I was never there for the first couple years of the UFC. First off, we didn't have cable at my house when I was growing up so pay-per-view was out of the question. Second, there was no way my mother was letting me watch two men pound the piss out of each other at the tender young age of something like 11. No it all started for me back around 2000. Tito Ortiz was the poster boy for the UFC. I can remember seeing him on some late night talk show and thinking to myself "that is a bad-ass man." Still, being a poor college student living in the dorms I was unable to see any of the pay-per-views. My first real exposure was through the UFC Dreamcast game that I bought.
With that game, my interest started growing and I began using the internet to fulfill that new interest in this sport. I'll admit it. At first I was a straight stand up guy and didn't care for any type of ground game. I thought the ju-jitsu guys were just boring. Honestly, I never really appreciated the ground game until the first time I saw Demian Maia.
I was actually disgusted when I heard the UFC was going to be putting out a reality TV show called "The Ultimate Fighter." I hated the Real World, Road Rules, Survivor, The Osbournes, and any other garbage "reality TV." I wasn't going to do it, I wasn't going to sink to the level of reality TV. I look back and wish I was not so foolish and that I had watched that pivotal first season. It's embarrassing to admit, but I didn't even see the Griffin - Bonnar fight live.
The very first pay-per-view I bought was UFC 59: Reality Check. The card was pretty lackluster and didn't have any incredible fights. I actually only remember two fights from the card. The Forrest Griffin Tito Ortiz fight was exciting and every one wanted the newbie Forrest to pull off the upset. All of my friends and I were disgusted that Ortiz took the decision. The other fight I remember was from one of the worst trilogies in the sport: Andrei Arlovski vs Tim Sylvia. I laugh now becuase I used to think Arlovski was a bad ass simply because he had those fangs on his mouth gaurd. Looking back now, ordering that fight was the moment that my interest for mma turned into an all out obsession. One of my co-workers came over to watch UFC 59 and ever since then we have talked about the UFC every single day at work.
I was actually disgusted when I heard the UFC was going to be putting out a reality TV show called "The Ultimate Fighter." I hated the Real World, Road Rules, Survivor, The Osbournes, and any other garbage "reality TV." I wasn't going to do it, I wasn't going to sink to the level of reality TV. I look back and wish I was not so foolish and that I had watched that pivotal first season. It's embarrassing to admit, but I didn't even see the Griffin - Bonnar fight live.
The very first pay-per-view I bought was UFC 59: Reality Check. The card was pretty lackluster and didn't have any incredible fights. I actually only remember two fights from the card. The Forrest Griffin Tito Ortiz fight was exciting and every one wanted the newbie Forrest to pull off the upset. All of my friends and I were disgusted that Ortiz took the decision. The other fight I remember was from one of the worst trilogies in the sport: Andrei Arlovski vs Tim Sylvia. I laugh now becuase I used to think Arlovski was a bad ass simply because he had those fangs on his mouth gaurd. Looking back now, ordering that fight was the moment that my interest for mma turned into an all out obsession. One of my co-workers came over to watch UFC 59 and ever since then we have talked about the UFC every single day at work.
After that, I really got into Season 3 of the Ultimate Fighter. And let me tell you I hated Michael Bisping from day one. Whether it was the accent or the attitude something just made me hate him so much. But at the same time, Season 3 made me love the Ultimate Fighter and dive into every episode after that. How big of a pussy is Gabe Ruediger? How much do you hate Junie Browning? Every season has kept me thoroughly entertained. Well maybe not Season 9 with Bisping, ha! Even now I'm super excited for Season 10. Rampage, Rashad, Kimbo!
My love and obsession for the UFC just absolutely exploded when I finally got into online sports betting. As if there isn't enough excitement and anticipation in the UFC alone. Adding gambling to mix just makes it insane! How wonderful it is to pick an underdog and watch him pull off a huge upset. Then to be able to tell everyone that you picked it, you knew it, and you had money on that underdog. Now I've been wrong on plenty of occassions. But I'd like to just share some of my greatest picks ever. Some were because I thought the dog would actually win, and some were only because the odds were outrageous. Believe me if you want too:
Rampage over Liddell
Griffin over Shogun
Griffin over Rampage
Jardine over Liddell
Gonzaga over Cro Cop
Serra over St Pierre (strictly odds and a lot of luck)
Mir over Noguiera
I've had a lot of good times and a lot of good memories from the UFC fights I've seen, the parties I've had, and the parties I've been too. I can remember being the only person in the room thinking Rampage would beat Liddell and then jumping around and screaming when he did. Or how the whole room went OHHHHHHH when Couture dropped Tim Sylvia with that first punch. I can remember wanting Clay Guida to beat Roger Huerta so badly simply because my girlfriend found Huerta very attractive. And now I even have the new UFC 2009 Undisputed game for my Xbox 360. Guess who is 33-0 and the Undisputed Light Heavyweight Champion of the world? That's right...me.
My love and obsession for the UFC just absolutely exploded when I finally got into online sports betting. As if there isn't enough excitement and anticipation in the UFC alone. Adding gambling to mix just makes it insane! How wonderful it is to pick an underdog and watch him pull off a huge upset. Then to be able to tell everyone that you picked it, you knew it, and you had money on that underdog. Now I've been wrong on plenty of occassions. But I'd like to just share some of my greatest picks ever. Some were because I thought the dog would actually win, and some were only because the odds were outrageous. Believe me if you want too:
Rampage over Liddell
Griffin over Shogun
Griffin over Rampage
Jardine over Liddell
Gonzaga over Cro Cop
Serra over St Pierre (strictly odds and a lot of luck)
Mir over Noguiera
I've had a lot of good times and a lot of good memories from the UFC fights I've seen, the parties I've had, and the parties I've been too. I can remember being the only person in the room thinking Rampage would beat Liddell and then jumping around and screaming when he did. Or how the whole room went OHHHHHHH when Couture dropped Tim Sylvia with that first punch. I can remember wanting Clay Guida to beat Roger Huerta so badly simply because my girlfriend found Huerta very attractive. And now I even have the new UFC 2009 Undisputed game for my Xbox 360. Guess who is 33-0 and the Undisputed Light Heavyweight Champion of the world? That's right...me.
As much as I dislike Dana White there's no denying that he is mostly responsible for this awesome sport. And for that I applaud him. The UFC and mma in general has surpassed every other sport in my world, yes including the NFL and MLB. If I had a choice of watching any sporting event on a given night, be it the World Series, the Super Bowl, the WNBA finals or the Olympic Ping Pong finals, it would be any UFC event hands down. UFC 100 has the potential to be the greatest sporting event I've ever seen. This saturday night is probably going to be better than when I lost my virginity. Well it'll last longer, that's for sure.