The Cynical Fans of MMA MMA is now huge in its popularity, its market value and its potential to grow further. We know this, it’s a fact, and its fan-base is growing faster and faster every day. In fact the entire business model now revolves around “selling” the next fight to the audience. Similar to boxing, it seems like every MMA organization is now required to justify to their audience, why they need to watch the next upcoming event. And they do this by promising exciting combat with

terminology that keeps its distance from grappling, such as “Stand-up war, Slugfest, Brawl, etc”.

While I’ll be the first to admit that I love an exciting, action-packed fight, it seems that the sports credibility is being plagued by this new breed of un-educated and extremely cynical/judgmental fans, the kind that would most likely never be caught dead reading an article like this for example.

I can’t even count how many times I’ve watched a fight, which I seemed to find relatively entertaining and technical, only to hear an obnoxiously large number of fans disrespectfully booing in synchronization. You wouldn’t even have to think very hard to remember the last fight you heard boos of protest for.

In fact, one of the worst booing moments in MMA history was recently, at UFC 103, during the fight between Machida and Shogun. While many I’ve spoken to have called it “boring”, I on the other hand disagree. I was witnessing an extremely technical fight between a world class Shotokan Karate champion, utilizing accurate point attacks, great foot work and defensive head movement, versus a very quick, brutal and deadly expert in violently efficient Muay-Thai striking.

Now excuse my Dana-White-influenced language, but I live for that shit.

While I’ll agree that flashy Taekwondo kicks and vicious Muay-Thai strikes can be very entertaining – which I’m definitely a fan of – there is more to MMA than simply punching someone in the face and beating them into unconsciousness.

Jiu-Jitsu, Wrestling and alternate forms of grappling have lead to some of the most entertaining fights that I’ve ever seen. In fact any educated fan of MMA will tell you or at least agree with the fact that Submission Grappling is like a very intense match of chess, involving very intricate movements, techniques and skills. The very concept of a human being, using a form of combat to neutralize an opponent twice their size, is completely fascinating to me.

Some of the most technical and skill-oriented fights have been fought predominantly on the ground. Some of the most dominant and skilled fighters in Mixed Martial Arts history have made their careers out of being feared ground fighters and submission experts. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Fedor Emelianenko, Shinya Aoki, Demian Maia and Royce Gracie – just to name a few – are all known for their experience, technique and extreme skill in manipulating the human body. Yet, you will still hear a large portion of the crowd boo from time to time, for fights that either remain or go to the ground excessively or when fighters are being cautious of making a mistake when exchanging blows.

Although, I have to admit, sometimes booing may be justified, especially in regards to exhausted opponents (Mark Coleman vs. Shogun Rua), awkward strategies (Thales Leites vs. Anderson Silva) and simply running away (Houston Alexander vs. Kimbo Slice).

Now with all this talk of grappling, that’s not to say that Striking isn’t important, I believe in a good mix. In fact I’m a huge advocate of MMA requiring more, exciting, high-level, risk-taking strikers in order to increase its popularity. But in order to be a genuine fan of a sport and truly appreciate it for what it is, you must understand all of its aspects and rules.

For example, watching sports like Hockey or Soccer would be quite a waste if all I cared about was goal scoring, when in reality there is so much more, the cycling of offense and defense, the physical aspect, goaltending, possession/control, and so on.

Long gone are the days of Mixed Martial Arts being considered as a barbaric, blood sport reminiscent of dog fighting, for people with Attention Deficit Disorder. But as a fan and practitioner of its disciplines, I’m proud to say this is a sport of elite athletes and devoted sportsman, involving a very intricate and detailed form of combat methods and disciplines from all over the world. Fans have to realize that Jiu-Jitsu, Judo, Wrestling, Sambo and Greco-Roman forms of grappling are just as important, can be just as exciting and in some ways are more efficient than Muay-Thai, Taekwondo, Karate and Boxing.

So the next time you even consider booing a fight, take a good look first, if you can analyze where the limbs, hands and feet are located and you can comprehend exactly what the opponents are attempting or defending from, then you’ll realize that there is more to this “ground game” than what you can immediately see on the surface.

In fact, the next time you’re watching a fight, when you see that a fighter control their opponents back and their hooks are in, when they switch to a body triangle, I want you to cheer as loud as possible, because they’ve just secured their opponent in position and cut off a portion of their air supply and blood circulation.

Or the next time you see someone get a hold of an arm and throw their leg over their opponents face for an arm bar attempt, when that vulnerable fighter rotates his body, turns into his opponent and reverse’s out of the submission attempt entirely, I want you to cheer your ass off, because you’ve just witnessed one of the most exciting aspects of Mixed Martial Arts that many fans seem to ignore.

Learn the sport, respect the fighters and be a good fan… That’s all I ask.

by Brian Fontes
FightPromo.ca