 When you compare UFC now to what it was, what distinct differences emerge?
UFC's flameout from national sensation to total irrelevance is a tragedy of American sports, a cautionary tale of prudishness, heavy-handed politics, and cultural myopia. UFC's caged matches revolutionized the idea of fighting. Nursed on boxing and Hollywood, Americans imagine fights as choreography, a dance of elegant combinations, roundhouse kicks, clean knockouts. "UFC immediately debunked a lot of myths of fighting, of boxing, karate, kung fu. It showed the reality of what works in an actual fight," says Dave Meltzer, editor of Wrestling Observer . UFC's promoters predicted that it would supplant boxing as America's martial art. UFC fell victim to cultural determinism about what a fight is.
 The current UFC is more similar to Fight Club.
 The current UFC is more similar to Fight Club.  Before, there was a clear national vision for UFC; currently, fans  lack a definitive notion of the nature of the UFC as an American sport since it has been condemned to an underground existence.  The early UFC was more similar to Fight Club.  There are different fighters but the same lack of rules.