HOW did you get into watching MMA?

explain how you got into watching MMA,i got into watching MMA by watching a fedor fight i forgot which one it was,i was so impressed by fedor.How did you get into watching MMA?

* Edited at 11.24.2011, 4:02 AM ET *

At the time I didnt realize that Horodecki, matyuhenko, and Rothwell were big fish in a small pond.

@Kallous, I watched a ton of IFL when I didnt have internet or cable but I had MyNetworkTV so I got to see IFL every Friday or Sunday night. I remember Vladdy tearing everyone apart. 

I actually got into watching MMA back when I was training in Tae Kwon Do. My sensei would have all these videos of different martial arts events around the world, and there was this one called Vale Tudo. I started watching these guys in these underground fight videos, and it was all no-holds-barred fighting. Bare-fisted, no rules, no time limit, and extremely brutal. Then I started watching this thing on PPV called Shootfighting. Almost the same thing, but instead of fighting in a cage, they fought in a ring. Then UFC 1 happened, from there I was a fan. I've watched every UFC since, every PRIDE, the early years of the Pankration tourneys with Ken Shamrock, Bas Rutten, Frank Shamrock, and Josh Barnett, and now thanks to sites like tapology, mmalinker, and sherdog I can find results on just about every MMA org in the world, and watch fight videos.

My father used to be an amateur boxer and a MUGGLE he  likes aLL THE COMBAT sports  i started Regularly following mma when i was almost 13 been a decade. 

The most fun i had was running my little ass home from school and there was free reruns of K-1 and IFL everyday.

* Edited at 11.26.2011, 7:29 AM ET *

I used to be really into pro wrestling, so I used to rent WWF tapes from Blockbuster. They had UFC 1, 2, & 3 in with the wrestling tapes, so I took a chance and rented all three one day. I loved what I saw so I would buy new UFCs every time one would be released, but they weren't happening too often back then. I was also buying anything UFC related, like the UFC game for the Dreamcast. I drifted away from MMA for a few years because I got tired of waiting for new events to come out.

Years later, I was working for Gamestop and my manager owned some of the PRIDE events on DVD. I watched them and instantly became a fan of Wanderlei Silva, Dan Henderson, Kazushi Sakuraba, Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera, Rampage, & Igor Vovchanchyn. Then I found out about the changes Zuffa made to the UFC and about fighters like Tito Ortiz, Randy Couture, Chuck Lidell, and Matt Hughes. The IFL was also coming on TV at that time. I stopped watching pro wrestling after Chris Benoit's suicide and I've been a full-time MMA junkie ever since.

The first time I ever watched UFC was at UFC 66... Chuck vs. Tito 
I was a junior in high school and a friend was having a party over at his house because his dad and his dad's friends were getting the fight. I remember Tito's shin swelling up like crazy after he threw some of those kicks he used to do so well. 

Really, UFC 100 was the starting point for my serious interest in MMA though. I'm not afraid to admit that I am a lifetime WWE fan and I'm a huge Brock fan. I had watched UFC 91 at a local restaurant and had toyed with UFC through the 90's, but 100 was the first one I actively researched and anticipated.

That was such an amazing card. 

A buddy of mine asked me if I had ever watched "this UFC stuff," because he knew I was into martial arts and boxing.  I told him I hadn't, so we ordered the next event, whose main event was a title fight with Jens Pulver.  I can't remember if it was Pulver vs. Uno or Pulver vs. Penn, but either way I became an instant UFC and Lil Evil fan after watching it.  I've been a UFC addict ever since.

Its cool reading everyones stories.

I jsut remembered. First real war I saw on my own was Mark Hunt vs TK in Pride. I didnt know either guy but saw it in a best of Pride episode . I got hooked.

I first got started watching Ultimate Knockouts on Spike about 2005.  I casually watched TUF 3, but I don't remember if I even saw the finale at the time.  I watched a couple events here and there over the next couple years, mostly Fight Nights.  UFC 92 was, I believe, the first MMA PPV I ever watched.  Some friends and I watched it at a bar, and it definitely stoked my interest and caused me to seek out when fights were happening.  I was actually in Vegas the week before UFC 94, and sadly I was only vaguely aware who GSP and Penn were at the time. 

I remember Condit vs Kampmann being the greatest fight I'd ever seen at the time, and it still ranks pretty high to this day.  The first PPV I ever bought was UFC 97.  I watched it with my wife (@dakette here on Tapology), and we both were surprised how easily Shogun, who we didn't know, destroyed Chuck Liddell; and both *****ed about how boring the Silva/Leites fight was.  For UFC 100, I talked some friends into pitching in to buy the PPV, and of course it was a great card, and several of them got into MMA from that night.  Over the next few months I started watching almost every live card I could and watching highlights on the internet from all the years I'd missed. 

Now I don't miss a major (UFC/Strikeforce/Bellator/DREAM) card unless some other unmissable event coincides with it, and I consider myself pretty knowledgable about it, but I'm still learning.  Nice reading all of your stories.

i couldn't place a date on the first fight i watched.  i'd watch re runs on spike if they were on, and liked chuck, rampage, and bj.  then one day my buddy was like hey let's go to so and so's house, they ordered ufc 100.  that was my first ppv.  so i guess you'd still consider me a baby, but i've done my fair share of research and watching past fights.  but pretty pumped i guess my first ppv i got to see gsp vs thiago, brock and mir II, and who could forget dan henderson taking bisping's soul!

Back in the 90's when I was like 15 or 16 we had a chipped cable box so we got PPV for free and I caught a UFC event. From that point on I was hooked. Im glad I got to see Pride and all those fighters in their prime before it went under.

I tore my ACL at judo in 2003. I'd seen a few fights before, but while I was stuck on my couch recovering, I started to watch every event that came on and haven't stopped since. 

best thread ever good job ME

* Edited at 11.23.2012, 1:09 PM ET *

I happened to get into it in High School. In 9th grade, I had dropped out of a class and had to fill in that void with another class. So I took one with 10th graders, which happened to be the best thing ever. There was two kids near me who would talk about UFC and Pride. I remember hearing them talk about Tito Ortiz & Ken Shamrock, so I was very intrigued on what the hell all this was. Searched it on the internet, and it was love at first site. I'm glad too because MMA is my religion haha.