The Long Story Of The MMA Fan

At the conception of the organization that is now known world wide as the “Ultimate Fighting Championship” (UFC), there was only one clear and simple rule: There were no rules.

From it’s humble, albeit raw beginnings, fight fans were treated to a unrelenting bare knuckle spectacle of pure unadulterated violence. Matter of fact that was the selling point. The violence. And living up to it’s marketing campaign, were some of the worst and most barbaric display of hand to hand combat ever seen on pay per view (see Paul Varelans).

Fighters with minimal skill were paired up against each other, exchanging punches and wild flurries of strikes that are as visually sloppy and embarrassing to watch as a fight scene from the movie Mortal Kombat... 2. And yet on the other side of the spectrum were fighters of greater skill that were eating up the weaker competition in almost effortless fashion.

For every Tank Abbott and Keith Hackney, there was a more skillfull and masterful tactician in Royce Gracie and Marco Ruas. Fighters that were clearly miles and leagues ahead of the competition. And what started out as basically a commercial for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which quickly became the redneck version of rock’em sock’em idiots, eventually became the breeding ground for some of the worlds best fighters.

And in the process the firing squad for some of the world's worst fighters (see Paul Varelans, again).

Through the evolution of newly adopted rules, the balance of good to bad fighters shifted almost immediately. Consider this the natural selection of MMA. The good fighters evolved with the sport and began to train in multiple disciplines becoming what is now known as a “complete fighter,” where as the weaker fighters got stuck in the past and were left behind.

In the words of Bob Dylan, “the times they are a-changing.” And with the change of fighters inevitably came a change of fans. As the UFC continued to grow and prosper and really form itself into a legit sporting event, the grassroots fans of the old events, began to disengage with the product.

So just like the fighters that couldn’t evolve with the sport, the fans that chose not to evolve with the sport got left behind in the past as well.

I suppose you could say that the big question is, how does the new fan base affect the grand scheme of things for the sport? And I suppose the simple answer is, by education. By learning and tolerating all aspects of the sport, and all of it’s techniques & disciplines. Something the original fans of the sport didn't do.

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