UFC Says 'No' to Vuvuzelas

In case you were wondering, virtually everyone on Earth -- with the exception of a few vocal soccer fans -- are either incredibly annoyed or somehow capable of ignoring the sound of the vuvuzelas.

If you're not a soccer fan, and you've been living under a rock since June 11, vuvuzelas are long horns being used as noisemakers by fans at the World Cup in South Africa. They are custom in South Africa, and FIFA chose -- wisely, in my opinion -- not to trample on local custom by banning their use in the tournament.

Since the World Cup started, we've heard more and more of them at the games, and they've started popping up in other places.

(My iPad is one of those places.)

The Florida Marlins tried to hand them out at a game. It failed.

Instead of going with that trend, UFC has apparently decided to buck it. Then again, president Dana White has never been one for going with the flow.

UFC is telling fans to leave their vuvuzelas at home for Saturday's UFC 116, which features former WWE star Brock Lesnar battling Shane Carwin for the promotion's top prize -- the Heavyweight Championship.

"This decision was pretty simple for me," White is quoted as saying in a press release sent out by the UFC today. "Vuvuzelas make the most horrific sound I've ever heard. I'd rather let Brock [Lesnar] punch me in the face than hear 15,000 people blow on those things. This is the biggest heavyweight fight we've ever done. We'll make enough noise this weekend when Brock and Shane [Carwin] finally step inside the Octagon."

Wow. Don't hold back, Dana.

Reality is that this is a typical sports publicity grab. UFC doesn't really need to do it, but they have been good at it over the years. They'll have a full house at the MGM Grand in Vegas Saturday, and no one among the 15,000 better bring a vuvuzela into the arena.

If they do, White will sick Lesnar on them in 2.3 seconds. And that's how long the fight will last.

As for Lesnar-Carwin, I'm no UFC expert, but Carwin wins his fights by knockout, and so does Lesnar. It'll be interesting to see what happens if this goes more than one round.

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.