UFC......what am I missing?

In the interests of full disclosure, I will admit I have never seen a live UFC event, never watched one on television and have absolutely no idea who the personalities are who drive the sport and capture the affection and imagination of its partisans. Like Nascar, rodeo and pro wrestling, I just don't get it, I am also of a vintage where I remember the glory days of heavyweight boxing.... cue Howard : "Down goes Frazier...down goes Frazier..." The concept of UFC events seems foreign and full of senseless brutality to me, missing the grace of the sweet science. There you have it, I have admitted my ignorance and bias.However, even I understand the overwhelming power and passion that this sport engenders among its loyal denizens. It's a cultural phenomenon filling the space with old and young, male and female, black and white alike. The 23,000 delirious lunatics who filled the Bell Centre in Montreal this past Saturday for UFC 124 is all the endorsement you need to recognize that UFC now occupies the space that boxing held for so long. While I have no idea who Georges St- Pierre is, there are many in this country who openly advocate for him as our nations preeminent male athlete and consider it a crime he is never considered for the Lou Marsh Award which recognizes that achievement. Those of us fuddy duddy old -schoolers who continue to talk about the Crosby's and Morneau's of the athletic world as Canada's top male are no doubt likely to be steamrolled soon enough by the emergence of MMA within our borders and the verve and spirit of its fans.