Bruise Control

Ultimately Fighting for Endorsements

Mixed martial arts (MMA) offers the most extreme example of endorsement economics, according to R.M. Schneiderman, writing for The New York Times'Economix section.

The purpose of Economic section is to explain the science of everyday life presumably in economic terms. This article is a great primer on how and why ultimate fighters fight for so little pay.

Unless you're at the contender level in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, expect to make far less than the millions a Chuck Liddell earns. Even Karo Parisyan makes roughly $175,000, which includes endorsement dollars.

Despite MMA becoming increasingly popular and mainstream, the ultimate fighters rely almost exclusively on endorsement deals to keep going, which is why you'll see some fighters with sponsor logos on their backside.

Biggest Mixed Martial Arts Fight in MMA History

MMA - Urijah Faber - MMA Fighter Profile

411mania.com suggests the fight between Jens Pulver and Urijah Faber at the WEC featherweight championship on June 1, 2008, just may be the biggest MMA fight in history.

While Jens Pulver is undefeated at featherweight, 411’s Dustin James chronicles “The California Kid’s (Urijah Faber) early years and phenomenal MMA career. Includes mixed martial arts video.

Shout Out to 411mania.com

411mania’s tagline is pop-culture since ’96 but, when 90% of all media sites on the Internet are owned by major corporations, I call that a counterculture revolution.

The fact that they not only survived the dot com bust, but also remain proudly independent is a testament to their unique voice and stable of talented writers.

Check it out.

Added 06/01/08: For a review of MMA's network debut, read Kevin Iole, who covers boxing and mixed martial arts, at Yahoo Sports, editor . Kevin is clearly an MMA fan.

Alltop: They've Got Extreme Sports Covered

Xtreme Sports List

The nature of extreme sports suggests that it would attract extreme personalities (no offense), so I'm offering my readers Alltop, a Web site aggregator (a techie word meaning "collector of") of all the top stories related to extreme sports.

Here's a partial sampling:

• Extreme sports athletes
• Extreme sports news
• EXPN.com wire news feed
• MMA predictions
• Surfing - worth a look just for the wave images
• Snowboarding
• Skateboarding

This may not list the Top 10 extreme sports, but I can guarantee you that Alltop provides you all the extreme sports clips, articles and news reports, from power sports to water sports, than any one human being can absorb, no matter how fanatic.

Knock yourself out! (Not literally ;-)

Treatment For Bruise

What to Use on a Bruise

The beautiful thing about the World Wide Web is the immediate connection of like-minded individuals. Take, for example, Meredith and Mike. I discovered their blog, Why We Not Hit Hard? from a visitor who found BruiseControl conducting a search using the words "leg bruises mma". (I know this through our Web stats program.) Curious, I clicked on the referring URL, which was Google, and took a look at the results page.

There was their blog, Why We Not Hit Hard? For People Who Like Punching and Kicking, which I think is an amusing name. Even though I'm a former editor, the incorrect grammar made me smile, and even though I'm completely and totally not physically violent, their subtitle made me chuckle. I figured someone must have a sense of humor, always a good sign. So I spent 30 minutes surfing their blog and it's good, really good, especially for beginners of MMA.

Meredith offers a Q&A for MMA (Hey, that ryhmes!) and Mike writes informative MMA articles to help make your game more effective and fun.

They do warn you though that, while they love martial arts equally, they love MMA, Savate, Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu most.

We know that healing bruises takes time, especially deep thigh bruises sustained from a high-flying kick. And it can be confusing to know just what to use on a bruise. That's why we're happy to offer free NoBruise! samples to Mike, Meredith and their students. Just let us know where to send the bruise product.

MMA Techniques

Ryan McGivern Shows Off His MMA Techniques

In the exclusive video from IFL.tv, McGivern shows off one of his favorite moves that combines elements of wrestling with the standup game.

Don't try this at home, unless you have a case of NoBruise! towelettes handy.