Your video, Blue Harvest - Battle with Thai Fighters, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

Your video, Star Wars TIE Fighter vs. Thai Fighter | Robot Chicken, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

Works for me.
*quality boobs...

!SPOILER!
and people think that Muay Thai fighters are hard because they can kick a baseball bat in two. Amateurs!

lol... went to Bangkok to get a Thai Fighter...

As an MMAer myself, I don't quite understand what's so mindblowing about MMA making it onto the cover of SI. It's a terrific sport, albeit somewhat misunderstood, and is quickly becoming one of the leading sport draws. I men, it's fighting for pete's sake, how can that NOT appeal to young adults?

As you may know, mixed martial arts, in the form of pankration, was one of the most popular sports in the original Greek Olympic games, back in the 600s B.C., and is currently under review for admittance as a demonstration sport in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.

Contrary to popular belief, mixed martial art fighters are not mindless brawlers: in fact, to reach a high level in the sport requires excellence in not just one martial art, but many arts, in order to adequately cover the three ranges of combat (standing, clinch, and ground) as well as both striking and grappling. For example, Fedor, almost universally considered the best fighter in the world, draws his base as an international champion in judo and sambo, and usually trains in submission grappling, boxing, and Muay Thai. He has, among many other feats, thrown and submitted an Olympic gold-medal judoka, hip tossed an Olympic silver-medal Greco-Roman wrestler, submitted some of the world's best Brazilian jiu-jitieros, and knocked out high-level Muay Thai fighters and kickboxers.

MMA has become a proving ground for martial arts, in what I believe is the spirit of Bruce Lee's philosophy of Jeet Kune Do: take what works, discard what doesn't. Arts that are effective are proven in the ring, and ones that aren't are dropped quickly - people can't make excuses when they get hit in the face. And the arts that work have coalesced into an overarching view of fighting, making for basically the most effective method of training and preparation for unarmed combat.

As for homoerotic overtones....well, I guess one can see what one wants to see.

Sifters interested in learning more about specific aspects of MMA can check out my Fighting Arts playlist, which includes sifts covering an expanding selection of martial arts practiced and used in mixed martial arts competitions.

DigitalDragon, you misunderstood Empire's argument about contact. Boxers, Muay Thai fighters, kickboxers, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, judo all have their students start whacking, throwing, or submitting each other from Day 1. They continue to train this way at all times. So who do you think's going to be a better fighter, somebody who gets punched and punches people all the time and learns to put power in it, or somebody who whirls their feet and hands around and maybe touches their "opponents" when dancing? Practice makes perfect, right? How come capoeira players don't practice hitting each other, then? You said you've seen masters fight each other in person. Any of them ever get KO'ed, or even get knocked silly? I doubt it, and if it was, it was probably an accident.

*sigh* This is why arguing on teh internets is dumb. It's so much easier when the people I'm arguing with can put on some 4 oz. gloves with me to put their claims to the test and then get themselves punched silly. So much easier that way.