Does every fighter on countdown/prefight show rise from poverty?

I'm curios every time I watch these its some sad depressing story followed by a huge change of fate

~_~

 

It's the American dream, and also the most overused go-to narrative for most athletes to try to lend some legitimacy to their accomplishments. They are, after all, nothing more than entertainers. Nothing will get you more fans than a moving sob story.

Ever notice how every model has a story about being ugly/awkward/gangly as a teen?

 

how many people that didn't grow up in poverty end up fighting in a cage?

 

Its the American way, folks eat it up for some reason. I personally don't care how poor they were. RRR is always the best though, no matter who she fights she talks about her Dad then squeezes out a tear and the camera zooms in like a predator.

 

How many wealthy parents say "yeah, I want to prepare my child to take blows to the head and face as a paid professional"?
Just wondering.

 

I LOL'd at this. Well played.

 

Ronda Rousey lived in her car.
Aldo used to sleep at the gym.
Pat Barry slept under a bridge for some reason.

 

And ate rice with ketchup....

 

This

 

I also can attest to this... being written on Wikipedia.

 

The Rousey show is pretty pathetic.

And we get every piece of it.

 

That was actually during his UFC stint.... Cray cray.... He was def having technical difficulties...

 

Yes.
With VERY few exceptions, no rich kids from places like Scarsdale, NY, Stamford, CT, Beverly Hills, CA, or Highland Park, IL would end up forgoing their bachelor's degree at the Ivy Leagues for a career in fighting.

Even a guy like BJ, who has family money, isn't highly educated. His family made some money in real estate in Hilo, kind of like some mah-jong playing Chinese grandma who owns a building in San Francisco.

The whole "MMA fighter who is smart" is highly overrated. None of these guys had admission to MIT and a job at Google in their future.... and yes, I know there are a 100 high school math teachers in every county in the USA, there are tons of people that majored in communications at Boston College, etc. I'm not impressed.

I do think that Joe Lauzon is the lone brilliant mind in high level MMA. His education level is 'meh' but he is a very smart guy, albeit probably also from a lower middle class background. Not a pro level athlete by any means, but performed to a very high level due to his own intelligence, not due to the intelligence of his coach.

The story might be a clich

 

A lot of people I met in college really play up how hard of an upbringing they had, I think it's just human nature. Like how emo kids in the suberbs cut themselves and attempt suicide because there life is so hard. And anyone who comes from LA/NY/Chicago/Detroit thinks they "escaped the hood"

 

Wow, that's some kind of dysfunction there...

 

Rich kids have no reason to fight, you see it in boxing more so with champs like Bernard Hopkins, Mike Tyson, Manny pacquiao etc.. In some situations the only way out is to fight for your life, literally.

 

If Penn grew up poor, he'd be the best ever. I'm not even a fan of his just saying

 

Prize fighting is like the male equivalent of prostitution... Not a lot of rich kids are getting into it.

 

plenty of rich kids fight

but having more alternative routes in life helps on the days you don't feel like sparing

there are alot of relatively well off fighters in the ufc, its just not a great storyline