Mixed martial arts has been fought professionally since its inception.
Promoting
editUFC is the largest. PRIDE was one of the largest until its demise, but DREAM and World Victory Road are upstart organizations that wish to fill the niche vacated by PRIDE. The public currently recognizes the champions of these promotions to be the highest championships awarded in MMA. Other titles are equivalent to championships in minor leagues, which may or may not be a great honor, depending on the status of the promotion.
Fighter pay
editFighters are generally paid a purse for fighting at an event. Fighters may also supplement their income with various sponsorships, many of which are visibly screened onto their fight regalia, including their fighting shorts. There are some variations to the pay model which exist, IFL for instance at their inception paid fighters a salary to train and fight.
In state sanctioned events, the purse paid to a fighter is a public record and the amounts of the contracted purses are released to the press. The UFC however is noted for paying undisclosed bonuses, so-called locker room bonuses, to fighters at their discretion to reward impressive performances. Coupled with sponsorship money, which does not usually get disclosed, the press and the public usually cannot pin the total compensation a fighter receives for fighting, although they may be able estimate the amount.
Compared to other professional sports however, especially for boxing, fighter pay appears to be comparably low. Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz, and other fighters have voiced their complaints about fighter pay in general, Ortiz going as far as calling for a union for mixed martial arts fighters to be established. Some complain that the brand-centric approach to promoting in mixed martial arts (instead of the fighter-centric approach in boxing) hurts the bottom line of fighters, as the branding of the promotions becomes a compelling selling point in selling events at the expense of selling individual fighters.
Training and management
editMartial artists have traditionally organized themselves along schools and dojos, and the same applies with mixed martial arts. Fighters have aligned themselves and present themselves as representatives of their schools or training facilities, and to a large extent still do. Fighters once held themselves as representatives of a particular style as well, but as mixed martial arts techniques became more varied and hybrized, fighters no longer seek recognition for their fighting style as much as they do their school.
Some schools, such as Chute Boxe Academy in Brazil and Team Quest in the US, also act as agents or managers for their fighters.
Championships
editDetermined by promotion, similar to how major sport leagues both promote and sanction their own events.
Defendable titles. Tournament titles.
Championship sanction bodies
editUnlike boxing, sanctioning bodies are mostly irrelevant in the public's recognition of champions. Several sanctioning bodies however continue to operate, ranking fighters, and awarding championship titles. There are no major promotions in mixed martial arts who work with these bodies, with perhaps the exception of the IFL, who uses the ISCP to help organized the officiating and otherwise sanction their fights when they hold events in jurisdictions without a state sanctioning authority.
Perhaps the most prominent sanctioning body is Japan's International Shooto Commission, which sanctions its own flavor of MMA. Its champions, like Takanori Gomi tend to focus on greener pastures after winning a shooto championship, and eventually abdicate their titles.
Sanctioning
editLike boxing, a state authority is common fixture. This is especially true in the United States and Canada. Some promoters, like the UFC, actively seek states which sanction mixed martial arts events to legitimize the sport.
Safety
editWeigh-ins
editBanned substances
editJapan lacks comprehensive testing, and as such accusations of steroid use among people who fight in Japan are common. Under, For instance, the UFC tests their fighters when they hold events in the United Kingdom, a country without state sanctioning authorities, but they refuse to release details of the tests or any punishment they might impose.
The use of steroids is something that is mentioned through out all realms of sport, but when it comes to the UFC the use is almost expected. While this particular sport becomes more popular the rules and regulations are becoming more closely compared to other popular sports. Dr. Flip Homansky, former commissioner for the state of Nevada, pushed the state to begin screening fighters for steroids in 2000 and lead the way into testing [1]. Although this did create a start for the mixed martial arts (MMA) world, few states and jurisdictions followed behind. Those who did not follow the example claimed they lacked the manpower needed to properly monitor the athletes. Cost of testing each individual athlete, which can run close to three hundred dollars each screening, was another main reason other states did not follow [2]. Because the testing rules and regulations vary from state to state it is very easy for the athletes to find the loop holes. Dr. Goodman, a writer for ESPN, commented on this flaw stating that
“A major issue that arises with testing is the timing of the test. Fighters who cheat know the exact day a positive drug screen will turn negative. Many hire costly experts to make certain they do not miss this window.” [3]
Unless the organization begins to promote drug- testing regulations, utilizing the World Anti-doping Code in every jurisdiction, the MMA will slowly begin to lose their credibility, especially with more and more athletes testing positive [4]. According to the New Jersey Athletics Board, which is one of the states that requires screening for steroids, by requiring medical testing the health and safety of the MMA competitors will also become more improved.