With the growth of mixed martial arts in popular culture, it was only a matter of time until The Simpsons made an episode focused on the sport.

The third episode of season 21, ‘The Great Wife Hope’ aired on October 11 2009, which saw the men of Springfield attending mixed martial arts events called ‘Ultimate Punch Kick & Choke Championship’.

After the event Bart, Nelson and Milhouse started having MMA fights in their school playground, only to be caught out by a disgusted Marge Simpson who was going to make it her mission to shut down the organisation.

Call me a killjoy, but I think that because this is not to my taste, no one else should be able to enjoy it.

Unfortunately for Marge her plans go pear shaped as she is challenged to an MMA bout by the events promoter in a fight to determine the sport’s future in Springfield.

Featuring an appearance by UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell, the episode makes light of a fighter submitting himself and a memorable training sequence with Mr Burns acting as Marges ‘Etherweight’ wrestling coach.

Though the episode scored some favourable reviews, UFC President Dana White was not a very big fan of how it was portrayed, parody or not.

I was disappointed. I think it was typical of people that don’t know anything about the sport. I know it’s for fun, but the second half of it really wasn’t even funny. We like fighting, but to make it sound like the UFC crowd is this bloodthirsty crowd that shows up and just want to see people get their butts kicked, that’s not true.

That’s the stigma that the mainstream has of us. The Simpsons program will show you how mainstream we’re not.”

Do you agree with Dana? Watch it and judge for yourself.