INTRODUCTION

MMA

Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact combat sport that allows the use of both striking and grappling techniques, both standing and on the ground, from a variety of other combat sports and martial arts. Various mixed-style contests took place throughout Europe, Japan and the Pacific Rim during the early 1900s. In 1980 CV Productions, Inc. created the first regulated MMA league in the United States named Super Fighters, sanctioning ten tournaments in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania State Senate passed a bill in 1983 which prohibited the sport. The combat sport of vale tudo that had developed in Brazil from the 1920s was brought to the United States by the Gracie family in 1993 with the founding of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

The more dangerous vale-tudo-style bouts of the early UFCs were made safer with the implementation of additional rules, leading to the popular regulated form of MMA seen today. Originally promoted as a competition with the intention of finding the most effective martial arts for real unarmed combat situations, competitors were pitted against one another with few rules. Later, fighters employed multiple martial arts into their style while promoters adopted additional rules aimed at increasing safety for competitors and to promote mainstream acceptance of the sport. The first documented use of the name mixed martial arts was in a review of UFC 1 by television critic Howard Rosenberg, in 1993. The term gained popularity when the website newfullcontact.com, then one of the biggest covering the sport, hosted and reprinted the article. The question on who actually coined the name is a question still in debate. Following these changes, the sport has seen increased popularity with a pay-per-view business that rivals boxing and professional wrestling.

MMA originaly comes from Pancrase which is a original Olympic discipline. Around 1900 Pancrase is taken off the Olympic games but certain elements stays as official disciplines such as taekwondo, judo, Greco-roman wrestling and English boxing.

But the sport is still not recognized as a sport in many European countries because of its violent looks.

Despite his reputation MMA count few deceased or serious injuries. There was indeed 4 fatalities in official tournament and 6 in non-official tournament since the existence of the sport. But there was never a death or serious injuries in the 20 years of existence of the promotion. The young sport continues to evolve and in less than 20 years became the second sport most watch on tv in the world.

The documentary talks about the personal and private life of Tarec Saffiedine who is the first Belgian to fight in a major MMA promotion (Strikeforce), to win its world championship belt as a welterweight and to fight in the UFC, the biggest MMA promotion in the world.

UFC

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is the largest mixed martial arts promotion company in the world featuring most of the top-ranked fighters in the sport. Based in the United States, the UFC produces events worldwide. The organization showcases nine weight divisions and enforces the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts. The UFC promotes a brand of MMA which is self-acknowledged as "not just a sporting event; it is also entertainment and theater. The fighters are athletes and performers both." The UFC has held over 250 events to date. Dana White serves as the president of the UFC while brothers Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta control the UFC's parent company, Zuffa, LLC.

The first UFC event was held on November 12, 1993 in Denver, Colorado. The purpose of the early UFC competitions was to identify the most effective martial art in a real fight between competitors of different fighting disciplines, including Boxing, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Sambo, Wrestling, Muay Thai, Karate, Judo, and other styles. In subsequent competitions, fighters began adopting effective techniques from more than one discipline, which indirectly helped create an entirely separate style of fighting known as present-day mixed martial arts.

With a TV deal and expansion into Canada, Europe, Australia the Middle East, Asia and new markets within the United States, the UFC as of 2014 has gained in popularity, along with greater mainstream-media coverage. As of 2014 viewers can access UFC programming on pay-per-view television in the U.S., Brazil, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Italy. UFC programming can also be found on Fox, Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2 in the U.S., on BT Sport in the United Kingdom and Ireland, as well as in 150 countries and 22 different languages worldwide. UFC programming is shown in 130 countries worldwide, and the UFC plans to continue expanding internationally, running shows regularly in Canada, Brazil and the U.K., with an office established in the U.K. aimed to expand the European audience.

The UFC has also bought and absorbed rival promotions Pride, World Extreme Cagefighting as well as Strikeforce and EliteXC

The UFC is now available in 1,2 billion homes in different shapes of television.

DOCUMENTAIRE

The goal of this documentary is to speak about the sport through Tarec’s life. This sport is still unknown in Belgium and surrounding countries and the few things that people heard of are unfounded prejudices. We want to break those prejudices and give a transparent look to the sport.

The filming of the docuemntary began in March 2014 and will finish early October 2014.

I had the chance to meet the most MMA influent people in the world (Dana White, Bas Rutten, Frank Shamrock, Mauro Ranallo, Chael Sonnen, John Morgan etc...) and other celebrities like Mohombi, Jean-Michel Saive, Ingrid Berghmans, Vincent Kompany who are supporting the project.

The goal of the crowd funding is to have a financial help to finish the post-production of the documentary and finance the première in Brussels.

The filming took place in Los Angeles, San Diego, Temecula, Las Vegas, Singapour and Halifax. We wanted to follow Tarec in everyday life, with his family and in his training, preparation to his next fight and his quest to the UFC world championship welterweight belt.

While following him I could capture a sensitive human aspect of the sport.

Tarec has always been a huge Manga fan since his childhood. He discovered the manga “Tough” and discovers MMA through it. He decided to mimic what he discovered in the books with his friends. We will work the manga aspect in the documentary as transitions for each chapter.

Our fellow belgian fighter Tarec Saffiedine will defend our colors on Sunday 5th at 3AM BST. You can watch it live on the UFC FightPASS for FREE (suscribe to the 7 days trial)!!! http://www.ufc.tv/page/fightpass?utm_source=UFCdotCOM_NAV_MAIN&utm_medium=navigation&utm_campaign=FightPassNav

PLEASE FILM YOURSELF WATCHING THE FIGHT AND SEND ME THE VIDEOS AT DIDIER@YELLOWCAT.BE AND YOU MIGHT BE IN TAREC'S DOCUMENTARY!!!!!