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Foppa21

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Hi guys,

I'm doing a assignment for college regarding the social appetance of MMA or rather how it appears that MMA is considered unacceptable while boxing is not.

Could you guys please post your opinions on this topic. Also some help for what I could talk about would be nice.

Thanks

PS. This is also going to be posted in the MMA, boxing, K1/kickboxing and ask the fighters forums.
 
Ummmm you should have picked something easier for a college assignment- specially when you can't spell aCCeptance.
 
I reckon that a good point to raise would be how gloves were introduced in order to placate the objectors to the sport, which actually made it more dangerous (more headshorts, more KOs). It shows how much ignorance is involved.
 
boxing has been around for so long that it is just accepted. everyone alive today was born into a world of boxing, so it never seemed anything but normal.

MMA is new to the world and it has to fight a lot of different issues. there are those that really do see it as violent and can't tollerate it, MMA is a lot more violnt than boxing to the uninitiated.
there is also a lot of money in boxing and pro wrestling and the powers that be do not want to see their money move away from their organisation and into the MMA world.
a good example of this is when McCain, who is a huge boxing fan and owned by the NSAC, went on a rampage against MMA in the early days. once the NSCA sacntioned MMA they called off their attack dog and the UFC is on PPV again.
 
I think it's best to stick with more academic subjects in college lest the professor find you to be some kind of troglodyte.
 
I dont think the general society has an appetence for MMA. I dont think they are truly that fond of Boxing either. The general populace like their violence very discreet. A little Football and maybe some ruff basketball but thats it.

I do not think most Americans (by Americans I mean those in the USA) although not disturbed by boxing do feel it is "barbaric" and somewhat less evolved. In a country which prides itself on being the savior of the third world and the most "evolved" or "cultured" society on the planet I think MMA has a long way to go before it has the propensity to desire hand to hand fighting.
 
Great topic and that Time article is a decent piece. Several points; in order to first gain viewership and fans, MMA was marketed as a "fight to the death" and "no rules". Though it helped to quickly develop a fanbase, many conservatives felt it was too extreme, such as John McCain.

Now, like many misconceptions, the opposition towards MMA stems mostly from a lack of understanding. In boxing you've had countless people die in the ring and you literally have full grown men trading head shots for 3 minutes straight and sometimes going as long as 12 rounds. MMA is 3 five minute rounds where a large part of the game is grappling. In fact, I believe only one recorded death has occurred from MMA (in South Korea?) which speaks to it's relative "safety". Most people still view UFC as a form of fighting to the death. Completely inaccurate, but as the sport gains more fans and TUF continues to air this should change. Heck, look at how the Japanese embrace their fighters. As long as the game continues growing at its current pace then I believe MMA will eventually find its place in society.
 
you could do some research about the ancient olympics and compare how the three combat sports were perceived back then. Wrestling, boxing, and all in fighting (the original pancration) were all a part of the Olympics. It might be interesting to point out that only all in fighting was removed.
 
johil d'o said:
I think it's best to stick with more academic subjects in college lest the professor find you to be some kind of troglodyte.
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Name of the paper's sports and society. So I pick a sport and talk about it and any links to our society. Gotta love open ended papers like this.
 
American culture is not accustomed to watching men being pushed into the ground and beaten. It's perfectly acceptable to watch boxing because boxing is not so "in-your-face" about its violence. The violence (and damage) of boxing is much more subtle as waaaaay more people have died, in the modern era, from boxing than from MMA (isn't the MMA death count still at one or two?).

I personally believe that the UFC's very format has done plenty to harm the image of MMA in the U.S. The octagon itself is an impending structure that is more aptly described as a prison pen than a sports ring. There are few sights that could create indignant rage in conservative minds as to watch a man, pinned helpless against a chain-link fence, eat a series of punches to his face.
 
zeitverbrecher said:
I personally believe that the UFC's very format has done plenty to harm the image of MMA in the U.S. The octagon itself is an impending structure that is more aptly described as a prison pen than a sports ring. There are few sights that could create indignant rage in conservative minds as to watch a man, pinned helpless against a chain-link fence, eat a series of punches to his face.
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That was really well put. I think you may have hit the nail (or at least one of them) on the head. Never realized it before but it does conjure up visions of those aweful prison fight movies...
 
You could point out how the image of Vale tudo was destroyed in Brazil due to the absurd occurances in the early tournaments, when Rede Globo, the biggest network down here and one of the biggest in the world was broadcasting events and now they completelly ignore the sport. (on network television).
I think that Tatame did a past issue on this story Luta Livre against JJ
 
Brain injury wise. What do you guys think would be a suitable comparison?

Say same approximate number of fights and time spent in a ring. I mean say if I were to use Helio and Ali as a point of comparison would it be fair?
 
There are almost no brain injuries in MMA. If a fighter gets hit hard enough to go down dazed, his opponent hits him once or twice more, and the fight is over via TKO. Also MMA can end via sub, with virtually no damage to either fighter.

In boxing on the other hand, if a fighter goes down dazed he gets a standing 8 count, and is sent back in to fight. I was reading somewhere that each standing 8 count is more than likely a concussion, and I belive a fighter is allowed three before the fight is stopped. Also the only way to win in boxing is by knockout or decesion.
 
Foppa21 said:
Brain injury wise. What do you guys think would be a suitable comparison?

Say same approximate number of fights and time spent in a ring. I mean say if I were to use Helio and Ali as a point of comparison would it be fair?
Click to expand...

You'd need to get reliable statistics for brain injuries in both sports. Compiling your own stats will get you in trouble unless you have a background in it.

The big problem with doing any sort of academic work on MMA is the lack of citeable materials.
 
i think the biggest reason boxing got accepted so easily was because of how the mod controlled it and the gambling and easy money making with fixed fights
 
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