Professional mixed martial arts fighters are inherently different than every other professional athlete. They are consummate students. That is not to say that an NFL player isn’t constantly honing his craft, but the skills needed to excel in football are essentially the same as they were fifty years ago.

In MMA, the skill set is still evolving, and the champions of a decade ago – even in their prime – pale in comparison to their contemporaries.

But it’s not just the evolution of the complete fighter that puts MMA players in a class of their own. It’s the fact that at heart, the competitors in this new sport are martial arts students, and therein lies the difference.

In his championship winning bout, UFC lightweight Benson Henderson yelled “Yes sir” each time his coach John Crouch gave him instruction between rounds. Across the cage, Frankie Edgar calls his head coach, former UFC fighter and King of Pancrase, Ricardo Almeida — “Professor.”

When Rashad Evans lost his match against former teammate Jon Jones at UFC 145, he didn’t so much talk about how he himself was disappointed, but about how he was dismayed that he might have disappointed coaches Mike Van Arsdale and Mario Sperry.
Anderson Silva and Georges St. Pierre bow to each member of their corners. Lyoto Machida still practices kata, and even superstar Chuck Liddell refers to his coach John Hackelman as Sensei.

Nick and Nate Diaz, arguably the most tumultuous competitors in the sport, revere their Cesar Gracie black belt like a Harvard graduate looks on his diploma.

There are unwritten rules every martial artist becomes engrained with, and of utmost importance is respect.

I am a second degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and I still call my former instructor — US Olympic team coach Kevin Padilla — Hyung, which is Korean for big brother. When I greet my Brazilian Jiu Jitsu instructors at Renzo Gracie Academy I bow, and I call my Muay Thai coach Mr. Sampiere – even though he insists I call him Joe.

As a journalist who covers mixed martial arts on television, I sometimes forget that I don’t necessarily have to bow when I see those who I would refer to as my “seniors” – martial artists of higher rank, but I do, even when I’m working.

Sometimes when I’m covering an event I will bow and shake hands (left palm up resting on my right forearm) with many of the same people I am there to interview. Anderson Silva and Renzo Gracie not only get a full bow, but a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Matt Serra and Georges St. Pierre always get bows, and I treat everyone’s coach with even more respect than I do the star fighters.

At the Ritz Carlton in Atlanta, Georgia I was greeted by Rashad and a crew from the Blackzilians, including multimedia journalist Ryan Loco. I said hello to everybody like a friend, until I saw Mike Van Arsdale, and I bowed and reverently called him coach. I do the same when I see John Danaher, Firas Zihabi, Duke Roufus, Phil Nurse and Greg Jackson. I don’t even think of these things as odd. It’s just how I was brought up in the martial arts.

Mixed Martial Artists are a different breed of athlete. The best are humble enough to learn from a white belt, which is a dichotomy but a reality. All in all, no matter how brutal those who are uneducated about MMA think the sport is, I think it’s the most beautiful, most graceful and most respectful sport in the world.

In Sweden Tom DeBlass lost his UFC debut to vet Cyrille Diabate. A few days later Cyrille tweets to De Blass. “Hey Tom, hope you got home safely.” Tom responded, “Tx brother. All is well.”

That pretty much says it all.