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Ever since the MMA boom began after the first season of the UFC Ultimate Fighter concluded, many books have been released covering promotions, fighters and everything else in the MMA universe. Total MMA, in my opinion, could be considered the encyclopedia of mixed martial arts as it is a very informative book covering the beginning of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu all the way to UFC 86 and everything in between.
Total MMA starts off covering the aura of the Gracie Family, from their early beginnings to the expansion of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu to the United States. The book quickly transitions in the early makings of the Ultimate Fighting Champions, which in the beginning wasn’t owned by Zuffa or run by Dana White. The original UFC was created by Art Davie, Rorian Gracie and Bob Meyrowitz, along with another company called SEG.
The book then dives into the early issues of the UFC, mainly the arguments that the company was mainly created to showcase the Gracie Family and no other fighters. What surprises me is that the book fails to mention the UFC III fight between Royce Gracie and Kimo, because Kimo nearly defeated Royce Gracie, but damaged him so much that Royce Gracie couldn’t finish the tournament.
The book also covers the early issues that MMA had with political forces like John McCain, who targeted the UFC and tried to get it banned in every state and nearly succeeded. The book also discusses how folks like John McCain convinced many pay-per-view providers that the UFC was “human cockfighting” and got most cable companies to not carry the pay-per-views.
Jonathan Snowden then discusses how Dana White and the Fertitta brothers found out about the UFC being on sale and their eventual purchase of the promotion. The book then destroys the myth that Dana White instigated most of the MMA rules you see today (weight classes, illegal strikes, etc.), but proves that the previous owners of the UFC were already using the majority of the rules by the time the UFC was purchased by Zuffa.
The Ultimate Fighter is covered in detail through the sixth season, but mainly discussing how the reality program was the spark that incited the MMA boom. The book then discusses the lengths that Dana White and Zuffa were willing to go through to make the UFC a profitable company, including their expansion into Ireland and England.
Also covered in the book is the early days of Pancrase, which was a professional wrestling/MMA offshoot in Japan that featured early MMA stars like Ken Shamrock, Guy Metzger, Frank Shamrock, Don Frye and many others. Jonathan Snowden then talks about how Pancrase structured their fights so certain fighters would look good to be built up in future main events and how they lost many of their champions to higher paying promotions in the United States.
The book also focuses on the birth of PRIDE and how it became the biggest MMA promotion world wide after Kazushi Sakuraba defeated four different members of the Gracie Family. The book then talks about all the stars that PRIDE showcased like Wanderlei Silva, Fedor Emelianenko, Quinton Jackson, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Dan Henderson and others. Sadly, the book then goes into the death of PRIDE after various instances of Yakuza interference and the eventual purchase of PRIDE by Zuffa.
It also must be noted that while I feel the Gracie Family is fairly portrayed in the book, the book easily dispels some of the myths about the undefeated streak of the Gracie Family and some of the ways they portray themselves as victims every time they suffer a loss.
Total MMA also looks at various personalities in the MMA world like BJ Penn, Randy Couture, Ken Shamrock, Tito Ortiz, Quinton Jackson, Chuck Liddell and others. Total MMA also goes into details on other failed promotions that attempted to overtake the UFC and ultimately failed like Affliction, Elite XC, International Fight League and PRIDE.
This book is easily the definitive piece of work detailing the history of mixed martial arts and should be read by anybody with even the smallest interest in MMA. Let me put it this way, there is so much detail on the history of MMA in this book that it would take a second column to accurately cover every little thing this book has to cover, a big time recommended read.
You can contact David Tees at bigtees360@yahoo.com
