I am endlessly dumbfounded regarding the innumerable opinions about our sport and what makes it look bad in the eyes of the uninitiated public. "Never Back Down" makes it look like fighters are a bunch of party boys, Kimbo and "Iron Ring" are bad because they make mma look like it's populated by a bunch of thugs, wannabe gangsters, and the (gasp) hip-hop crowd (they must all sell drugs and disparage women), knees and stomps make mma look bad because they just LOOK brutal, the list goes on and on.
I am astonished that many people don't think (at least the opinion isn't voiced as much) that mma makes mma look bad. By this I mean the following. I love this sport because fighting is the most primitive form of competition. There is nothing more primal than two skilled combatants going at it and seeing who wins. It's a very simple formula. The less rules the better and by that I mean there should only be regulations barring techniques whose intent is to cause permanent, irrevocable disability (eye gouges, biting, throat strikes, etc).
Not many people have the stomach to even watch this kind of sport, much less compete in it. Even though it's safer than boxing it DOES look more violent. For all the talk we hear about why stomps and soccer kicks shouldn't be allowed (they make the sport look bad), no one objects to punches and elbows from the mount, which look just as bad, if not because you see 13 year olds employing these "street" techniques on the playground.
The NBA makes players adhere to a dress code because the NBA is a billion dollar industry watched around the world. Though mma is global, no organization pulls in anywhere near the money of any major sport simply because it lacks a public that really wants to see two guys bleed all over each other and then potentially break the others arm or leg. Giving each fighter an Armani suit cage-side wouldn't change this perception. Sure if every hip-hop artist spat like Will Smith, pundits would have less of a problem with hip-hop (i'm sure they'd still find something to complain about) but you can't take the blood and submissions out of mma!
Do i think "never back down" is good for mma? no, but that's because i don't like shitty movies. you don't hear anyone bitching that "the last boyscout" was bad for football do you? that's because football isn't the same sport as mma, and a majority of the viewing public doesn't like the idea of our sport to begin with. no publicity at the hands of hollywood, ghettowood or youtube will change opinions over the sport, only reinforce previously held negative conceptions. people can't honestly think someone would say "you know, i really like d this ultimate fighting thing but now that they've got gangsta rap and that kimbo guy and that neo-nazi fighter involved, i'm just against it." dana white, zuffa, and mark cuban could give millions to charity, it won't matter. the ufc could have monthly shows on marine bases and free hand to hand lessons for law enforcement and it still won't matter. a lot of people just don't like our sport.
which is fine! i'll leave curling and golf to someone else; i'll watch wanderlei beat the shit out of anyone over anything else
Thoughts, agree/disagree?
