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Young man.... alright I’ll stop with the corny Village People nonsense-
So if you want to skip ahead and just post snarky shit, without reading this lengthy drivel below, well who could blame you
BUT I’m going to get on the mic at this Walmart and talk about some shit that has been on my mind…..
1- Individual sports are superior to team sports because only one person will gain the victory or suffer the defeat. You can’t hide your faults or blame others if things go wrong. Combat sports are the superior to watch vs other individual sports like tennis or surfing because of the higher stakes and the price paid to get in that ring or cage makes them so. MMA is superior to boxing, kick boxing, Muay Thai etc. in that it requires multi-disciplanry mastery to succeed. Striking sports are hard, but at its’ heart it is jab, cross, hook, or uppercut in some various combinations, kick boxing and Muay Thai add all the other elements but MMA has all of those plus all the skills needed in wrestling and submission skills of BJJ and Sambo plus the throws of Judo etc. I’d rather surf or play tennis but I’d rather watch mma.
If you accept the premise behind #1 you should continue reading, if you think the team element makes other sport superior you can stop reading now and go post your snarky shit now
2- One of the reasons we love sports is they reveal the true nature of the participants and you can’t help but see the qualities of a fighter, when pushed into deep waters, or after getting their first taste of success, or having suffered their first setback. Adversity and success bring out the best and worst in us. I can’t really tell if an offensive lineman down late in a game is giving it his all but I can tell if a fighter, after taking a bunch of big shots, quits and gives up or presses the attack and seeks victory. I respect the toughness, mental, physical and emotional, that it takes to push ahead while getting your ass kicked.
3- There is no regular season in mma, each fight is like a mini-super bowl for the participants. Ever watch a mid season game baseball game of a team 9 games back in the standings? You think those guys are going all out? Ever notice the intensity difference in an NHL or NBA playoff game versus a regular season game? There are certainly instances of veteran MMA guys not giving it their all but they are very very rare because it is hard to go half assed when you might get knocked whole ass over tea kettles as my grandma used to say. Watch the face on some kid on TUF or DWCS after they've lost and it sinks in that all the pain and hard work may not have been enough to reach their dream.
4- Its’ primal. Cavemen weren’t strapping on a pair of skates and chasing a puck, Ghengis Khan wasn’t teaching the Mongol hordes how to bunt or run a 2 3 defensive zone. Even the nicest people I know have wanted to punch someone in the face now and again. Skill at fighting, running and hiding are 3 things that meant survival or death and deep in our dna we respect the powerful. You don’t think we picked our ancient leaders by having a putting contest do you? Now if they ever create the international cowards run and hide league, I may have a shot at being a champion.
5- All sports require discipline but fighters don’t get forced to practice by team schedules and mandatory mini camps. The championship desire has to burn each day, the choice to go to the gym or not isn’t determined by a multimillion dollar contract or the fear of fines or loss of playing time, or your agent sending a handler to get you there on time. That choice to go grind, to hard spar when you’re not feeling it, to go in that sauna and cut that weight, to pass up on all the easy pleasures and train for an uncertain future is all on the fighter. Plus most pro sports have a codified training methods versus the creative approach needed to become a MMA fighter.
6- The ability to choose your own path, at least to some extent makes for a lot of drama. Are you ready for your first pro fight? Are you ready for your first UFC fight? Do you take on the wrestle heavy 3 & 0 guy or the 1 punch knockout power no ground game 6-2 guy? Are you ready for a top 10 opponent or do you need 1 or 2 more fights? You just won, who do you want to call out? Is there a monster bad match up in your division you want to duck without seeming to duck etc.? The golden State warriors don’t get to decide who they play next, the Mets can go yeah we beat the Phillies now give us the damn cardinals now!
7- the ability to watch the entire career arc without trades to rival teams. Whoever your favorite fighter is, he isn’t going to get traded to a team you hate. In team sports, Jerry Seinfeld had it right, at some point you go from rooting for the guys you liked as a kid to just rooting for the laundry. And if you’re an old guy like me the ability to watch the entire sport get introduced to the US with UFC 1 and then evolve into the almost mainstream phenomenon it has become and potentially decline to more of a fringe sport as it seems to be doing now. Not so many tapout and affliction shirts out in the wild these days it seems to me, it will be interesting to see where MMA goes in the future. Not many new major sports get born on your watch, this is one for me
8- The unpredictable nature of the contest itself. Baseball gonna go 9 innings, basketball four quarters and hockey 3 periods but any mma fight can end in an instant. Can you imagine “Now leading off for the Oakland A’s Rickey Henderson.. Alrighty here’s the 1st pitch..belted deep to right. Home Run and that ends the game, good night everybody drive home safely? Also the ability for a person, hurt, possibly injured, to come back and win instantly is almost unheard of in non-combat sports but watch Pete Sell vs Scot Smith and you will know unpredictability in its purest form
9- the emotions are real. If they weren’t Khabib wouldn’t finish one fight, jump over a cage fence and start another. Jorge and Colby wouldn’t be fighting in the streets, etc. and so forth. Basically you have pro wrestling plotlines playing out in real life with real consequences. BTW if you’ve read this far and plan on replying please use the word "Numpty" in your reply so I know at least 1 person read almost all this. Getting beaten in a fight, is as an emotional experience as there is, thank you Chris K. for teaching me that in 3rd grade, and winning one is a true high, thank you for having no defense or chin Karl K. it is my policy that I only fight people who’s last names start with K.
10- Weight classes do a pretty good job of democratizing the sport. If you ain’t huge and fast you’re likely not going to play NFL or NBA but with weight classes, little guys have a chance to compete against guys roughly their own size. And submission skills and knock out power and light gloves mean that slower guys have avenues to negate speed. We can all name non-next level athletes that have won some UFC fights.
11- It is universal and international on a level only soccer and track might equal. Look at the makeup of the UFC roster and much of the world is represented.
12- While I’m a proponent of better pay and benefits for these fighters, the low pay does make them more relatable and accessible than most professional athletes these days. Makes them walk among us in a way that few pro players choose to these days. If you have the dedication and are in the area, you can join a gym and work with high level MMA guys or be coached by top level fighters, try walking in to training camp with some pro team and saying you want to run some reps with the first stringers and see how far you get.
If you made it here you probably need to shit post me to regain some self-respect and dignity. I will take it deeply personally and probably never recover from your rapier wit stabbing through my beating heart but I will understand.
So if you want to skip ahead and just post snarky shit, without reading this lengthy drivel below, well who could blame you
BUT I’m going to get on the mic at this Walmart and talk about some shit that has been on my mind…..
1- Individual sports are superior to team sports because only one person will gain the victory or suffer the defeat. You can’t hide your faults or blame others if things go wrong. Combat sports are the superior to watch vs other individual sports like tennis or surfing because of the higher stakes and the price paid to get in that ring or cage makes them so. MMA is superior to boxing, kick boxing, Muay Thai etc. in that it requires multi-disciplanry mastery to succeed. Striking sports are hard, but at its’ heart it is jab, cross, hook, or uppercut in some various combinations, kick boxing and Muay Thai add all the other elements but MMA has all of those plus all the skills needed in wrestling and submission skills of BJJ and Sambo plus the throws of Judo etc. I’d rather surf or play tennis but I’d rather watch mma.
If you accept the premise behind #1 you should continue reading, if you think the team element makes other sport superior you can stop reading now and go post your snarky shit now
2- One of the reasons we love sports is they reveal the true nature of the participants and you can’t help but see the qualities of a fighter, when pushed into deep waters, or after getting their first taste of success, or having suffered their first setback. Adversity and success bring out the best and worst in us. I can’t really tell if an offensive lineman down late in a game is giving it his all but I can tell if a fighter, after taking a bunch of big shots, quits and gives up or presses the attack and seeks victory. I respect the toughness, mental, physical and emotional, that it takes to push ahead while getting your ass kicked.
3- There is no regular season in mma, each fight is like a mini-super bowl for the participants. Ever watch a mid season game baseball game of a team 9 games back in the standings? You think those guys are going all out? Ever notice the intensity difference in an NHL or NBA playoff game versus a regular season game? There are certainly instances of veteran MMA guys not giving it their all but they are very very rare because it is hard to go half assed when you might get knocked whole ass over tea kettles as my grandma used to say. Watch the face on some kid on TUF or DWCS after they've lost and it sinks in that all the pain and hard work may not have been enough to reach their dream.
4- Its’ primal. Cavemen weren’t strapping on a pair of skates and chasing a puck, Ghengis Khan wasn’t teaching the Mongol hordes how to bunt or run a 2 3 defensive zone. Even the nicest people I know have wanted to punch someone in the face now and again. Skill at fighting, running and hiding are 3 things that meant survival or death and deep in our dna we respect the powerful. You don’t think we picked our ancient leaders by having a putting contest do you? Now if they ever create the international cowards run and hide league, I may have a shot at being a champion.
5- All sports require discipline but fighters don’t get forced to practice by team schedules and mandatory mini camps. The championship desire has to burn each day, the choice to go to the gym or not isn’t determined by a multimillion dollar contract or the fear of fines or loss of playing time, or your agent sending a handler to get you there on time. That choice to go grind, to hard spar when you’re not feeling it, to go in that sauna and cut that weight, to pass up on all the easy pleasures and train for an uncertain future is all on the fighter. Plus most pro sports have a codified training methods versus the creative approach needed to become a MMA fighter.
6- The ability to choose your own path, at least to some extent makes for a lot of drama. Are you ready for your first pro fight? Are you ready for your first UFC fight? Do you take on the wrestle heavy 3 & 0 guy or the 1 punch knockout power no ground game 6-2 guy? Are you ready for a top 10 opponent or do you need 1 or 2 more fights? You just won, who do you want to call out? Is there a monster bad match up in your division you want to duck without seeming to duck etc.? The golden State warriors don’t get to decide who they play next, the Mets can go yeah we beat the Phillies now give us the damn cardinals now!
7- the ability to watch the entire career arc without trades to rival teams. Whoever your favorite fighter is, he isn’t going to get traded to a team you hate. In team sports, Jerry Seinfeld had it right, at some point you go from rooting for the guys you liked as a kid to just rooting for the laundry. And if you’re an old guy like me the ability to watch the entire sport get introduced to the US with UFC 1 and then evolve into the almost mainstream phenomenon it has become and potentially decline to more of a fringe sport as it seems to be doing now. Not so many tapout and affliction shirts out in the wild these days it seems to me, it will be interesting to see where MMA goes in the future. Not many new major sports get born on your watch, this is one for me
8- The unpredictable nature of the contest itself. Baseball gonna go 9 innings, basketball four quarters and hockey 3 periods but any mma fight can end in an instant. Can you imagine “Now leading off for the Oakland A’s Rickey Henderson.. Alrighty here’s the 1st pitch..belted deep to right. Home Run and that ends the game, good night everybody drive home safely? Also the ability for a person, hurt, possibly injured, to come back and win instantly is almost unheard of in non-combat sports but watch Pete Sell vs Scot Smith and you will know unpredictability in its purest form
9- the emotions are real. If they weren’t Khabib wouldn’t finish one fight, jump over a cage fence and start another. Jorge and Colby wouldn’t be fighting in the streets, etc. and so forth. Basically you have pro wrestling plotlines playing out in real life with real consequences. BTW if you’ve read this far and plan on replying please use the word "Numpty" in your reply so I know at least 1 person read almost all this. Getting beaten in a fight, is as an emotional experience as there is, thank you Chris K. for teaching me that in 3rd grade, and winning one is a true high, thank you for having no defense or chin Karl K. it is my policy that I only fight people who’s last names start with K.
10- Weight classes do a pretty good job of democratizing the sport. If you ain’t huge and fast you’re likely not going to play NFL or NBA but with weight classes, little guys have a chance to compete against guys roughly their own size. And submission skills and knock out power and light gloves mean that slower guys have avenues to negate speed. We can all name non-next level athletes that have won some UFC fights.
11- It is universal and international on a level only soccer and track might equal. Look at the makeup of the UFC roster and much of the world is represented.
12- While I’m a proponent of better pay and benefits for these fighters, the low pay does make them more relatable and accessible than most professional athletes these days. Makes them walk among us in a way that few pro players choose to these days. If you have the dedication and are in the area, you can join a gym and work with high level MMA guys or be coached by top level fighters, try walking in to training camp with some pro team and saying you want to run some reps with the first stringers and see how far you get.
If you made it here you probably need to shit post me to regain some self-respect and dignity. I will take it deeply personally and probably never recover from your rapier wit stabbing through my beating heart but I will understand.
