The MMA fights are perhaps the most evident signs of the evolution of contact sports, combats that due to their high impact are often frightening for some people, however this sport is one of the most complete in the world, the physical and mental demand is quite high, and, although we do not practice it, watching some of his fights is a great spectacle.Among the most important organizations that promote MMA fights is the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) organization that since 1993 has organized battles with the intention of showing which is the most effective martial art, this being a great attraction that caught millions of fans around the world, over time the fighters were developing more effective techniques that resulted in a combat method completely separate from the fight called Mixed Martial Arts.

On October 6, the UFC 229 event will take place, where high-class fighters will meet, such as Tony Ferguson facing Anthony Pettis, Derrick Lewis facing Alexander Volkov, and the main fight of the night and maybe the MMA match most awaited of the year, Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Connor McGregor.

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Personally, I'm a big fan of the UFC, and this fight I've been waiting for a while, in my opinion, my favorite fighter is Khabib Nurmagomedov. Due to my great emotion for this fight, I decided to portray both fighters using Pens and Colored Pencils, a drawing style in which I am really a rookie, however I consider that this drawing was an excellent practice in which I have corrected mistakes made in some previous works also made in the same technique.

The Process

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1 | Connor McGregor |

The Face

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The face was quite simple, using colored pencils Skin, Brown, Sienna, yellow and orange, the contrasts of the eyes ands ome hair lines were made with a ballpoint pen.

The tattoos

This step was quite complicated, making the tattoo look like part of the skin, and not over it as if it were a separate image was total madness, the colors had to match the lighting of the chest of the fighter, the shadows and lights, That's why it was so complicated and it took me so long, about 6 hours.

Working on the portrait of this fighter took me a whole day, making the soft colors of the skin match with the contrasts of the tattoos is a job that requires a lot of detail, however, even though this part of the work was ready , the realism did not stand out if the background was not ready, this is a very important factor if you want to give a good impression of realism.

Original Photography

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2 | Khabib Nurmagomedov |

The portrait of this fighter was much simpler, the skin had a lighter shade and was simpler to work, besides the absence of tattoos made the work much easier, the biggest complication was the hair, because it was difficult to find the appropriate color that had the closest possible resemblance to the original photograph.

The details of the gloves and clothes of this fighter were applied with black, red pens, and a touch of red with colored pencils.

Original Photography

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Both fighters already finished

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3 | The Background |

This was the most complicated part and it took me more time of the whole work, absolutely all the background is done with pens. All I did was divide the background into relatively small squares and I filled them one by one using frames in a horizontal direction, and then vertical to avoid leaving textures or loose patterns in the background.

The Finished Artwork

"The awareness of our own strength makes us modest"

Paul Cezanne

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