For the first time in the 14 year history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, I decided to take a seat in front of a big screen and figure out what it was about UFC that caught everyone’s attention.

Having never seen the UFC fights before, I was unsure what would come of it. I knew that it would be gory, but I figured it would be a little more of a WWE type event where the main aspect was to entertain the Pay-Per-View fans. I was wrong.

As the first match approached between Patrick Cote and Kendall Grove I still had no idea what was going to happen and who would win, not having heard of either fighter I guess Grove, the American, became my favorite UFC fighter. Cote defeated Grove in the first round after 4:45, which did not surprise me, because I was pulling for Grove. The fight intrigued me and I was sucked in from there.

The second round came and thanks to friends I figured out the scoring and the minor details that separate this sport from boxing and wrestling. The use of submission moves combined with forms of martial arts, wrestling and boxing is what makes this sport so unique. The fact that one kick to the head, which is legal, can knock out your opponent seems so thrilling to me and thousands of UFC fans around the country.

In the second round Joe Stevenson and Kurt Pelligrino fought in the first full-length UFC fight that I had ever seen. Now, the one thing that did surprise me was that the scoring at the end of the three five minute rounds was left up to the judges based on a 10-point scale in which the winner of that round receives 10 and the loser nine or less. I thought it was interesting to see the panel of three judges and how they rated each round, but in the end Stevenson was picked over Pelligrino, which was the general consensus.

My favorite fight was between Georges St. Pierre and Josh Koscheck, because it was the most anticipated fight up to that point in the night. St. Pierre defeated Koscheck after three rounds and it was just a matter of time before experiencing my first heavyweight UFC fight.

The UFC 74 heavyweight match featured UFC Hall of Fame member Randy Couture, one of the two UFC fighters that I had heard of up to that point, Ken Shamrock being the other. Attempting to prevent Couture from keeping his title was the Brazilian Gabriel Gonzaga.

Early in the match Gonzaga received a broken nose and continued to battle through the intense fight. No matter what Gonzaga did he could not stand up Couture and was finished after 1:37 in the third round by technical knockout.

After an intense night of watching UFC, I understand what it is all about. If you’ve never had the chance to experience such a great sport, I suggest you gather some friends up and make a call to Pay-Per-View on Sept. 7, 2007, when Mirko “CRO COP” will take on Cheick Kongo in UFC 75. Let the party planning begin.

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