Most sports have their fair share of “haters” but most of them are simply based on support for the home team and hate for the opposition. The “hate” only comes from their desire to see their home team win and their desire for the competition to lose.

Of course, there will always be those that hate certain teams just because those teams are on top. Many polls show that that the most hated teams are often also among the most liked teams (see NY Yankees, Dallas Cowboys).

In MMA, it seems like every fighter has their share of haters. Even the most seemingly “good guy” fighters like Georges St-Pierre and Forrest Griffin have their haters. For the haters, there is always something for them to hate about the fighters they so despise. Everything from the fighter’s record, previous opponents, fighting style, or just the fighter’s demeanor seem to result in hate.

Often times the hate is based on nothing in reality. For example, Nick Diaz is one of the fighters with the most haters. You will often see the haters state things like “he has no skills” or “he doesn’t deserve a shot at the title” despite his impressive striking and Jiu-Jitsu skills and his record of achievements in the cage.

Of course, much of the hate for Diaz comes from the fighter’s antics outside the cage. Many fans find these antics entertaining while others use the fighter’s antics as the sole basis of their hate.

Most haters are easily recognized for what they are. Their arguments against a fighter they hate often lack any credibility but they refuse to be convinced otherwise. They can sit behind their keyboards and anonymously spew their hate without any fear of retribution.

The worst that can happen to them is that someone on a message board will recognize them for what they are and publicly identify them as a hater and their obsession for hate for a certain fighter.

Fortunately, most fans are not haters. They may dislike certain fighters for whatever reasons but they don’t feel obligated to voice their dislike on MMA forums and elsewhere. They simply respect fighters for their willingness to put it all on the line as they step into the cage.

Hopefully, those that show this respect for fighters will remain the majority as the sport of mixed martial arts moves forward as the world’s fastest growing sport.

Many fans of MMA feel that the seeming monopoly the UFC has is bad for the sport. The thinking is that competition to the UFC will force the organization to pay their fighters better, offer the fighters more benefits, and make them put on better fights in order to maintain their number one position. But, is this actually the case?

Prior self-proclaimed competitors to the UFC have not been very successful. Actually, saying you plan on being a competitor to the UFC actually seems like it might be a kiss of death. Previous organizations like Pride and Elite XC that made such statements about competing with the UFC didn’t end well.

The UFC deserves most of the credit for making MMA the fastest growing sport that it is today. From the early days of the first few UFC events, it was apparent that there were many fans wanting to see these sorts of competition. Prior to the UFC, there were very few options that would allow you to see martial artists of various disciplines compete against each other.

There was Vale Tudo in Brazil and Shooto and Pancrase in Japan, and not much else. In the U.S. about the only thing that came close were “tough man” competitions and “no holds barred” events that were actually outlawed in many states.

From the earliest days of their first events, the UFC was able to draw the interest of what would become MMA fans. And by tweaking the rules of the sport to disallow things like head butts and low blows, the UFC was able to get their events approved in a growing number of states.

Early on, the Pride organization in Japan appeared to be successful at providing their countries version of the UFC. Some major events were produced by that organization and they helped establish a large base of Japanese MMA fans. Pride was also able to showcase some of the sports best fighters from around the world. However, like the early UFC, Pride had financial difficulties despite their popularity with the fans.

They were unsuccessful with their attempts to go international by having events in the United States. It was also suspected that the organization had ties to organized crime in Japan. The Pride organization was on the verge of collapse when they were purchased by the UFC.

Elite XC burst onto the scene and seemed like they were willing to do whatever it took to take a major market share from the UFC. Aided by a deal with Showtime to show their events on the cable network and their willingness to spend large amounts of money to sign big stars to the organization, they seemed to be a legitimate contender to the UFC.

They were able to strike a deal with CBS to present the first MMA competitions on network television. While Elite XC seemed to be doing many things right, there were many major things that almost everyone (except Elite XC execs) saw that they were doing wrong. They had a tendency to overpay fighters in order to sign them to their company instead of the UFC.

Their biggest mistake may have been putting all their eggs in the basket of Kimbo Slice. They proclaimed Kimbo to be the “next big thing” based on his fighting in backyards on You Tube videos and not on any martial arts skills. There were very few knowledgeable fans of MMA that thought Kimbo would have anything more than a punchers chance in the sport. When Kimbo was knocked out by Seth Petruzelli 14 seconds into the first round of their fight, it spelled the end of Elite XC.

It seems now that MMA organizations are hesitant to say they seek to be a major competitor to the UFC. Strikeforce was widely considered as the number two organization until their purchase by Zuffa. So Strikeforce along with Pride were eliminated as competition to the UFC by Zuffa buying out the competition.

Fighter pay is often cited as a reason the UFC needs competitors. However, the UFC has consistently increased fighter’s paychecks and the popularity of the UFC has enabled fighters to gain lucrative deals from sponsors. Also, the UFC has begun to offer insurance to fighters under their umbrella thus eliminating many of the prior complaints about the UFC not taking care of their fighters.

In order to see better fights, co-promotion with other organizations is the main method often expressed by fans to accomplish this. While there are possibly some fights that could attract major interest among fans if the UFC were willing to co-promote, it’s probably not in the best interest of the UFC to do so.

Already, the vast majority of the best fighters in the world are in the UFC. By co-promoting with another organization, the UFC would essentially be promoting a competitors fighter on the back of all the hard work the UFC has put into building the UFC brand for all these years.

Meanwhile, the UFC has continued to work tirelessly to get MMA approved in all 50 states and has been working feverishly to get MMA approved in the one big remaining prize, New York state. Other “competitors” have contributed little to this effort.

So, it appears that any major competition for the UFC is still far from a reality. The best bet to create a competitor would be for an organization to establish a framework where they can create and promote their own fighters and pay them near UFC levels without over paying. If an organization can consistently accomplish this for several years, then perhaps we can eventually see a true competitor to the UFC.

Fans of MMA are a diverse group of individuals. However, many of the fans of the sport fall into one or more categories that describe their view of the sport. The following analysis will describe the different categories and try to explain their motivations.

The Haters

The Haters are among the most easily recognized group of fans. They are adamant in their views and cannot be reasoned with. They can hate both fighters and organizations. When encountered on forums, they are often seen calling those they disagree with by some very unflattering names. If you dare disagree with them, they will often call you a “fanboy” (see below) of the subject of their hate.

They also tend to type in all capital letters, which is the equivalent of screaming on the internet. They are the epitome of the “keyboard warrior” as they hide behind their anonymity and have no fear of retribution from those they spew their hate against. If by chance you meet a Hater in person, you should be careful as this sort of fan would be the most likely to become “unhinged”.

The Fanboys

Fanboys are the polar opposites of haters. They like to use similar tactics to the Haters and can be Fanboys of either a fighter or an organization. Likewise, if you disagree with a Fanboy, they will often label you as a Hater. They differ from the Haters in that they can actually support their view with facts. Probably the largest group of Fanboys are the Fedor Fanboys. While Fanboys are normally harmless, never let a Fedor Fanboy come face-to-face with a Fedor Hater.

The Lay-N-Pray Complainers

There is a group of fans that like to complain about fighters that take the fight to the mat and are unable quickly finish their opponent. This is called lay-n-pray (LNP) since the fighter is accused of laying on his opponent and praying that he will get the decision. These are usually the fans you hear booing in the arena once the fight goes to the ground and remains there for more than a few seconds.

The fighter on the bottom that is doing a good job of keeping from being submitted or pounded out gets none of the credit for a job well done. Instead, they like to blame the guy on top for not being able to finish from the dominant position.

There are many times they have a valid complaint for a fighter using a LNP tactic. However, they often accuse a fighter of LNP even though the fighter is constantly working for submissions and mixing in some ground-n-pound (see Georges St-Pierre). This is mainly due to these fans having a lack of appreciation for a fighter’s ground game or appreciation of the opponent’s defence from their back.

The “True” MMA Fan

The “True MMA Fan” generally consists of fans that don’t fall into any of the above categories. They don’t hate fighters and they’re not fanboys since they admire anyone that’s willing to put it all on the line and step into the cage. They don’t complain when a fight goes to the ground since they appreciate all aspects of Mixed Martial Arts.

On MMA forums one of the biggest insults you can give is, “you’re not a true MMA fan”. I’m sure all the fans from any of the categories above consider themselves as True MMA Fans. However, in my opinion, if you fall into any of the categories above, you’re not a True MMA Fan.

There are probably other categories of MMA fans not mentioned here but these are the major ones you see if you frequent MMA forums. Now you can identify who they are and who you are. Here’s to hoping you’re True MMA Fan.

However, in today’s MMA it is unlikely that such basically one-dimensional fighters will be among the top ranked fighters in the sport. The current champions of MMA are almost all true mixed martial artist.

One of the best current examples of this is UFC Welterweight Title holder Georges St-Pierre. With his superb striking skills, outstanding wrestling, and top notch Jiu Jitsu, St-Pierre offers a balanced attack to his opponents. This allows him to hold his own or dominate no matter where the course of the match takes him.

It seems nowadays that the number one skill a champion calibre fighter needs is excellent wrestling. The ability to take your opponent to the mat when needed is very important. Since takedowns are such a large part of wrestling, most top-notch wrestlers are able to take their opponents to the mat whenever necessary.

Defensively, wrestling provides a fighter with the skills needed to prevent being taken down. If a wrestler is taken to the ground, they are often able to sweep their opponent and get back on top or back to their feet. Wrestlers are also usually able to neutralize the grappling skills of an equally skilled Jiu Jitsu fighter.

Striking is the part of MMA many fans want to see most. It can be exciting to think that a fighter could end a fight at any time if they’re able to land that one punch. However, modern day MMA has evolved to the point that a fighter that relies solely on their striking will likely not be very successful. Many fighters with boxing and kickboxing experience have competed in MMA with limited success.

Bouts against these fighters usually end when the fighter gets taken down. Once on the mat, they don’t have the skills to defend against submissions or a ground and pound attack. Training in Muay Thai is a common choice for today’s fighters since it involves both striking with fists and kicking along with clinching skills.

The other skill it seems is a “must have” for a top-level fighter is Jiu Jitsu or some type of submission skill. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a popular choice to learn this needed skill but other martial arts such as Judo and Sambo can be a reasonable substitute. The need for submissions knowledge is often seen when a fighter that may have excellent striking and wrestling takes their opponent down but then is unable to make any moves to finish the fight.

This often results in the lay and pray tactic that so many fans hate. A submission specialist will not only be able to finish with a submission when they’re on top of their opponent, but also represent a legitimate threat of a submission when defending from the bottom.

It is no longer necessary for a fighter to learn these separate disciplines by training at different facilities to obtain the needed skills. More and more gyms are offering training in mixed martial arts where they offer all the training needed for a complete MMA fighter. I suspect in the future we will see more and more fighters trained in these type facilities as we begin to see fewer fighters that claim only one martial art as their specialty.