Globalization effects on Mixed Martial Arts

Topic: Tradition /Localization/Globalization/Cultural Change
Source: The average Saturday UFC card with a good group of friends and the ensuing discussions about the variety of traditional things that happen at a fighting event. More specifically how they have changed since the explosion of the UFC and its following monopolization of MMA as a sport.
Relation:  Many traditional remnants of specific martial arts still exist today in the MMA world and are based in the past of each individual martial arts history. But they have been dramatically changed due to the globalization of MMA. Additionally due to this alone is illustrating cultural change between previous forms and the new modified MMA form.
Description: Saturday 25^th of February, my friends and I were discussing some of the changes seen within MMA and changes we have seen in the teaching of techniques as MMA forms of them become realized. The conversation was spurred due to a variety of annoyances we have with the current format of presenting MMA on television. Additionally our conversations delved into the changes that the sport has experienced as the mega-corportation Zuffa LLC has eaten up smaller MMA offshoots in hopes of creating a unified global sport that is MMA.
Commentary & Analysis: The way a fight is presented can change the feeling of an event and in turn the presentation of MMA globally has changed drastically in the last two decades of MMA evolution. A part of this presentation is incorporating the traditional elements of different Martial arts and is mainly seen as little nods to the sports history more than anything. A great example of these is the traditional Gi and belt being worn in many fighters’ introductions or the fact that many practitioners have an image of a belt along their shorts beltlines. This is just the last remnant of the ancient belt system and still follows many of the color coded formats that have been generated to measure skill. However presentation of fighters techniques has also been dramatically changed and illustrates a cultural change within the fighters involved. When I say this I am referring to the fact that in the past each fighter was incredibly specialized in one field and in turn their introductory video illustrated those skills. Now we see fighters intro’s focusing on how they are the complete MMA fighter not a specialized in any category but amazingly skilled in all. In turn the actual technique reflects that fighters are now not training in traditionalized forms but in modified or localized MMA versions of those original cultural forms. This is leading to an ever changing evolution of fighting and leading to essentially a globalized combat form. In turn this is what Zuffa the UFC’s parent company is striving for. They want to be the only company capable of providing the world with literally “The Ultimate Fighting Championship”. This has lead to an immense amount of MMA culture over the last decade to disappear or change as the Unified Rules used in Nevada, USA are becoming the global standard. Most importantly this has removed such attacks as headstomps and legalized such actions as elbows to downed opponents. While these specific actions lack real cultural elements to them , the legalization of one and illegalization of the other illustrate to a certain degree how violent is too violent according to humans as a whole.