Why do people think UFC is a sport?

Question

Alot of people, usually who dont know much about MMA, refer to UFC as a sport. UFC is a league, not a sport!!!

Let's give an an example. "UFC should be added to the olympics!" UFC will never be added to the olympics. Why? Because UFC is not a sport. Mixed Martial Arts is a sport. UFC is a league of the sport of Mixed Martial Arts.

Therefore, people should stop saying things like "Do you like UFC?" and start saying "Do you watch MMA?"

This has always bugged me. Who agrees?

Answer 1

Some people think of it more as a farce!

Answer 2

It is because of marketing...

Just like everyone seems to think that krav maga is something new and effective. Never heard of it 6 years ago.

Big money marketing unfortunately affects everyone in negative ways and often exploits the athletes. It can only give rise to trends or fashion and neither lasts long.

Answer 3

Dude, simply put, you nailed this one.

Answer 4

If this bothers you enough to ask a question about it on yahoo, you've got problems. Although UFC is an MMA sport it is the biggest and most popular form of MMA and it has it's own variation of rules. So i can see why people would call it a sport in it's own right. But i really couldn't care less what they call it to be honest.

Answer 5

I agree with you.

This is simply a testament to the UFC's marketing success though.

They dominate the MMA market and because of it, fly-by-night fans and people not very interested automatically associate  the UFC with MMA fighting.

Annoying yes, great marketing yes.

But still makes me happy that people are aware that there is at least a sport!

:)

Answer 6

MMA is a martial art, i agree, its not a self defense however, MMA is taught to fight one guy around your same weight in a closed cage with a ref, maui-tai and BJJ are good in defense against one person unarmed, but nothing more then that, however i agree MMA is not a sport its a martial art  

Answer 7

mainly becuas epeople dont know anyhting there a fan becuase it popular

Answer 8

Yes, yes this is a major problem.  People who do not care for MMA, are often times ignorant and call it the UFC, then usually go on to cite incorrect assumptions about why they don't like it.  What really sucks is that often times its a newspaper columnist or politician who does this - two professions who in theory are supposed to fact check, yet as we all know never do so in the pursuit of popularity.  

Its important to educate people about this.  When it comes to politician its pretty much a lost cause for reasons we all know about politicians. At least for newspapers you can write in and if your write out a well written response that is polite and factually correct its possible to get it published.

Answer 9

You sort of have a point, but look at my question...

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

Answer 10

true but irrelevent i no what they are talkin about and u understand so yes plus also ufc was the original thing for mma and that 8s wat it would be refered to if there was not the organization nown as ufc....u no wat nvm but u no wat ppl are talkin bout so y be so angry

plus also most ppl don no nutin but they seen ufc so tahts wats up

Answer 11

Yeah, agreed. MMA is a sport while UFC is a league. It's like saying the NFL is a sport...

Answer 12

That's true. It's similar to how people refer to all martial arts as "karate."  

I think Dana White loves it though - it shows how successful he has been at branding the UFC.  

Answer 13

why do people call a tissue a Kleenex? or a vacuum cleaner a Hoover?

answer, great marketing!!

And people who say " UFC should be added to the Olympics"! will never be taken seriously as they cearly dont know whats going on, dont worry:)

Answer 14

that will change soon, the sport growing and with affliction looking to rival the ufc like a wcw people will learn

Answer 15

Why do people call tissues kleenex?

UFC has dominated the competition in MMA so the two are now used synonymously.

This is a testament to the strength of marketing and branding done by UFC.

Answer 16

I agree. Being a retired MMA fighter, I often have to answer questions in which people refer to all of MMA as UFC.  I explain that UFC is only one of many MMA organizations.  This more often than not gets confused stares.

Answer 17

Ha ha ha hah my thoughts exactly. Props my friend

Answer 18

Wow, you've got way too much time on your hands if something as trivial as that gets you all worked up