Whether you have been a fan from the beginning and know exactly who the “Let it Bleed” guy is, or you discovered UFC when Rhonda Rousey brought women’s UFC to the fore, this book has something for every UFC devotee.
Beginning with a foreword by Dana White, this beautifully produced book takes you step by step through the history of the UFC. Starting in 1993 you are given an extensive background of what happened each year followed by profiles of the most prominent fighters at that time. These profiles detail their backgrounds, their strengths & weaknesses, and highlights of their careers with the UFC.
After this “Fights of the Year” are highlighted – which provides plenty of fodder for ‘spirited discussions,’ along with “Knockouts of the Year,” “Submissions of the Year” & “Débuts” along with UFC events during the year.
These sections set out by year are interspersed with layouts on topics such as “The Owners,” “One Hit Wonders,” “Bizarre Moments” & “Octagon Girls.” This final section proved popular with our 19-year-old son who, at 6ft 7inches makes the book look little and he didn’t know I was going to take his photo until it was too late!
Also detailed is every season of The Ultimate Fighter – arguably the show that brought the UFC to a wider audience. I know that in our household there was a vague awareness of the existence of UFC, but we never watched it until Randy Couture & Chuck Liddell led 16 MMA fighters onto our screen. Not forgetting, of course, the epic match between Stephan Bonnar & Forrest Griffin – still, one of my favorite fights ever, over ten years later.
The book has, as you would expect from Dorling Kindersley, excellent photography and Thomas Gerbasi does a fabulous job with the text. He weaves interesting anecdotes around the bare facts, so you never feel you are reading a bland book of statistics. There is no need to start at the beginning and work your way through – it is enjoyable at any point. In fact, everyone in our house has enjoyed dipping into ‘UFC a Visual History’ over the past few days because it is the perfect book to leave out on the table & pick up & read for a few minutes.
Even the youngest of our sons, who as you can see was having trouble turning the huge thick pages, takes the book down to the floor and flicks through. Every member of the family has enjoyed “UFC – A Visual History, ” and I believe this is the one gift any UFC fan would be thrilled to receive.
‘UFC – A Visual History” is featured, along with many other excellent books, in the Dorling Kindersley Gift Boutique, details of which are below.
Details & where to buy
UFC is available from all good bookstores for MRRP $46.00
- Hardcover: 400 pages
- Publisher: DK (Oct. 27 2015)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1465436952
- ISBN-13: 978-1465436955
- Product Dimensions: 26 x 3 x 30.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 2.2 Kg
Hello, just wanted to mention, I loved this post. It was funny.
Keep on posting!
My brother in law would really enjoy this book–thanks for the review.
I train in MMA and this would perfect as a gift for my sparring partner and trainer. Thanks!
Very nice article, totally what I wanted to find.