Ultimate Fighting Championship. A few years ago it was the antonym of professional fighting. Brutal, no holds barred fights pitting bare knuckle brawlers from all over the world against each other in its infamous octagon with one end in sight, total physical annihilation. Careers were ended in these shoddily produced pay-per-views, and lives ruined forever. To many, in the beginning, it was an inelegant enterprise that made boxing a graceful ballet in comparison. Not any more.

Now UFC is a huge phenom, drawing audiences by the millions to its lavish pay per views. The brand has spawned a reality show that baits potential bruised, and even weekly toned down exhibition shows. There are rules now, the refs are more apt to stop the fights before a hapless grapplers face is filleted away by point blank elbows hammering into his cheek-bones. A kick to the groin will now get you a little break, and a warning, and the fighters are more respected for their use of punishing hyperextension holds and chocks then for coming in with the intent of bashing their man bloody to the ground.

As the game becomes more civilized, the faces get prettier. Back in the day, hardened flab and pock marks were the call signs of fighters like Ken Shamrock and Dan Sevrin. Today’s younger fighters like Michael Bisping, and Fabricio Werdum radiate charisma and speak in well thought out bursts of bravado rhetoric.

Is the legitimacy of the sport a sign of the times changing, or merely the natural growth of an epic organization? Has the ‘toning’ down of the once unrestrained brutality made UFC more applicable to mass media? During times of war, school violence, and increasing rhetoric of death and woe, it would seem that it is the world that has adapted to UFC, and not vice versa.

At the end of the day, it’s still the same game. Two men enter an octagonal steel cage, gaze fixed on each other, and a sense of danger radiates from every corner of the event. When the fighters finally lock up, the rush begins, and it is only a matter of time before someone goes down.