Rumored Poll: Are Americans more likely to root for foreign fighters than other nationalities are?

[Morning Star]

I don't care. Most of my friends don't give a shit either. I see this way more often in Boxing. Black dudes rooting for the black guy, Mexican's rooting for the Mexican fighter, UK for UK, etc (some exceptions like Pacman and GGG). All my friends of different backgrounds were huge Anderson Silva fans. Last fight I remember people rooting based on a fighter being from the US was Hendo-Bisping, and a lot of that had to do with Mike being a big mouth cunt at the time.

 

[You Will Vote For Dreyga]

A lot of Americans hate America. And have a weak sense of national identity

So yea I think they are more likely to be indifferent of where a fight is from

 

[Oldman1]

Nothing worse than a USA chant in the croud.

 

[Venom]

IMHO Americans are the majority of fighters. Also, most cards are in US.
That makes Americans uniquely suited to root for all nationalities, since they are exposed to all... though you still hear the "USA" chants here and there.

As for other countries, the UFC always try to have locals fighting exactly to get more support from local crowd.
I recall Brazilian cards, they were deemed "Brazil against the world"... hard not to root for a Brazilian fighter if you are a Brazilian in Brazil and 90% of the card had a Brazilian against someone else....
I reckon the same happened in Canada, UK and any other country the UFC went to visit.

It's all in the marketing team and how they cater those fights.

Yeap, this. Conditioning through exposure makes the difference.

Ingroup-outgroup perceptions can change depending on how familiar you are with somebody who you'd otherwise consider strange or exotic.

 

[The UFC Brander Collector]

It's because we're probably as much of a salad bowl as we are a melting pot and we've had continuous immigration for much longer than other nations, even other newer nations in the Americas. And we had official segregation and all that, which really divided us. Countries like Mexico and Brazil haven't had nearly as much mass immigration in recent decades and have been able to form a more cohesive national identity. Mexicans especially because they sort of see themselves as one race, the concept of mestizaje, that ALL Mexicans are mestizos regardless of their actual background. Italian Americans in the US might root for the Italian national association football team over the American team, or Mexican Americans might root for Chivas over the L.A. Galaxy.

Good point.
But like Canadians don't seem to mention France at all.
The only thing I have noticed similar to the USA is the Russia and Ukraine representation. That seems to be a thing.
Usyk and Oleynik and others seem to make it a big deal.

 

[Only Here for Attachments]

I only root for conservative countries.

 

[moosaev]

I got the feeling that Americans don't care as much about the nationality of a fighter when they're deciding favourites, compared to other countries which might be more patriotic/biased towards their own.

This won't be a popular answer, but the only reason Americans don't really care about nationality in UFC is because the most dominant American fighters have largely been Black. Watch any UFC card, the crowd starts loudly chanting USA when it's a white American against a foreign fighter.

 

[Hollywood Jack]

It is just a bit weird to me.
Usman acts like he grew up in Nigeria, Stipe in Croatia, Masvidal in Cuba...
I am partially Russian but I would never be waving the flag around and act like I am a native

Usman was born and partially raised in Nigeria. His father was also a major in the Nigerian Army while he was growing up there. He's clearly not as Americanized by birth and upbringing as the others. Masvidal isn't even 100% Cuban, which you can kind of tell by looking at him. His dad who is Cuban is white.

His mother is Peruvian, but he identifies more with the Cuban side because his dad was his male role model and Miami has A LOT more Cubans than Peruvians. Interestingly enough, if you go up to Broward County which is where I was based for about 10 years, it's the opposite. There are more Peruvians and Peruvian restaurants and other cultural aspects than Cuban, and the same goes for other South American nationalities like Colombian, Venezuelan, Brazilian, etc.

 

[xn7]

It is just a bit weird to me.
Usman acts like he grew up in Nigeria, Stipe in Croatia, Masvidal in Cuba...
I am partially Russian but I would never be waving the flag around and act like I am a native

you don't have to grow up in nigera to be nigerian. what is so confusing to you.

 

[textwarrior]

This is probably the case. We're not as nationalistic as say the Brazilians, especially when it comes to rooting for fighters. I can't say that I've never rooted for fighters because they are American or it wasn't a factor at all. But I've rooted for non Americans over Americans plenty of times too. I think maybe fighters being American has meant more to me recently than in the past. It's pretty subjective and situational.

Yeah, Americans are multicultural and lost their Identity along the way. It is sad when you see the sense of identity in other countries.

 

[MeatWagon06]

Im Murican and most of my favorite fighters over the years have been Brazilian.. So Nationality doesn't really matter, unless I don't care for the other guy or dislike him.. See Poirier/McRat.. Then I'm USA all the way.

 

[The UFC Brander Collector]

you don't have to grow up in nigera to be nigerian. what is so confusing to you.

Just how obsessed many seem to be about it

 

[Venom]

It is just a bit weird to me.
Usman acts like he grew up in Nigeria, Stipe in Croatia, Masvidal in Cuba...
I am partially Russian but I would never be waving the flag around and act like I am a native

You have a point, but I would say that makes sense for 3rd, 4th gen transplants who've been culturally assimilated without a trace of their mother culture no less than most other Americans of English, Spanish, Italian descent for example. Those examples you gave are guys whose parents were actual natives of their countries or who came to the US as small children, like me. I know if I fought I would be waving my nation's flag and I still speak my native language fluently.

 

[mooseman17]

When Americans chant “USA! USA! USA!”
-fuck those racist pieces of shit!

When Brazilians chant “you will die”
-you know, they are just very passionate about their athletes

 

[King Joffery]

American patriotism really died out in the late 80's, early 90's when Hulkamania died. It made a short lived comeback after 911 but its pretty much dead again. Nowadays a large percentage of the population thinks patriotism == racism.

 

[chrisdiaz]

i dont care who you are or where your from as long as your fights are entertaining. Unless your dagastani...cant stand most of those guys.

 

[PlasticFishBowl]

Americans be like:

“American fighter from my home state? Nah”

“Irish fighter? Hell yeah I’m 1/128th Irish let’s gooo!! “

 

[runnpray]

I'll always cheer for the world vs Brazilian fighters. The big book of excuses culture is unappealing.

 

[HatKick]

I'm Danish so there's not a lot of Danes to root for, but I do tend to get behind the British/European fighters more.

Jan, Jiri, Gus and Ciryl Gane are good examples. I'd be a fan regardless but the fact that they're European helps.

In the end it doesn't matter that much.

 

[Hollywood Jack]

Yeah, Americans are multicultural and lost their Identity along the way. It is sad when you see the sense of identity in other countries.

I don't know if I view it entirely as sad or a good thing or what. Frankly, when I see sort of the mindless nationalism or belief in certain propaganda from people from certain countries, I'm glad that I'm able to view things with a more critical lens. It's good to be able to be a bit detached and analytical and objective rather than overtly biased in one direction or another. But on the other hand, I do see some of the positive aspects of having a shared identity or goal or common purpose. It's not entirely black or white.