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Austin Reynolds English 1103 Lynn Raymond November 19, 2013 The Conversation A couple days ago, I talked to some close friends of mine about MMA and the UFC. I talked to Harrison, Glen, Abdulla, and Matt. We talked about these topics while working on an engineering project at Abdullas apartment. The conversation went as expected. Everyone, with the exception of Abdulla, either avidly watched or casually watched the UFC. Abdulla said he had no problem with the UFC, but he just wasnt a fan of watching fights. Hes from Saudi Arabia, which doesnt focus on fighting sports as much as the United States. He did say hes a fan of American NFL, which I figured since he was wearing a Patriots shirt (thats worse than the Cowboys!). I shifted my focus on the people who were UFC fans. I mainly asked them how often they watched it and who their favorite fighters are. Harrison is a big fan of Jon Jones because of his aggressiveness in the octagon and humility outside of it. Glen said his favorite fighter is Georges St. Pierre. He loves how Georges focuses on wrestling and submissions since Glen wrestled in High School. Matts favorite fighter is Anderson Silva, which triggered a 10 minute debate with Glen on who would win in a fight: Silva or St. Pierre. I just sat back and listened with a smile on my face. In the end, they had to agree to disagree. This conversation was not helpful in terms of looking for different things to research, but it did solidify the fact that UFC is quickly gaining popularity, especially in young men. The only

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thing that really shocked me was how serious the debate between Glen and Matt got. It kind of reminded me of people who debate about which NFL team is better