MMA Risks Becoming WWE With Sportsmanship in Decline
By: Reverend Turk Vangel Posted On: January 17, 2010 at 12:05pm
Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is a combination of different combat styles. Arts such as Brazilian Jiu jitsu and Muay Thai are centered around respect not only for the art but for your opponent as well. Recently we have seen some antics inside the cage and ring that lead this writer to believe we are watching the decline of sportsmanship in MMA.
Martial arts have always revolved around respect and has been the selling point for may parents who enroll their children in arts such as karate, tae kwon do or jiu jitsu. It was no surprise to me when I watched the sport of MMA start to blossom that we witnessed the same respect seen in dojos around the world. Now the sport is pushing to become more main stream and with that push we are watching respect for ones fellow combatant slowly begin to degrade and I have to wonder why this is the case.
MMA, in it’s push to become a top tier sport, needs to ride high on the back’s of it’s best athletes. Fighters such as Fighters.com and UFC welterweight champion “Rush” Georges St. Pierre (19-2), middleweight champion Spider” Anderson Silva (25-4), lightweight champion “The Prodigy” BJ Penn (15-5-1) and Fighters.com top-ranked heavyweight “The Last Emperor” Fedor Emelianenko (31-1). These men are the elite in MMA and as such must carry the burden of being the face of the sport. Ambassadors to the general public as well as to the people in charge of legalizing the sport in those states that are still behind the times. People all across the country are watching and some tune-in to find out what all the fuss is about.
When a fighter such as UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar (4-1) acts more like a clown after a win like he did at UFC 100, it causes some to tune out and others to feel they were right to not support something like what they just witnessed. After beating Fighters.com third-ranked heavyweight Frank Mir (13-4) Lesnar decided to run around the Octagon and flip off the crowd in attendance at the Mandalay Bay Events Center. He got in the face of Mir as Mir was being attended to by his corner and the ringside physicians. Then after all of this he decided to blast the UFC’s main sponsor of the night, Bud Light, and talk about climbing on top of his wife. Exactly what I expected from a former pro wrestler but not what we expect to see in MMA. Yes, it is cage fighting but it has become it’s own martial art and should be respected.
I understand that fighters need to market themselves to sell fights and some take the role as villain in these pre-fight interviews we so often see. However, many of these men admit to doing just that, selling a fight. Once the fight is over these men can often be seen congratulating one another and showing much respect for the person they just went to war with inside the Octagon. Some fighters believe that your last fight should be all that is needed to sell your next fight and I tend to agree but I also see the value in whipping up a war of words. The war of words and the role of villain should end once they step inside and are prepared to fight.
Touching gloves is a pre-fight ritual that is a show of respect. It is something we see often in boxing, muay thai and other combat sports. This is where all the pre-fight banter should come to an and end. A majority of the time it does but on those rare occasions two men enter who just do not like one another and thus we do not see the touching of gloves. What I would like to point out is that during these rare fights, at the end we see them shake hands and congratulate one another. It ends there and nothing further is needed to be said. This is respect and the actions of Fighters.com second-ranked “Tobikan Judan” Shinya Aoki (17-4) at DREAM’s New Year’s Eve event, DYNAMITE 2009 was a complete lack of not only respect but class.
After breaking the arm of Mizuto Hirota (9-3) he then decided to channel his inner Lesnar and flip off Hirota and the entire audience. The breaking of one’s limb can occur in MMA when the pride of one fighter gets in the way of him tapping out. I do not think Aoki is the only one at fault for what happened as the ref should have stepped in and stopped the fight. It was the actions afterward that brought the negative attention once again to our great sport.
If MMA is to truly become a main stream sport we need ensure fighters get back to showing respect for one another post-fight rather than showing a complete lack of respect for the other fighter, the fans and the sport. This is not pro wrestling and if this decline continues the critics will continue to associate the sport with just that.
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Comments
much ado about nothing. these few incidents are but a small ripple in this big pond of mma.
In addition, fighters are trying to appease the sports dumbest fans during the fight. One asks oneself “it’s an impasse, why doesn’t he take him down?”; “why is he trying to win a first-blood contest with elbows instead of applying a submission?”. Some of the fights themselves are not MMA, and we have zuffa to blame.
kill zuffa 2010
typing error: I meant “sport’s dumbest . . .”, not “sports dumbest”.
are you a moron, sport’s = sport is dumb shit
@armed
I will have to respectfully disagree on Zuffa being to blame for these events. I also believe that the death of Zuffa would be the end of MMA as we know it. People would come out of the woodwork screaming “I told you it was a fad” Like it or not Zuffa, the UFC and WEC are needed right now to propel this great sport even further.
Zuffa is selling us a product, not unlike WWE. And as WWE found, it is the “characters,” the personalities that really sell a match, not the potential quality of the match. I don’t think anyone has really taken it too far over the top yet, and in the adrenalized afterglow of a fight, poor decisions are frequently made by immature fighters.
That said, the quality of the support will only hook a core set of fans, which I think Zuffa has already sewn up to a large degree. It’s the stories that will sell, or fail to sell, an event to a larger crowd. You can’t expect every fan to know an omoplata from an armbar, but a compelling story will draw them in regardless.
For example, when the card for UFC 108 completely fell apart … twice … the marketing machine went into overdrive to craft a story around fights that were more or less thrown together at the last minute. In fact, in a few cases, that became part of the story … “can a fighter who was preparing to fight someone else still come out on top against an unexpected challenger?”
This part of the sport will NOT go away as long as it remains a mass-marketed product. Personally, I think this is why more women are starting to get into MMA … they may not understand the finer points of a zone defense, a “west coast” offense, or a sacrifice fly … but they can easily understand why a fighter might want to punch someone into next week for disrespecting him.
Rob:
Pick up a dictionary. Characters, personalities? Same thing.
What zuffa is doing is preventing MMA from becoming a sport. You think this is god’s will or something. I don’t believe in god’s will.
No one’s talking about taking narrative out of sport. Who said that? It’s impossible to take it out of life. We’re talking about smartening up MMA fans so they don’t buy zuffa’s snake oil. We’re talking about labour rights and unbiased judges and commissions. Where does your excuse making stop? Are the judges supposed to abide by zuffa’s storylines too? Are fighters supposed to get contractually screwed because the bankrupt fertittas want a new boat or growth pills for man-child lorenzo? You’re on the wrong side of history, pal.
Why don’t you want more for MMA? Why aren’t you outraged that fighters Mag has never featured the best fighter in the world on its cover? Is it only because it’s easier to swim with the current. Or maybe you’ve never took a moment to reflect on why you support bankrupt swindlers like the fertittas. You ought to. As I said, you’re on the wrong side of history. This stuff is political. It has implications.
kill zuffa 2010,
Um, no.
@Reverend Turk
This is an old line. I think “Chis Benoit Fan” Dave Meltzer invented it.
First of all, the wec is irrelevant. You’re working for zuffa if you try to counter me here. That event is a failure and should be thought of in the same breath as CFC.
Even if what you are saying about the ufc brand is true, which it isn’t, what makes you think the brand needs the Fertittas. A respectable person, or even a fighters association, could buy it.
The relative success of Elite XC and Strikeforce on CBS already disproves your point. For some reason, it is a shock to people’s system that anything is reformable. Yes, people are loyal to the “ufc” brand. but they can be loyal to something else.
Finally, I think MMA fans are pretty much at the level of sarah palin intellectually. Once we attract smarter people and smarten a few people up, we may get ourselves a sport.
It’s not a sport, yet.
Sorry armed, it is a sport. Tyr looking upm the definition of “sport” Try doing everyone a favor and stop accusing people of working for Zuffa if they disagree with you. It just makes people think you own a tin foil hat.
I never stated the brand needed the Fertittas, not sure what you think you read but that was never there.
As for fighters associations, fighters do not want them…plain and simple.
@armed
So MMA isn’t a sport… ok. Take into account every professional sport in existence… what sport isn’t political? The only way you can avoid politics in MMA is by the good old-fashioned street brawl. By getting rid of organizations, owners, and all the things you are set against, that’s what it would become. If a judge gets the urge to make a bad call, that would happen whether owners are behind it or not, there are more problems with judging in sports than owners, so blaming them is petty, they’re only a small part of the problem.
MMA and unsportsmanlike conduct… shit happens. You can’t always control what people are going to do when they’re pumped up, it just happens.. if it gets out of control, then you’ll have to draw a line somewhere, but in the scheme of things, MMA is still honourable.
@Etienne D.
I agree that as a whole it is still honourable and respectful. My article was based on the current trend that I saw and I felt a commentary about it and the possible future of the sport was warranted.
Great post. I hope you keep coming back to Fighters.com
Rev- thank you for the article. I started training in jujitsu in ’95, been following UFC since #1. I’m not against entertainment- that’s one thing – the big entrances, fireworks, fancy hats or whatever. I loved the woman announcer for Pride. Personally I have more respect for a guy who walks into the ring w/ a ZZ Top song and a t-shirt, but i do get a good laugh at Jayson Miller, Gono and King Mo. But I hope those that have the powers take into account what you are saying. Marital arts is about respect- for the art, your sensei, students and opponents. If poor sportsmanship is what it takes to sell MMA to the masses, thats sad. It isn’t what UFC, etc should be aiming for. I guess I’m just old and in the way, but it bothers me when i see the poor sportsmanship. Fighters with class like Couture, GSP and Fedor seem to be fewer and fewer. The NFL has fines for over-celebrating, maybe the UFC, WEC, SF should think about it. A few hefty fines might bring the worst offenders back in line.
MMA is a brutal cock-fight. It will never be main stream in a civilized country. Fans watch this to satisfy their lust for blood and destruction. Machida is one of the true artists in this ugly excuse for a sport, as he repeatedly has demonstrated skill in defending, which he is criticized for. I hope he leaves it now that he has demonstrated the superiority of traditional, and true, martial arts over barbaric cock fighting. MMA should be renamed to MCF, or Mixed Cock Fighting.
The truly superior athletes are in other sports that pay huge money. For example, take young NBA and NFL players. These amazing athletes have chosen these sports because that is where the dollars are. If they had been dumb enough, they would have entered MCF at an early age, and learned to kick everyone’s butt. Instead, some of them have recently tried MCF after retiring from their dollar sports, only to embarrass themselves. The point is, if they had chosen to pursue MCF instead of money, MCF would now be dominated by these athletes, and we never would have heard of most of the MCF fighters we see today. I’d like to see a retired MCF fighter try out for the Knicks or Saints. Look what happened to Lesnar when he tried out for the Vikings.
So, MCF is not a sport and the best athletes in the world do other things first, and only consider MCF upon their retirements. So what we are watching today are simply a bunch of cock fighters, with some exceptions where we see true artists, like Machida.
wow.. I’m almost at a loss for words.. the reason why your “true athletes” pursue MMA after retirement is because they are already braindead and cocky, and the only way for them to stay in sports and make money, other than creating yet another shoe, or mug, or some other piece of junk that makes them millions, they think they can bully their way into places like the UFC. People like this are the ones who create conflict, and all of these hyped up fights and trash talking,.. and to tell you the truth, Brock Lesnar is one of them. I’m glad he can come back, but I really don’t care for him all that much. I don’t know how much MMA you’ve seen, and I doubt you’ve ever seen cockfighting,.. they are nothing alike. You say MMA is human cockfighting… watch the movie Unleashed with Jet Li,.. that’s human cockfighting.. random, and senseless violence. MMA the fighters are true athletes. If you look at wrestling, do you not see skill in that? If you look at Karate, do you not see skill in that? If you look at Jiu-Jitsu, and Muay Thai, do you not see skill? Mixed-martial arts brings all of these skills and disciplines together, and by saying MMA is not a “true art form,” you are disrespecting all martial arts and martial artists, and I, for one, do not appreciate the disrespect.
@allessio