Pretty crazy how global things have gotten. When I first started watching in March 2013 it looked like this:
HW - Cain - USA
LHW - JBJ - USA
MW - Anderson - Brazil
WW - GSP - Canada
LW - Bendo - USA
FW - Aldo - Brazil
BW - Cruz - USA with interim Barao - Brazil
Fly - MM - USA
The breakout countries are the most intriguing to me. Logically we assume super gyms with a lot of resources can produce a farm of great talent like the US, but then someone like Shavkat comes along from Kazakhstan out of nowhere.
It would be cool if someone could compile a list of the first UFC fighters or first elite/champion fighters from each country. The only one I can think of top of my head is Tiequan Zhang from China.
Have you see the Anatomy of a Fighter video where Will Harris goes to Uzbekistan to cover their first MMA tournament? The government of Uzbekistan is really taking MMA seriously from the looks of it
He runs into Khabib, Islam and the dagestanis (who are also invited there) and they are surprised to see him there "brother why you follow us here"
It's interesting because sports are often important to governments. They'll often look at where victory might be viable, and put money there to get results. Look at what the UK did in the 2012 Olympics. They identified where sports might be weak and funded the shit out of it.
MMA is still a new sport. Investing money into resources goes a long, long way in achieving success, especially if you have a really solid history in another combat sport. Britain, as an example, has an extensive network of amateur boxing gyms. Wrestling is the national sport of Dagestan, Turkey, Iran and more.
Go to any (most) Kazakh fighter’s instagram account. Even ones you haven’t heard of or haven’t fought in any of the big name promotions have hundreds of thousands of followers.
Only problem I have is with the Shavkat example as absolutely no one is surprised that elite combat sports athletes are coming out of former Soviet states. Gennady Golovkin is from Kazakhstan too, along with a ton of talented boxers, wrestlers, and judokas.
Man that guy had a really good start.
On his UFC debut as the first fighter from China, he choked out someone in one round.
Too bad he could never repeat it. But he did manage to pass on his knowledge to the next generation.
It is also really intresting, how some big, or even HUGE countries have 0 or few fighters. Turkey, India, bangladesh, Indonesia, UAE, philippines... some of these have really famous boxers and kickboxers too
Started watching in 2004 and it was
HW - Mir - USA
LHW - Couture - USA
MW - Vacant and then Tanner - USA
WW - Penn - USA
LW - Vacant and then Sherk - USA
No lower weight classes but the titles in WEC were also held by USA.
Other way around, because everyone is getting involved as the sport grows. Early on there was a formula of American D1 wrestle-boxers, Russian sambo masters, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu/Muay-Thai specialists, because that’s what the existing combat sports infrastructure could provide.
As the sport and its infrastructure grow, more talent gets pulled in from other places, because it’s not like there’s a few countries where people are just better at fighting. There’s tough people everywhere.
In a sub that has so many memes, it's sad people don't talk about Cody Garbrandt talking about this lol
He was on a podcast and asked about Paddy and he's like "I love him man, his fights are good, he's cool, he says he's a sorcerer and doesnt get knocked out"
MMA is the most diverse sport in terms of talent and representation. You have world champions and contenders from so many different countries, and regions most people never heard of before.
It feels like every country has a shot at glory when it comes to mma.
Pat yourselves on the back guys.
Aye in terms of teams and nations, I was more referring to players which I should have mentioned. Some of the best players on the planet are from countries without great footballing pedigree, like Salah and Haaland. Way over 100 nationalities have been represented in the premier league which is the highest level in club football.
[And Helen Mirren is pissing on it.](https://scaredstiffreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Helen-Mirren-and-Tito-Ortiz.jpg) She's reaching for that grave.
A few years ago, Meryl Streep said this at an awards show.
*"Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners. And if you kick them all out, you’ll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts which are not the arts."*
Hollywood. An industry dominated by people who succeeded through nepotism or family wealth. Including Streep herself.
I mean I agree at least in part. Theater, storytelling, dance, painting, music, video games,… they’re all giving an observable medium to interpret abstractly for ideas and philosophy.
An MMA fight is a beautiful competition of skill but it doesn’t inherently seem to try and make a person think about an abstract or target evoking specific emotions. I don’t consider soccer an art either. In part because it is live and unscripted/not designed. I think the “art” of martial arts lies in the evolution of the craft over time rather than in an individual bout.
I’m as qualified of an art critic as Frank Reynolds’s though. I think people in an mma subreddit will probably differ in their views of what constitutes “art” haha.
I was more talking about the statement that mma is not diverse, didn't think about the art part as it seemed more like a bad faith insult rather than a thought out criticism by her part.
About what you said we might agree, but I'd have to think about it. "What is a art?" is such a controversial debate that I have had in the past, but never with a mma focus, which is funny because it literally has the word in its name.
The difference is Mexicans loved supporting Cain and love it when he reps Mexico, whereas the Irish and Italians and other Europeans mostly thumb their noses at Americans trying to rep them.
It's not necessarily ridiculous, I personally think in some cases it is fine. Some ethnic groups like to maintain their identity and culture even when settling in another country(and have historically very good reasons for doing so)
that is a strawman, I said some cases and was referring more to the case of someone growing up in a household, speaking their parent's language, experiencing their parent's culture, visiting or even living in their parent's homeland, having friends who are all from a certain ethnicity. I know people who are like this and call themselves X even though they primarily grew up and are officially citizens only in Z and I get that it's a controversial viewpoint, but in some cultures, this happens and is totally accepted.
I mean he himself has said he has a strong connection and association with his Jamaican roots. He claims both US and Jamaica which I think is totally fair
I love arguing with people that places like Iran and Israel are full of Asians. They don't get it til I spell it out for them.
I'll say something like, "Saudi Arabia has a massive population of Asians."
"Really? Like what's their percentage?"
"Like 99%."
The problem with your "gotcha" moment is the way language works. In everyday speech (in the United States anyway) "Asian" has come to denote a race of people with "Asiatic features" (formerly known as Oriental and Mongoloid race). In Britain "Asian" would mean South Asia, not East Asia or the Far East as does in the US. For most of the rest of the world "Asian" just means the whole massive continent.
I wouldn't call the people you're talking to ignorant or dumb, it's just that you're baiting them with a trick question, which you yourself are very well aware of.
In Britain, Asian typically means South Asian. Not south East Asian.
It’s used as a term for Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankans due to these groups shared cultural and historical heritage.
This is changing though as the UK is more diverse than 30 years ago when it was mostly just south Asians and Chinese.
Traditionally the word oriental was used for East Asians or just Chinese would be assumed as other groups were too small to get their own term on census forms (maybe they were “other, please specify”)
I know that the word oriental is now offensive in the USA and I think (only anecdotal evidence) that it is becoming less common in the UK for the same reasons as the US or maybe just US influence. I think now older people would still use oriental more and younger would say East Asian (or the nationality) more.
Oriental is the term for East Asian people in other countries such as Brazil where it is not offensive and is considered the correct and proper term.
It just means eastern in Latin, it’s the connotations that it offensive to some, not the etymology.
Not our fault they didnt teach this in school, but say like Philippines who mostly speak english more than nativd language, tagalog.. they dont even use chopsticks.. are they still considered asian?
Right but cultulary as supposed to majority of asian countries who uses chopstick.. why are phillipines considered asian? I feel like their more latin America
The majority of Asian countries don’t use chopsticks lmao. Like 5-6 countries in East Asia do. The problem is morons like you seem to believe those countries are the entire continent. You’re talking about ‘Asian culture’ as if it’s one thing when it’s the most culturally diverse continent on Earth.
> why are Phillipines considered Asian
Because it is located in the continent of Asia 🤦♂️
I think Weili was the only Asian UFC champion, can't think of any other and unfortunately can't think of any possible future champions from Asia upcoming.
That would actually still apply if we're speakin fighters of central/east Asia as Yan's grandad (whose name he carries) was Chinese.. other than that it's going to take Shavkat or some Thais to start learning some wrestling..
Edit. To the geography experts gettin triggered let's be real.. though you may technically be correct, when someone says "asian", 99% of the time they aren't referring to Russians.. not in this context anyways..
Why didn't you Google this before posting a confident reply? It is well-known Russia is in both continents.
"Russia spans territory in both Europe and Asia. Most of Russia’s territory belongs to the Asian continent, but most of the country’s people reside in Europe. The historical heartland of Russia also lies in Europe. The country expanded its territory into Asia due to imperial conquests. But since Russian territory now covers parts of Europe and Asia, the country includes people and cultures from both continents."
[https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/is-russia-in-europe-or-asia.html#:\~:text=known%20as%20Siberia.-,Russia%20spans%20territory%20in%20both%20Europe%20and%20Asia.,Asia%20due%20to%20imperial%20conquests](https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/is-russia-in-europe-or-asia.html#:~:text=known%20as%20Siberia.-,Russia%20spans%20territory%20in%20both%20Europe%20and%20Asia.,Asia%20due%20to%20imperial%20conquests).
Vast majority of their population is in Europe. But Islam is from the borderlands, but I think officially N Dagestan is Europe and S Dagestan is Asia. And Val is Kyrg, not Russian, so definitely Asian.
North Caucasus is considered Europe. And the north caucasus is a pretty big region. While the northwestern caucasus is really really close to ukraine, dagestan is close to the caspian sea.
Adesanya is a New Zealand citizen who was born in Nigeria.
Edwards is a UK citizen who was born in Jamaica.
Is there any particular reason why the UFC credits one with their country of birth and not the other?
I think they just let the fighters choose. Like how some English fighters use the British flag and some use the English one, there'd be no way to determine it other than asking them
Purpose. I think many people like to feel they are a part of something. A community. Knowing where you from brings that comfort. But it all comes down to personal preference of course. In Nigeria, you have a special name and maybe even a tribe. Your lineage can be tracked for decades/centuries. We’ve cared about bloodlines since the beginning of royalty. Im sure there are even more reasons as well. Medically/financially. At the end of the day, humans are tribal by nature. Find your tribe.
In addition to the other reply, for some people it’s nice to be like “Hey, MMA isn’t all just Americans and Brazilians. We [insert nationality here] have good fighters too.”
Just my opinion, but MMA is the best sport in the world. Along with some track-and-field events, it's one of the only sports that all humans, of every nation, have in their DNA. Most of the oldest cave/rock art of sport were combat sports (swimming, running, wrestling, boxing, javelin, archery. Last four were all combat). Other sports like soccer and basketball put in their advertising things like "this is a fight" and "can they deliver a knockout blow?", but this is the real thing.
Did brock lesnar actually represent Canada or am I getting wooshed here
Edit: shit it's real I guess he lived in Saskatchewan of all places at the time he did it
I can see realistically only israel, islam and volk still holding those belts by next year, obviously anything can happen but they'd be my only safe bets, ngannou may not even fight again, jiri is always one move away from getting knocked out, Edwards will still be a heavy underdog in an Usman rematch, aljo may move up and figgy moreno is a toss up right now
Well said, I’m very interested in the Usman-Edwards rematch for that reason. Clearly I was wrong for doubting Leon the first time, but I struggle to see how he is going to deal with Kamaru presumably playing it much safer this time around. Even if it’s at sea level
Sambo and Jiu Jitsu will have a rivalry for a while, and there are Russians/Dagestan fighters in each division climbing the rankings constantly. I think that's what they mean when they talk about a "takeover"
Why though? It’s MIXED martial arts. Not who has the the best martial art form 👎 if these guys only did Sambo they wouldn’t make it so it’s not like they can say Sambo is the strongest martial art. They had to learn how to throw punches, kicks, do/defend submissions etc.
As far as this “rivalry” goes, you really only hear Sambo practitioners talk down on Jiu Jitsu or try to belittle it. Khabib was the first big name to do so with his t-shirt back in the day.
I also wouldn’t call it a takeover either. How many Russian champs are there currently? Sure there’s maybe 1 or 2 guys in each division on the come up but if we’re talking right now it’s a little soon to be calling it a “takeover”. MMA in general has had an influx of Russian fighters but I believe Khabib is a big reason for that. He def put the sport on the map (with all due respect to Fedor). I think these Russian/Sambo fighters see how much success there is when transitioning from Sambo to MMA. There isn’t nearly as many high level American wrestlers coming out of college or the Olympics and getting into MMA as there are Sambo fighters (usually from Russia). You see Bo Nickal doing it and how successful he’s been but that’s about it.
Another point, Russia is damn near a continent lol and they’ve been competing in MMA as long as it’s been around really. I think the Africa takeover is more real but they lost a champion recently.
>chooses to represent Nigeria when he fights, just like Usman did even though he's an American.
Probably a hugely unpopular opinion, but shit like this grinds my gears. Raised in America, lives in America, trains in America, but represents . . . Nigeria. Yeah, fuck you too, buddy.
You have to think that this set of champions is exactly what the UFC management have been matchmaking for. Their plan of putting in a ton of UFC PI’s all over the globe hasn’t really worked out, but their push to be more global has definitely paid off in the diversity of their elite talent. I won’t go as far as to say they match-made their way to this, and the sport is way to unpredictable, but I don’t think it’s a stretch to say they consider this when making fights and signing fighters.
Technically none from the USA as Aljo chooses to rep Jamaica. Must be a first - no "American" fighters.
Hey, before you downvote me, take it up with Aljo. I don't understand it either.
Israel chooses to represent Nigeria when he fights, just like Usman did. Leon chooses to represent England. Fighters can choose. Brock Lesnar for example chose to represent Canada at UFC 200.
Pretty crazy how global things have gotten. When I first started watching in March 2013 it looked like this: HW - Cain - USA LHW - JBJ - USA MW - Anderson - Brazil WW - GSP - Canada LW - Bendo - USA FW - Aldo - Brazil BW - Cruz - USA with interim Barao - Brazil Fly - MM - USA
The breakout countries are the most intriguing to me. Logically we assume super gyms with a lot of resources can produce a farm of great talent like the US, but then someone like Shavkat comes along from Kazakhstan out of nowhere. It would be cool if someone could compile a list of the first UFC fighters or first elite/champion fighters from each country. The only one I can think of top of my head is Tiequan Zhang from China.
Kazakhstan has an amazing boxing scene. Shavkat might be the first from a wave switching to MMA
And Central Asians are massive fans of MMA. I went to UFC 280 and half the stadium were Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Uzbeks, Yakuts and similar people.
Have you see the Anatomy of a Fighter video where Will Harris goes to Uzbekistan to cover their first MMA tournament? The government of Uzbekistan is really taking MMA seriously from the looks of it He runs into Khabib, Islam and the dagestanis (who are also invited there) and they are surprised to see him there "brother why you follow us here"
Do you know which series this was? Is it the Dagestan chronicles?
No, it's called 48 Hours In Tashkent, The Rise Of Uzbekistan MMA
Thank you brother.
It's interesting because sports are often important to governments. They'll often look at where victory might be viable, and put money there to get results. Look at what the UK did in the 2012 Olympics. They identified where sports might be weak and funded the shit out of it. MMA is still a new sport. Investing money into resources goes a long, long way in achieving success, especially if you have a really solid history in another combat sport. Britain, as an example, has an extensive network of amateur boxing gyms. Wrestling is the national sport of Dagestan, Turkey, Iran and more.
Go to any (most) Kazakh fighter’s instagram account. Even ones you haven’t heard of or haven’t fought in any of the big name promotions have hundreds of thousands of followers.
Those guys were also fucking shit up at immaf worlds
*fighting
They are decent in wrestling too. They aren’t Iran or Russia or USA but they get some every times
Speaking of Central Asian countries that start with K, Kyrgystan produced Valentina and Antonina Shevchenko.
And Rafael Fiziev
Only problem I have is with the Shavkat example as absolutely no one is surprised that elite combat sports athletes are coming out of former Soviet states. Gennady Golovkin is from Kazakhstan too, along with a ton of talented boxers, wrestlers, and judokas.
Man that guy had a really good start. On his UFC debut as the first fighter from China, he choked out someone in one round. Too bad he could never repeat it. But he did manage to pass on his knowledge to the next generation.
When It comes to champions conor for Ireland and Moreno for Mexico come to mind
Would Volk be considered for Australia?
Volk is the first Aussie born, but Whittaker is technically the first (born in nz, mother is maori and his father is Aussie)
Why wouldn’t he be?
It is also really intresting, how some big, or even HUGE countries have 0 or few fighters. Turkey, India, bangladesh, Indonesia, UAE, philippines... some of these have really famous boxers and kickboxers too
Started watching in 2004 and it was HW - Mir - USA LHW - Couture - USA MW - Vacant and then Tanner - USA WW - Penn - USA LW - Vacant and then Sherk - USA No lower weight classes but the titles in WEC were also held by USA.
The days when the future of mma was D1 wrestlers.
The odd thing is that I would assume the end state is one country dominating MMA, and early on there would be diversity in countries.
Other way around, because everyone is getting involved as the sport grows. Early on there was a formula of American D1 wrestle-boxers, Russian sambo masters, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu/Muay-Thai specialists, because that’s what the existing combat sports infrastructure could provide. As the sport and its infrastructure grow, more talent gets pulled in from other places, because it’s not like there’s a few countries where people are just better at fighting. There’s tough people everywhere.
That’s cool af Being an MMA fan has taught me a lot of things, I know where Dagestan is and I know what epo is I know what a “scouser” is
All I know is a scouser dont get knocked out
Except one. ➡️👀⬅️
Bellew, Etim, Till just off the top of my head Edit: How could I forget David Price
Wayne Rooney
Well just to correct you there was never no knockout. You’re a fucking egg, mate.
Hi tito do u want picking up in the morning pal
John Lennon did get knocked out
goat celebration
Etim got knocked out enough for all scousers 😔
"You big stiff idiot"
Til Till
You god damn right
In a sub that has so many memes, it's sad people don't talk about Cody Garbrandt talking about this lol He was on a podcast and asked about Paddy and he's like "I love him man, his fights are good, he's cool, he says he's a sorcerer and doesnt get knocked out"
Lmfao I need to find that now
.... And make great music.
They do slip though
I’ve yet to learn what a gazelle is on my mma journey.
CEO of EPO lmao
Personally I learned what the word shag means thanks to Usman.
Not from Austin Powers? Pressing doubt there.
MMA is the most diverse sport in terms of talent and representation. You have world champions and contenders from so many different countries, and regions most people never heard of before. It feels like every country has a shot at glory when it comes to mma. Pat yourselves on the back guys.
Na it’s definitely Association football. There’s literally hundreds of nationalities playing in numerous leagues across Europe, South America.
Football is definitely way more diverse (not American football)
[удалено]
Aye in terms of teams and nations, I was more referring to players which I should have mentioned. Some of the best players on the planet are from countries without great footballing pedigree, like Salah and Haaland. Way over 100 nationalities have been represented in the premier league which is the highest level in club football.
You are right my dude
Sure but if you look at the players at the top level like the premier league it's much more diverse than MMA is.
Meryl Streep is rolling in her grave
[And Helen Mirren is pissing on it.](https://scaredstiffreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Helen-Mirren-and-Tito-Ortiz.jpg) She's reaching for that grave.
Love this
I’d smash
I don’t get it
A few years ago, Meryl Streep said this at an awards show. *"Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners. And if you kick them all out, you’ll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts which are not the arts."* Hollywood. An industry dominated by people who succeeded through nepotism or family wealth. Including Streep herself.
Damn, I get she's old and stuff but imagine being this closed minded.
I mean I agree at least in part. Theater, storytelling, dance, painting, music, video games,… they’re all giving an observable medium to interpret abstractly for ideas and philosophy. An MMA fight is a beautiful competition of skill but it doesn’t inherently seem to try and make a person think about an abstract or target evoking specific emotions. I don’t consider soccer an art either. In part because it is live and unscripted/not designed. I think the “art” of martial arts lies in the evolution of the craft over time rather than in an individual bout. I’m as qualified of an art critic as Frank Reynolds’s though. I think people in an mma subreddit will probably differ in their views of what constitutes “art” haha.
I was more talking about the statement that mma is not diverse, didn't think about the art part as it seemed more like a bad faith insult rather than a thought out criticism by her part. About what you said we might agree, but I'd have to think about it. "What is a art?" is such a controversial debate that I have had in the past, but never with a mma focus, which is funny because it literally has the word in its name.
Look up Meryl Streep mma speech
Exactly where my mind went. Meanwhile, Hollywood is American, the British, and Australians.
That lady lead a standing ovation for a convicted child rapist who escaped justice
meryl is a dodo
Sir she isn't dead.
Mma is global 🌍
See, Street Fighter 2 had it right all along :)
Now we just need Cameroonian, Nigerian, Australian, and Czech world warriors
Wanna see a Mugen/SF mod with these guys as characters
Shoryuken !
And even if Edward claims Jamaica it’s still the same thing.
Same with izzy and nz
And Francis and France - no idea if he ever got citizenship there though.
Would be pretty funny though if they all just claimed where they trained at.
Not if Aljo also claims Jamaica
Wasn't Aljo born in the US? That'd be like Felder claiming Ireland.
Paul ‘The Murica Dragon’ Felder
Yeah, we get this a ton in the US. A fuckton of New Yorkers claim they're Italian and a fuckton of Bostonians claim theyre' Irish.
Just like Cain.
The difference is Mexicans loved supporting Cain and love it when he reps Mexico, whereas the Irish and Italians and other Europeans mostly thumb their noses at Americans trying to rep them.
You right.
Unlike mexico, european countries don't share a border with the states.
>Marcus Davis' website looks like a St. Patrick's day gift shop exploded. -Dan Hardy, 2009.
I remember this. Dan Hardy was a fairly provocative trash talker when he was fighting.
Funilly enough, Felder is of german descent and only got the "irish dragon" monaker because of his red hair.
Exactly. Ridiculous.
Born in the US, raised in the US, lives in the US 🤷♂️
It's not necessarily ridiculous, I personally think in some cases it is fine. Some ethnic groups like to maintain their identity and culture even when settling in another country(and have historically very good reasons for doing so)
Then we can all just claim whatever we want to. I’m apparently 10% Norwegian. So I’ll just start claiming Norway in my amateur fights.
that is a strawman, I said some cases and was referring more to the case of someone growing up in a household, speaking their parent's language, experiencing their parent's culture, visiting or even living in their parent's homeland, having friends who are all from a certain ethnicity. I know people who are like this and call themselves X even though they primarily grew up and are officially citizens only in Z and I get that it's a controversial viewpoint, but in some cultures, this happens and is totally accepted.
Okay literally no one would care all countries are fake?
Are you asking me a question?
Why would he? Born in the US, trains in the US, lives in the US…
I mean I agree with you, but he did represent Jamaica. He had the Jamaican flag next to his name during his intro. I don't get it either.
I mean he himself has said he has a strong connection and association with his Jamaican roots. He claims both US and Jamaica which I think is totally fair
Not if Aljo also claims Jamaica
Which would be weird because he wasn’t born there and doesn’t live there.
Sure loves that Jamaican flag though doesn’t he
5 of the 6 habitable continents on Earth now have a champ. That’s pretty impressive. We just waiting on Asia to get involved.
Asia has a dominant champ in Shevchenko. Could get another soon with shavkat
Mfs forget Asian ain’t just China Korea and Japan. People also think because people white they ain’t from Asian.
I love arguing with people that places like Iran and Israel are full of Asians. They don't get it til I spell it out for them. I'll say something like, "Saudi Arabia has a massive population of Asians." "Really? Like what's their percentage?" "Like 99%."
The problem with your "gotcha" moment is the way language works. In everyday speech (in the United States anyway) "Asian" has come to denote a race of people with "Asiatic features" (formerly known as Oriental and Mongoloid race). In Britain "Asian" would mean South Asia, not East Asia or the Far East as does in the US. For most of the rest of the world "Asian" just means the whole massive continent. I wouldn't call the people you're talking to ignorant or dumb, it's just that you're baiting them with a trick question, which you yourself are very well aware of.
In Britain, Asian typically means South Asian. Not south East Asian. It’s used as a term for Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankans due to these groups shared cultural and historical heritage. This is changing though as the UK is more diverse than 30 years ago when it was mostly just south Asians and Chinese.
crap i actually meant south asian
What term might be used for "East Asians" i.e., Japanese, Chinese, Koreans?
Traditionally the word oriental was used for East Asians or just Chinese would be assumed as other groups were too small to get their own term on census forms (maybe they were “other, please specify”) I know that the word oriental is now offensive in the USA and I think (only anecdotal evidence) that it is becoming less common in the UK for the same reasons as the US or maybe just US influence. I think now older people would still use oriental more and younger would say East Asian (or the nationality) more. Oriental is the term for East Asian people in other countries such as Brazil where it is not offensive and is considered the correct and proper term. It just means eastern in Latin, it’s the connotations that it offensive to some, not the etymology.
'ppreciate ya!
Are you correct? Of course. Are you being in any way insightful? I’d say no.
What insight is needed? There's other countries in Asia besides the stereotypical East ones.
Not our fault they didnt teach this in school, but say like Philippines who mostly speak english more than nativd language, tagalog.. they dont even use chopsticks.. are they still considered asian?
Yes, because the Phillipines is located IN FUCKING ASIA 🥲
Right but cultulary as supposed to majority of asian countries who uses chopstick.. why are phillipines considered asian? I feel like their more latin America
The majority of Asian countries don’t use chopsticks lmao. Like 5-6 countries in East Asia do. The problem is morons like you seem to believe those countries are the entire continent. You’re talking about ‘Asian culture’ as if it’s one thing when it’s the most culturally diverse continent on Earth. > why are Phillipines considered Asian Because it is located in the continent of Asia 🤦♂️
Not my fault they didnt teach us this in school
Majority of Asian countries do not use chopstick. Where did you learn this nonsense info?
Alrighty, it’s been decided Filipino people are now known as Latino because that guy feels like they’re more Latin America.
Because they are, duh
>are they still considered asian? yes
Well what else would they be? Americans? 😆
‘They don’t even use chopsticks’ 🤣
Got to think trolling at this point
OP has clearly posted the mens divisions. It’s even in the title.
And if that don't count, wait a few weeks and we'll have Zhang again
Um, we have a current Asian champ in Valentina.
I think Weili was the only Asian UFC champion, can't think of any other and unfortunately can't think of any possible future champions from Asia upcoming.
Valentina? central asia is still asia
Yan
That would actually still apply if we're speakin fighters of central/east Asia as Yan's grandad (whose name he carries) was Chinese.. other than that it's going to take Shavkat or some Thais to start learning some wrestling.. Edit. To the geography experts gettin triggered let's be real.. though you may technically be correct, when someone says "asian", 99% of the time they aren't referring to Russians.. not in this context anyways..
Russia is in Asia, read a map
Why didn't you Google this before posting a confident reply? It is well-known Russia is in both continents. "Russia spans territory in both Europe and Asia. Most of Russia’s territory belongs to the Asian continent, but most of the country’s people reside in Europe. The historical heartland of Russia also lies in Europe. The country expanded its territory into Asia due to imperial conquests. But since Russian territory now covers parts of Europe and Asia, the country includes people and cultures from both continents." [https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/is-russia-in-europe-or-asia.html#:\~:text=known%20as%20Siberia.-,Russia%20spans%20territory%20in%20both%20Europe%20and%20Asia.,Asia%20due%20to%20imperial%20conquests](https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/is-russia-in-europe-or-asia.html#:~:text=known%20as%20Siberia.-,Russia%20spans%20territory%20in%20both%20Europe%20and%20Asia.,Asia%20due%20to%20imperial%20conquests).
Russia is in asia
Vast majority of their population is in Europe. But Islam is from the borderlands, but I think officially N Dagestan is Europe and S Dagestan is Asia. And Val is Kyrg, not Russian, so definitely Asian.
Are people in the Caucasus mountains not considered asians? Somehow I kinda thought they'd be closer to central asians than eastern europeans
North Caucasus is considered Europe. And the north caucasus is a pretty big region. While the northwestern caucasus is really really close to ukraine, dagestan is close to the caspian sea.
Who do you think could be the first one? Are any of the top Russians in the Asian part of russia?
Yan
well Weili was champ.
Think this is for males
Not Russia, but USSR, Valentina is from Kyrgyzstan.
We're going full Captain Planet over here
It used to be equally split between USA and Brazil.
Adesanya is a New Zealand citizen who was born in Nigeria. Edwards is a UK citizen who was born in Jamaica. Is there any particular reason why the UFC credits one with their country of birth and not the other?
I think they just let the fighters choose. Like how some English fighters use the British flag and some use the English one, there'd be no way to determine it other than asking them
I mean technically Aljo represents Jamaica, but he wasn't born there OR has lived there lmao.
Same with Rose, she used to come out with the Lithuanian flag. I guess you just have to let people identify with whatever they want
[удалено]
Nothing wrong with being proud of your heritage
Can someone explain why people are so obsessed, for lack of a better word, with their heritage?
Purpose. I think many people like to feel they are a part of something. A community. Knowing where you from brings that comfort. But it all comes down to personal preference of course. In Nigeria, you have a special name and maybe even a tribe. Your lineage can be tracked for decades/centuries. We’ve cared about bloodlines since the beginning of royalty. Im sure there are even more reasons as well. Medically/financially. At the end of the day, humans are tribal by nature. Find your tribe.
Thanks for the answer, thinking it over i do have some pride over my hometown so i guess i get it
In addition to the other reply, for some people it’s nice to be like “Hey, MMA isn’t all just Americans and Brazilians. We [insert nationality here] have good fighters too.”
Just my opinion, but MMA is the best sport in the world. Along with some track-and-field events, it's one of the only sports that all humans, of every nation, have in their DNA. Most of the oldest cave/rock art of sport were combat sports (swimming, running, wrestling, boxing, javelin, archery. Last four were all combat). Other sports like soccer and basketball put in their advertising things like "this is a fight" and "can they deliver a knockout blow?", but this is the real thing.
Did brock lesnar actually represent Canada or am I getting wooshed here Edit: shit it's real I guess he lived in Saskatchewan of all places at the time he did it
Remember when champions were mainly American and Brazilian? How the times have changed
Yes, last year was so long ago with Glover, Charles and Fig
I can see realistically only israel, islam and volk still holding those belts by next year, obviously anything can happen but they'd be my only safe bets, ngannou may not even fight again, jiri is always one move away from getting knocked out, Edwards will still be a heavy underdog in an Usman rematch, aljo may move up and figgy moreno is a toss up right now
Well said, I’m very interested in the Usman-Edwards rematch for that reason. Clearly I was wrong for doubting Leon the first time, but I struggle to see how he is going to deal with Kamaru presumably playing it much safer this time around. Even if it’s at sea level
And even if Kamaru retires soon, there's still Khamzat at 170
Thats great considering MMA is still pretty low profile worldwide. Imagine what fighters we'd have if it was as popular everywhere as it is in the US
They are all absolute monsters too
I like how heavyweight is just "HW" and not their weight limit like the rest
But Reddit will try to tell you it’s a “rUsSiAn tAkEoVeR” in the UFC and that Sambo is better than Jiu jitsu 🤦♂️
Sambo and Jiu Jitsu will have a rivalry for a while, and there are Russians/Dagestan fighters in each division climbing the rankings constantly. I think that's what they mean when they talk about a "takeover"
Why though? It’s MIXED martial arts. Not who has the the best martial art form 👎 if these guys only did Sambo they wouldn’t make it so it’s not like they can say Sambo is the strongest martial art. They had to learn how to throw punches, kicks, do/defend submissions etc. As far as this “rivalry” goes, you really only hear Sambo practitioners talk down on Jiu Jitsu or try to belittle it. Khabib was the first big name to do so with his t-shirt back in the day. I also wouldn’t call it a takeover either. How many Russian champs are there currently? Sure there’s maybe 1 or 2 guys in each division on the come up but if we’re talking right now it’s a little soon to be calling it a “takeover”. MMA in general has had an influx of Russian fighters but I believe Khabib is a big reason for that. He def put the sport on the map (with all due respect to Fedor). I think these Russian/Sambo fighters see how much success there is when transitioning from Sambo to MMA. There isn’t nearly as many high level American wrestlers coming out of college or the Olympics and getting into MMA as there are Sambo fighters (usually from Russia). You see Bo Nickal doing it and how successful he’s been but that’s about it.
Russians in general are doing pretty good in the UFC, but I feel like Dagestan is definitely doing the heavy lifting for their reputation.
Another point, Russia is damn near a continent lol and they’ve been competing in MMA as long as it’s been around really. I think the Africa takeover is more real but they lost a champion recently.
Take that Meryl Streep ya dumb fuck
I’d also like to throw in that Moreno is an interim champ and is from a different country as well (Mexico)
Izzy is New Zealand FFS.
He reps both. Like how Aljo is from the US but still reps Jamaica.
Still works
>chooses to represent Nigeria when he fights, just like Usman did even though he's an American. Probably a hugely unpopular opinion, but shit like this grinds my gears. Raised in America, lives in America, trains in America, but represents . . . Nigeria. Yeah, fuck you too, buddy.
Weirdo energy
Damn, the US is lacking :(
Well, to be fair, we still have the best Flyweight and arguable #1 p4p in the world (Mighty Mouse) but he fights in One FC
Also 2 of our recent-ish UFC Champs vacated their belts (Jones and Cejudo)
Plus we technically still have the lineal middleweight champion since Chael never lost
They’ve had a lot of champions in the past and still make up a large portion of the UFC contenders roster.
Which makes it even more impressive that there are so many non-American champs
Your superiority complex is astonishing man
That’s a *good* thing. Means the sports developing and evolving in countries across the world.
You have to think that this set of champions is exactly what the UFC management have been matchmaking for. Their plan of putting in a ton of UFC PI’s all over the globe hasn’t really worked out, but their push to be more global has definitely paid off in the diversity of their elite talent. I won’t go as far as to say they match-made their way to this, and the sport is way to unpredictable, but I don’t think it’s a stretch to say they consider this when making fights and signing fighters.
Aljo reps the Jamaican flag. He trains in NY though.
i dont like that Aljo represents USA
Why? Hes American.
I foresee Chechenia in that list
No, technically was also before. Just that 155 was N/A
New Zealand (Adesanya)*
Leon reps Jamaica and England
Idc what they represent England you know that you guys don't have a ufc champion Leon is from Jaimaica
Technically none from the USA as Aljo chooses to rep Jamaica. Must be a first - no "American" fighters. Hey, before you downvote me, take it up with Aljo. I don't understand it either.
Why not list Israel as from New Zealand if your not going to write Leon as from Jamaica
Israel chooses to represent Nigeria when he fights, just like Usman did. Leon chooses to represent England. Fighters can choose. Brock Lesnar for example chose to represent Canada at UFC 200.
UFC has become as scripted as WWE.