Saturday's UFC Fight Night event was back at a familiar site when it comes to the history of the sport -- the Saitama Super Arena, located just outside of Tokyo.
In a sense, Tokyo was the birthplace of the modern version of a an MMA promotion 22 years ago.
While modern MMA traces its history to the Gracie family matches in the early part of the 20th century in Brazil, mixed style matches and no holds barred type fighting likely date back to the beginning of time. And while Vale Tudo fights were big in Brazil in the 1950s and early 1960, the scene was largely dormant, with a few shows here and there, mostly in small gyms, before two simultaneous revivals.