For those of you who aren't sure what these weird acronyms mean
MMA = the sport of Mixed Martial Arts
Elements of boxing, muy thai kickboxing, wrestling, kung fu, ju jitsu, karate, and anything else done wearing a gi, boxing shorts, or singlet.
UFC = a company/brand of MMA to make the sport professional, introducing The Octagon as a new stage for the sport, take it legit, establish rules, sell out arenas, and get the sport on Pay Per View, making it a world wide phenomenon.
Why should you care about that?
Well, it depends on what your goals are. If you want to play professional roller derby, it's nice to know that in the last few decades, there were amature MMA enthusiasts who had no pro option.
And now they do. Professional MMA fighters exist all over the world. In the UFC, and other smaller organizations. Did I mention this just happened in the last few decades??
Also, MMA was considered a "blood sport" and a joke at its inception. But now it's professional and the fastest growing sport for men. Hm... maybe we could learn something from that?
That's not the only parallel. MMA takes the elements of many different disciplines and mashes them together, just like we do in roller derby! In any given jam, you can see elements of hockey, speed, artistic, and jam skating.
Anything that people do on skates, we do in roller derby.
Fighters who go into MMA with one discipline in their background have to learn all the others to become well rounded, and stay competitive. Roller derby skaters would be wise to do the same: learn the other disciplines of skating, and apply them to our mash up sport!
When I first heard about MMA, I admit, I wasn't interested. But once I found out how much it's just like roller derby, and how much heart the fighters have to have and discipline that they train with... well I've been a die hard fan ever since.
There's one more thing about MMA that makes it extremely relevant, and in my opinion, the reason it's successful: it fills a societal need.
Men needed a sport that was based on raw aggression and multi-faceted skill combined. A legitimate, genuine want to win. As both fans and athletes, (not all, but a very large number of) men needed a competition at it's highest level to fill that gap. The need for men to feel like men for loving something extremely manly, I guess you could say.
Society needs roller derby for the same reasons, in my opinion. I love that men play roller derby, but what I'm talking about here is women playing a legitimate and raw competition, with the genuine want to win. The need for women to feel like women for loving something extremely warrior-womanly, I guess you could say.
The gender lines are blurring. I don't mean one is FOR men and one is FOR women. I mean, as a society, we need to see those archetypal examples rising. We NEED it. Both sexes do.
Let me just say that one more time: BOTH SEXES NEED BOTH EXAMPLES.
The 80's and 90's were the time of the fantasy. Fake wrestling, fake roller derby, that was what people needed back then. But, in my opinion, what many people need now is something real, raw, and civilized at the same time.
That's why I believe roller derby will be a professional sport very soon.
Because goddammit, the world needs it. And personally, I need it. I need to know that the next generation of kids can see an example of something real, raw and at the same time, structured. That there can be a dream and an outlet for aggression that meets those basic human needs in a healthy and positive way.
That would make me feel like I've spent a decade giving a gift to the world, rather than just giving a really long, awesome gift to myself and my friends.
So when people ask me if I want the sport to "go pro," my answer is: I WANT a lot of things. I have many many selfish wants and desires. Fortunately, those aren't the only things that drive me.
I'm also driven by a need to have a positive impact on the world, by giving it something that is very much needed. And that's exactly what I INTEND to be a part of.
Love it! Additional similarities between MMA and Derby is the commitment that it takes to get to that competitive level, even the undercard fighters train their arses off, they are usually supported/trained/cornered by seasoned pros all of which happens in derby, when you are fresh meat it's great knowing that you have seasoned skaters in your 'corner'. FYI you are the GSP of derby for me, you focus on all levels of it mental and physical and that is something that You both excel at :)
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