MMA is and has been walking a tightrope. You have some real fans that love the intricacies of the sport, then you have the idiots that buy into it on a WWF/WWE level. When criticizing the sport, ESPN writes it off as WWE freak show. What no one seems to realize is that MMA is simply the combination of the most effective fighting sports of the world. I saw someone - think it was 1 and 10 on First Take - say that if Frazier or Ali were fighting UFC fighters, they'd KO 'em in a few seconds. Of course, anyone who knows anything about fighting knows that either would get taken down and submitted within 20 seconds. A great boxer will lose to an average MMA fighter in a "fight" (boxing is not fighting) 99 times out of 100. Even great K1 fighters (much closer to fighting than boxing) struggle to transition to MMA. Look at the current UFC champions: All (Machida, Silva, GSP, Penn) but Lesnar are BJJ Black Belts, and with the exception of Penn BJJ is not the most dynamic aspect of any of the aforementioned fighters' games. Machida is a dominant striker, and it seems it'll be a while before anyone figures out his Karate. By the way, he also has experience in Sumo. Anderson Silva is a world class Muay Thai fighter. GSP began primarily as a K1 type fighter, but he's evolved into a dominant wrestler - to the extent that he was invited to wrestle with Canada's team for the Olympics.
To question the legitimacy of the sport is pure bigotry. But, it happens. And, back to the tightrope, Lesnar's antics don't help promote legitimacy. If it gets people to ACTUALLY discuss the sport, then I'll be glad, but as of yet, people don't discuss MMA. They just say, "I don't get it," and "It's not legitimate like Boxing."
By the way, I like Boxing - it's an aspect of MMA.
Oh don't get me wrong. I have the upmost respect for MMA fighters. Only an idiot would compare WWE to MMA. For one, MMA is real righting, while WWE is athletic entertainment. It's sort of like the idiots that say.."Oh Pro Wrestling is fake." No **** sherlock....Next you're going to tell me James Bond movies aren't real.
Lesner helped MMA wether you want to believe it or not. He went into performance mode, and, said what he said. then, the owner slaped him down. C'mon dude, that's drama. There is nothing wrong with your product being entertaining on different levels. Comon man...He was great. Defiant, going against the main sponsor, talking about getting on his wife (Which I thought was pretty cool actually. An athlete wanting to go home after and get with his wife instead of go party with hookers...Imagine.)
Ali was a showman. Jorge Piaz was a showman. Heck, even Tyson was to a degree. Camcho was a showman. Sugar Ray leonard...The list goes on for boxing. Thier sound bytes and antics did bring people into the sport, or at least raise the exposure level.
The quickest way for a sport to maintain it's place as nothing but only a fringe group wants to talk about is for people to go all "I've got a stick up my ***" about anything but the product.
Some MMA fans will say that they are fine with this, but, they are the first ones to complain that MMA isn't getting covered.
Tell me...How do you expect people to take an interest in MMA? It's sure not talking to the jerkoffs in Tapout gear that make your eyelids roll back into your head in boredom, then regard you as stupid, or get all pissy when you don't get what he's saying because it's completely over your head.
How would you get a non football fan interested in football?
-Step 1. Make it fun and exciting. Have characters and drama.
-Step 2. Once they are hooked, start explaining only the basics. Stress a couple of basic concepts, then, walk them through the game pointing out how those concepts are applied.
-Step 3. Start gradually increaseing the knowledge of the sport.
You don't break a non football fan into an appreciation of football by trying to explain the Walsh coaching tree and the West Coast Offense. You start them by getting them into the concept, then, explaining the basic positions and what they do..Then, how you score, etc. The main key is to get them drawn into the concept.
The guy that can do that is Brock Lessner. Like it or not, people that like pro wrestling are a young adult male demo, with lots of disposable income. Watch WWE some night and look at the sponsors. Video games...Energy drinks..Fast food...Pizza... It's not that hard to connect the dots.
