To seek out new civilizations...and choke them out

Ok, a small break from the serious academic portion of this blog. People often credit Royce Gracie with being the first person to put MMA on the radar of the American popular consciousness, and certainly the Gracie family must be central to any telling of the UFC organizational biography. However, in anticipation of the upcoming re-imagining (aka: Hollywood speak for "We have no new ideas but we know how to market nostalgia.") of Star Trek, I offer this. Could Kirk's battle against the physically superior, genetically altered Kahn have boldly set the tone for contemporary MMA? You be the judge. No groin shots, no fish hooking...and no Vulcan nerve grips. We'll beam you up to more enlightened discourse in a few days...

UFC 238: Violent Enterprise
(notice how Kirk uses the cage @ 38 seconds)