Most techniques used in Mixed Martial Arts are used in Olympic Competition". Importantly, the fighters were portrayed as world class athletes - not street fighters.

Next, the video explained Zuffa's role in "the New UFC" - "Zuffa's primary role is to co-operation with, and operation under, the guidelines of state athletic commissions in an effort to establish the UFC as part of the mainstream sports stream".

It showed the progress Zuffa has made with US Athletic commissions to getting the UFC sanctioned. That included setting up Mixed Martial Arts rules that include:

Commission sanctioned gloves,
Weight Classes
Time limits and rounds
Mandatory Drug Testing
No head butting or kicking to the head of a downed opponent
No downward point of elbow strikes
No strikes to the spine or back of the head
No groin or throat strikes

The video was clear to distinguish that the "All New UFC" is totally different from it's former self. Safer, working with Athletic Commissions and the inroads it had made in terms of a exciting sports event.

Dana then calls up Mark Woodard the general manager of BAMMA , which he called "the most respected sanctioning body of MMA in the UK". Mark then delivers an excellent short speech on BAMMA's objectives and the history of MMA in the UK. Mark also emphasised the skill and training involved in Mixed Martial Arts athlete's work.

See bottom of page for Mark's speech in full.

Dana then introduces a live MMA demo by 2 fighters from Woodard's gym - Paul Sutherland and Mark Collett.

MMA demo

The demo was different MMA techniques, strikes, takedowns, submissions etc. Performed clear, smooth and professionally.

Next up was Dale 'tallest man in UK MMA" Adams - from BAMMA and ML Sports - he signs a sanctioning contract with Dana White for the cameras.

Dale & Dana

Following this was a short Q & A with Mark Weir, Leigh Remedios, Ian Freeman & Carlos Newton. Kevin Randleman and Frank Mir had been scheduled to appear but didn't make it. Each fighter answered a question or two. All came off very well.

The fighters

Paul Taylor the general manager Sky Box Ofiice then came up and explained Sky's enthusiasm for the UFC, he then handed over to Michael Higgins, head of Sky Box Office Events who gave details of the PVV of UFC on 13 July - cost? £14.

That closed up the Press Conference.

So how did it go? From the UFC's point of view, the event was very professional, clear and hopefully addressed the misguided "human cockfighting" issues that marred the sport in the past. The press that attended were pretty quiet, so it remains to be seen if they will report the sport with an open mind - and most importantly, report the FACTS.

Fact : In it's 9 year existence, including 44 events and over 300 bouts, the UFC has an exemplary medical record.

Interview with UFC Dana White. He speaks about Zuffa's plans to expand into different countries, the success of the weekly Sky UFC show, and plans to show all future UFC's on live PPV in the UK!

Postscript - In the afternoon, Dana goes to deepest Kikburn to train with the London Shootfighters - the man is a MMA fan, first and foremost!

Speech to press by Mark Woodard of BAMMA

The state of mixed martial arts in the United Kingdom.

"Welcome I should like to introduce myself to you all, my name is Mark Woodard and I am the general manager of the British association of mixed martial arts affectionately known as BAMMA.

The main objective of BAMMA is to provide a united front for the sport of Mixed Martial arts and the athletes involved

Mixed martial arts have been popular in the UK for about 5 years now; its popularity began with the American event known as the ultimate fighting championship as time went on newer events emerged in America and Japan.

Martial artists and promoters in the UK soon took notice of what was happening around the world with this new martial arts revolution and formed a solid foundation in the UK on which the sport could develop.

One of the main pioneers of MMA in the UK was Mr Lee Hasdell, himself a professional fighter in Japan for several years. During the late 1990s he promoted several large MMA shows that changed the face of martial arts in the UK forever. Since that time MMA in the UK has gained a vast following As promotions such as ULTIMATE COMBAT have proven, by slick promotion and a sell out crowd of enthusiasts who had travelled from all over the country to support this great sport.

UK fighters have been steadily improving with the development of the sport and we have already produced some truly homegrown talent. And indeed today we are in the presence of three of the best of British professional martial arts athletes, Ian Freeman-Mark Weir and Lee Remedios.All of whom have proven that they are world class professional athletes.

These three athletes are competing on the upcoming ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPS UK at the ROYAL ALBERT HALL on July the 13th.

The amount of training required to become a professional MMA athlete is imense, fighters have to be able to box as well as a boxer, kick as well as a kickboxer and grapple as well as a wrestler and be strong, flexible and aerobically fit as the duration of the bouts will be 3x 5 minutes for non title fights and 5x5 minute rounds for title bouts.

In the UK BAMMA has introduced a three tiered structure for mixed martial artists, the 3 levels of competition run by BAMMA are, amateur, semi professional and professional, the UFC will be sanctioned under the BAMMA professional set of rules.

We feel that MMA is on the the brink of gaining the levels of popularity in the UK that is has enjoyed in countries all over the world, we at BAMMA are happy to be working with the UFC to better the sport in Britain and to be sanctioning their first ever event on UK soil

Now as a brief introduction into MMA we will present a short demo to show the skills required to become a MMA athlete"