As UFC 100 draws near and the fanfare surrounding the event swells high, I have found myself taking a step back from the sport and trying to identify just why I (and so many others) love it so darn much. It's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day trappings of the sport, like Kimbo being thrown on TUF 10 or a newly announced fight on a September card. However, the real interest in the sports lies somewhere much deeper. If we only cared about the daily soap opera that is MMA, we would tire of it very quickly. But instead, we fly thousands of miles to see two hours of an event, spend thousands of collective work hours reading blogs such as this, and can talk about the intricacies of the sport for hours. The question remains: why? With cricket, futbol, jai alai, and hundreds of other sports ready and willing to pique our interest, why does MMA shine?

At this point, it should be obvious that I have some theories. One of the most obvious reasons for this enthrallment with MMA is the inherent 1 on 1 nature of the sport. The world has always been caught up in 1 on 1 battles; just look at the way Ali-Frazier transformed a generation of both journalists and fans. And for sports that do not have that 1 on 1 component? We force them into that model. Look no further than the NBA playoffs, which was touting LeBron vs. Kobe before it even happened. For them, there was little concern that the match up might not come to be. The build up and idea of the 1 on 1 was more than enough to drive television show ratings and website hits. The NHL, a notorious team sport, offered the same package for Crosby vs. Ovechkin. When the finals provided fans with two solid teams but no real 1 on 1 intrigue (I know, I know...Datsyuk is great), the NHL's advertising for the series faltered and so did the ratings. Meanwhile, MMA provides 1 on 1 all the time, 8-11 times a card, hundreds of times a year. In sports, we are drawn to the 1 on 1, a facet on which MMA not only prides itself, but an element on which its future hinges.

My second theory is that MMA provides great finishes that take the best pieces from equally exciting finishes in other sports. Allow me to explain. The NBA, NFL, and other team sports have some extremely exciting finishes. However, the buzzer beater or walk off home run is an event that happens only so often. Certainly, one could not attend a game with the confident hope of seeing one of these feats. Incredible, but rare. Meanwhile, professional wrestling provides these kind of highlight reel finishes every single night, whether they are in the Staples Center or a house show in Biloxi. The problem here is that the audience generally knows what it is going to get and, oh yeah, it's staged. Expected, but frequent. MMA bridges this gap perfectly. It takes the reality of the team sport and the frequency of professional wrestling. Fans are almost guaranteed one incredible finish or fight per card and unlike its awkward cousin, wrestling, everything is entirely real.

Finally, there is a basic human emotion in MMA that cannot be replicated by any sort of team sport. I would never...