MMA ANYONE?

A confession, if you don't mind.

I've never seen a UFC event, or any other MMA event. For the most part, I've simply not had any interest. I never saw any episode of "The Ultimate Fighter" on Spike TV. Again, just haven't had interest.

However, I'm more than willing to admit something.

I think I'm missing the boat.

I've had an opportunity to catch a few editions of HDNet Fights, which is Mark Cuban's offshoot MMA promotion, his lame attempt at competing with the top dog of MMA, which is Ultimate Fighting Championships, or UFC.

There are others who exist or have tried. Pride was a fighting promotion based mainly overseas, but they went away in 2007. World Extreme Cagefighting has a home on Versus. There's also EliteXC, which launches on CBS television next weekend. There is more than a niche market for MMA.

And I've missed out.

I'll be watching next weekend, when EliteXC debuts. I'm going to make a point to catch HDNet Fights more often. At some point, I know I have to graduate to UFC, no matter how pricey their pay-per-views are ($50 standard definition, $60 high definition). It's the 800-pound gorilla, and it's where the best fights are found.

As I get my feet wet, I'll throw a plug to my FanHouse colleague Michael David Smith. He's covering MMA, including UFC, better than anyone else on the internet. He'll be live in Vegas this weekend for UFC 84, and I'll be following their coverage.

In the meantime, where do you stand on this growing phenomenon in sports? Are you on board? Is it not your thing? Are you willing to check it out? Let me know.