People everywhere “get” fighting, being part of the animal kingdom it’s ingrained in all of us. Our primary objective is to survive, we have to defend ourselves. Fight or flight! So it’s easy to see why people everywhere, regardless of where they’re from know what gettin’ crazy eyed and doing the fisticuffs is about. For instance! The last card I saw had fighters from the US, Canada, England, Germany, Denmark, Croatia, The Netherlands and Brazil. Diversity: MMA has it. Watching fighters from around the world proudly display the technique and style that was directly influenced by their home country never gets old.

While I know infinitely more about what’s going on with American organizations I try to keep one ear open with what’s happening in Japan. Squeezing in a Japanese card, while I don’t always get a chance to do so, is always a welcome treat. Right now the two main flavors of Japanese MMA come in either Sengoku or Dream, but before that it was all about Pride.

As you’d expect the Japanese do things a little differently than they do here in the west (a good thing!). For example, the winning fighter usually receives flowers and a trophy, the crowd is very respectful and frequently dead silent. Not only that but they somehow seem to show the best angles and instant replays on the planet. What’s not to love, right? I had no idea until just recently, but even their posters kick ass.

The first time I saw a poster for a Japanese MMA event I was grinning from ear to ear. It was refreshing to see the sport interpreted through a different cultural lens and epitomized through their promotional material. Domestic violence, breast feeding, sperm cells and butterflies aren’t images people typically think of to promote a fight but these Dream and early Pride posters prove that fighters aren’t needed to hype an MMA card.

What impressed me the most while scouring the internet for these posters was the respect these ads have for the sport. They’re playful, they’re sincere, they’re creative and they go beyond two men trading blows in a ring. MMA, in the confines of these prints, transcends that of being “just” a sport. They’ve managed to capture the struggle, the pain, the glory and most important of all the human element of what it means to dedicate your life to being a mixed martial artist. As a huge fan of the sport and as a designer I can appreciate these immensely and on multiple levels, I hope some of you are right there with me.