I'm usually a lurker here, but figured I'd come out of the woods and say something when I stumbled on this topic. Saying all of that was "gay" is pretty ignorant. Submission grappling, ground fighting, Brazilian/Gracie Jiu-jitsu, or however people know it as is an aspect of fighting that a lot of the American/European population really hasn't grasped yet, probably because it's a lot more technical and difficult to understand than something like boxing.
MMA isn't something new. It dates back all the way to the Greeks with their Pankration tournaments. When MMA burst into the modern mainstream with the UFC, it was in fact very "barabaric" and that's what almost killed the sport. MMA has gone through a lot of changes over the years though. Many rules have since been implemented and official state governing bodies sanction events here in the U.S.. New York is I believe the only state that still illegalizes it, although that will probably change by the end of this year. People who don't follow the sport still think it's a "fight to the death" or "anything goes no holds barred" type of fighting. It's kind of ridiculous sometimes how ignorant people can be.
What's funny is that even though a lot of the rule changes that has further "sportified" MMA has only come about in the last decade or so... despite all that, in its 100 year history, the number of deaths and/or career ending/life-threatening injuries is only something like 2 or 3. The most recent one was from last year and the fighter who passed away, they believe he died not because of the fight but because of a developing aneurysm that the medical doctors did not catch BEFORE the fight. That one is still under investigation. The last one before that was like 5-6 years ago I think in Russia from an unsanctioned event. Compare that to other combat sports like boxing... hell compare it to non-combat sports like football and hockey.
It's funny that people call the sport "barbaric" even now because something like boxing for example is actually more dangerous and brutal. In MMA, there is absolutely nothing shameful about "tapping out" to a submission and/or you feel that you can no longer physically continue... and if the referee thinks that one fighter is no longer intelligently defending he MUST stop the fight. In boxing, you keep going until the other guy is knocked out. And even if you get knocked down, you have 10 seconds to get up... and then you keep going. "Throwing in the towel" in boxing is considered extremely shameful.
You also have to remember that boxers in the Heavyweight division for example wear 16 oz gloves. Imagine getting hit so hard in the head, that even with 16 oz of padding you still get knocked out... and if you have the misfortune of only getting knocked down, they give you 10 seconds to get back up and endure even more head trauma. Did I also forget that you go 12 rounds? In MMA even championship fights are only 5 rounds and usually 5 minutes in a lot of orgs. In smaller amateur shows, it's usually 3 rounds, 3 minutes each. They also only wear 4 oz/6 oz grappling gloves, which means that if the attacker hits with the same force as he did with 16 oz gloves he'd probably end up breaking his hand and hurting himself more than you. Without heavily padded gloves, a lot of the force gets absorbed by the attacker also, so it's just mostly superficial trauma, as opposed to boxing where it is almost all blunt trauma (which is a lot hells more serious and dangerous).
A long time ago, they used to call boxing champions the "best fighter in the world." Nowadays, for anyone who watches all combat sports, in actuality, they're the best boxer in the world. Boxing is the sport of punching. MMA is the sport of fighting... it incorporates EVERYTHING. You tell me which is more difficult to master.
Here in the states, when a fight goes to ground, people boo, holler, and jeer right away. In other places like Japan for example where the population is more heavily informed on ground fighting... they're very quiet for most of the fight and you get your oohs and ahhs when you see sweeps, beautiful transitions to submission, guard escapes, etc.. It's an art form and very enjoyable if you take the time to learn it... even more so if you go out and practice and participate.
As for the video, the man who won is Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, he is the current UFC Interim HW Champ and is a legend in the sport. Youtube his epic fight with Bob Sapp and you will understand why grappling is such an important aspect of fighting. He has an identical twin brother, named Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, who is pretty damn good also but fights at Light Heavyweight.
