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I grew up in the 90s. Like many boys my age growing up in Brazil, I was obsessed with two sports: Racing, more especifically formula one, and more especifically watching Ayrton Senna represent Brazil and win titles; And Football. I saw the national team win the world cup, and saw my local club win the Libertadores and Intercontinental Cup twice.
As a kid, winning titles meant a lot to me. I started training futsal and participated in a lot of 'junior league' competitions. Playing for something taught me a great deal about team work, being humble, and being accepting in defeat. I think a lot of my desire to compete at an early age came from watching greatness in sports competition on television. It dragged my attention to the sport, to practice it, to daydream about being the number one. The great players of my childhood inspired me to be like them.
as I got older, I realised I wasn't a very talented athlete and my interests shifted to music, books and movies. But I think it's very meaningful that, if I had the talent necessary to make it work, I would probably be a professional football player now. That was my dream and that was the dream of 80% of the kids in my school. And I think ultimately that's what makes football such an enormous sport. You fall in love with it in your childhood and it sticks with you. It never leaves you.
I see a lot of sherdoggers talking about how Conor inspired them to do better in their lives. and that's cool. But Conor was also disrespectful to other fighters, and helped diminish the value of being a champion. The symbolism related to getting that belt strapped on your waist, as you celebrate being officially regarded as the best, was deteriorated by his actions and the actions of the UFC. Never defending it, stealing Aldo's belt and talking a lot of offensive crap to everyone. Acting like he was bigger than the company and the sport.
His actions reflect in a lot of his fanbase. Impressed adolescents come on sherdog with no real passion for the sport: You can just tell they don't train, they show contempt and disrespect for the majority of fighters, they don't even seem curious about the technical aspects of it. As the hype trains die down, these fans won't stay. All this talk about how Conor grew the sport, but the new fans he brought didn't learn to appreciate it in the slightest. You might get a lot of money now with all the haters and the nuthuggers wanting to see the next chapter of the freakshow, but they will go away when McGregor leaves because they don't care about anything else.
And the same goes for Bisping and his embarrassing title 'defenses'. Bisping and the UFC are mocking the championship belt, the MW division and all the fighters working very hard to ascend in the rankings. and that directly reflects on his fanbase trying to justify it by bashing the contenders and spamming the 'fuck you' gif.
For the hardcore fanbase to grow, this sport needs to rely on respect and merit. New fans need to watch fighters they look up to, and not just one guy they 'love' and another guy they 'hate'. WWE can rely on fake drama and aesthetics because it's not a real sport. MMA is a real sport, and it's a beautiful one. But if it doesn't respect itself, no one else will. Real fans will begin to lose interest, and less people will feel inspired and motivated to follow a career in it.
As a kid, winning titles meant a lot to me. I started training futsal and participated in a lot of 'junior league' competitions. Playing for something taught me a great deal about team work, being humble, and being accepting in defeat. I think a lot of my desire to compete at an early age came from watching greatness in sports competition on television. It dragged my attention to the sport, to practice it, to daydream about being the number one. The great players of my childhood inspired me to be like them.
as I got older, I realised I wasn't a very talented athlete and my interests shifted to music, books and movies. But I think it's very meaningful that, if I had the talent necessary to make it work, I would probably be a professional football player now. That was my dream and that was the dream of 80% of the kids in my school. And I think ultimately that's what makes football such an enormous sport. You fall in love with it in your childhood and it sticks with you. It never leaves you.
I see a lot of sherdoggers talking about how Conor inspired them to do better in their lives. and that's cool. But Conor was also disrespectful to other fighters, and helped diminish the value of being a champion. The symbolism related to getting that belt strapped on your waist, as you celebrate being officially regarded as the best, was deteriorated by his actions and the actions of the UFC. Never defending it, stealing Aldo's belt and talking a lot of offensive crap to everyone. Acting like he was bigger than the company and the sport.
His actions reflect in a lot of his fanbase. Impressed adolescents come on sherdog with no real passion for the sport: You can just tell they don't train, they show contempt and disrespect for the majority of fighters, they don't even seem curious about the technical aspects of it. As the hype trains die down, these fans won't stay. All this talk about how Conor grew the sport, but the new fans he brought didn't learn to appreciate it in the slightest. You might get a lot of money now with all the haters and the nuthuggers wanting to see the next chapter of the freakshow, but they will go away when McGregor leaves because they don't care about anything else.
And the same goes for Bisping and his embarrassing title 'defenses'. Bisping and the UFC are mocking the championship belt, the MW division and all the fighters working very hard to ascend in the rankings. and that directly reflects on his fanbase trying to justify it by bashing the contenders and spamming the 'fuck you' gif.
For the hardcore fanbase to grow, this sport needs to rely on respect and merit. New fans need to watch fighters they look up to, and not just one guy they 'love' and another guy they 'hate'. WWE can rely on fake drama and aesthetics because it's not a real sport. MMA is a real sport, and it's a beautiful one. But if it doesn't respect itself, no one else will. Real fans will begin to lose interest, and less people will feel inspired and motivated to follow a career in it.
