Poll: Old School Or New School MMA?

The sport of mixed martial arts is ever evolving, with new techniques, rules and characters coming out of the woodwork as the fight game continues to expand. As the game changes, so do the players, but also the fans. The more fickle amongst us tend to pick at the alterations in MMA, there are also some that are acceptant of the changes, and those that support the growth as a more positive sign.

You could perhaps break the sets of fans down in to three generalized groups (outside of casual fans). Group one is made up of the ‘old school’ or ‘hardcore’ fans, they don’t like to see the old ways of the sport cast aside for the more modern and polished approach to fighting, perhaps they often reference the best years of MMA as the bareknuckle era or dark ages and may know a lot about fighting due to either experience or prolonged exposure.

Favorites: Pride FC, IVC, Pancrase, old UFC

Then you have group two, the modern fans or ‘new school’, they likely started watching the UFC at around the time Brock Lesnar fought Frank Mir, the Jiu Jitsu knowledge they acquire is solely through Joe Rogan‘s UFC commentary as opposed to any type of experience in the sport and they love the idea of modern rankings systems and a more NFL approach to MMA. Group two may also be referred to as the ‘just bleed’ contingency and may be more ashamed of the brutal old days.

Favorites: UFC, Bellator, WSOF

Finally we have the 50/50 crew, they appreciate the old school days of fighting, but also know that the game needs to change as society does, and it’s survival hinges on mainstream acceptance and evolution. They have watched MMA grow from a dark secret pleasure to a rapidly more welcomed change to a domain mainly ruled by the wilting sport of boxing. This group is also made up of a sub-contingency of passives, a collective that really doesn’t care either way, they aren’t ashamed of the old days, or too particularly gripped by the modern image of MMA. They both enjoy and appreciate the violence and technical aspects of the fight game, but wouldn’t mid if it advanced or went backwards in the future.

Favorites: Anything

So, which group are you? If you don’t fall in to the categorization above, don’t worry, it’s OK to be different. The question is really; Do you prefer new school or old school MMA, or are you not too bothered?