Fight! Fight! Fight!

Are there any more magical words to chant than these?  If you've had any sort of a childhood, you've heard the "Fight! Fight! Fight!" chant at least once, and maybe you were even the subject of these chants.  I wouldn't put it past our readership.

Fighting is probably the first taboo we witnessed or participated in breaking as children.  There was just something very illicit about it, especially at school where fighting was such a no-no.  It was like watching a star being born – some nebulous gases would bump up against each other and a spark caused an explosion: first, a quarrel would break out, accusations would fly, and then the verbal assaults became physical – and just like that a fight, and the chant, had broken out.

School fights, for me, reached their apex in middle school.  Later, fights took on a much more violent, and dangerous, tone – people could actually get hurt.  The best fight I've ever seen in person happened when I was in 7th grade.  The reasons for the fight, like most fights, are unclear.  Something about the new transfer thinking he was better than everyone, the other kid protecting his turf, whatever.  It was two boys acting out testosterone-fueled posturing.  Anyway, these two kids starting hollering and wrestlin' in the hallway, which was quickly broken up by a passing teacher.  However, buzz soon spread that an appointment for a fight had been reached, and that the two would meet after school at the racquetball courts.  The park adjacent to our school had outdoor racquetball courts that were enclosed by metal fencing, and we quickly realized that what we had on our hands was not just a fight, but a CAGE FIGHT.

Yes, this is a rather roundabout way to touch on the UFC and "combat sports" phenomenon, but let me just say that my appreciation for getting your ass handed to you inside the boundaries of metal fencing was born that day.  I can remember hordes (tens) of kids walking and biking over to the park in excited anticipation, and the fight actually delivering the goods.  The new kid was just demolished – I remember at one point, the other kid had new kid's face pinned against the metal fence as he rained kidney blows on him. 

A few months later, my friends and I discovered the wonders of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, a fight tournament which pitted practitioners of different martial arts against each other in a caged octagon, a grown-up version of what we had just witnessed.  It was brutal, violent, bloody, and extremely intoxicating.  It opened our eyes to many different fighting specialties, and the athleticism and competitiveness of the fighters.  A decade and a half later, the UFC and its many offshoots and rivals have refined what is called Mixed Martial Arts and its popularity is soaring, thanks to stints on basic cable (especially the UFC's Ultimate Fighter reality/game show on SpikeTV). 

In many ways, I've matured from that seventh-grade version of myself - but the luster of fighting in a cage has yet to wear off, so I'll be commenting on UFC and other fighting sports from time to time.  Hey, indulge me and my inner child/caveman.

Here's an unscientific list of some of the best/most exciting fighters you may want to check out:

• Fedor Emelianenko (Pride HW champ)
• Mauricio "Shogun" Rua (Pride LHW)
• Wanderlei "the Axe Murderer" Silva (Pride LHW champ)
• Mirko "Cro-Cop" Filipovic (Pride HW)
• Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera (Pride HW)
• Takanori Gomi (Pride LW)
• Kaz Sakuraba (Pride MW)
• Chuck "the Iceman" Liddell (UFC LHW champ)
• Rich "Ace" Franklin (UFC MW champ)
• Matt Hughes (UFC WW champ)
• Georges St. Pierre (UFC WW - probably my favorite fighter of the moment)
• Andrei Arlovski (UFC HW champ)
• Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto (K-1 flyweight) 
• Genki "Neo-Samurai" Sudo (K-1 WW)

There are many many other fighters out there, just search for UFC/Pride/MMA.  Also, check out Sherdog.com for all the MMA info you'd ever need, and check out the new season of Ultimate Fighter on SpikeTV.