Real sport or twisted Entertainment?
Readers and fans, do not jump to false conclusions or defensive stance (no pun intended?) as I did for many days. Is MMA truly anything more than a sick advanced form of WWE? This question has been plaguing me. Before I tell you more about my thoughts, I think it would be best to present you the answer. This is not the correct answer, but instead, the only reasonable excuse I can give myself for being a fan. Martial Arts require skill, practice and athleticism. No doubt. This is not and will never be fiction. It’s real sport. How has it come to be, that the business model chosen to run a promotion, such as the UFC, resembles something like a soap opera.
Of course its a business. But there is something slightly disturbing about how two people are paid to put on a good show, exchange a beating and then talk about a so called “strategy”. Its a little sad to reflect on the fact that behind the gloss, catchy fighter names, special moves and fancy commentary, are just two humans hurting each other for a cau$e. A profession they discovered is the only useful source of income. It is silly to imagine these fighters are not scared to death before a fight. It is ignorant to believe one can get used to beating another in a bloody match. Although many would argue it is in our nature to fight, I think it is fair to say we have evolved away from that kind of fight. Have we?
What I am trying to look past is the glamor and tragedy that is built up before, throughout and after MMA events. Trash talk, camp feuds and rivalries. The over the top feel of it all, as though it is trying its hardest to say “I am a real competition”. The real tragedy lies in the eyes of the men who find themselves about to go to war in front of our very eyes. Put their safety at risk to keep the lights on (and maybe pick up a sweet ride).
Families watch in agony as their DNA walks inside a cage and comes out a different human being. Sure they are proud. But imagine your mother is an MMA fighter, she is mounted by her opponent and subject to many many punches. When you see her after the fight, she is unrecognizable. Would you be able to watch your very own mother fight for money? I use this reasoning because its obvious that your mother covered in another persons blood is no child’s cup of tea.
All this rings true with fake wrestling. It all looks super clean, but as we have come to find out over many years, it is dirty behind the scenes. Think about this the next time you watch a PPV. Look carefully past the 5 star marketing and professionalism it is trying to create, and try to spot how the packaged idea is being sold to you.
Until next time…
