MMA Popularity May be The De-evolution of the Sport

It has been a long and difficult road for mma as a sport, having been banned in most of the U.S., it is only now that the sport which is more than ten years old is starting to take off now. With the hard work made by certain figures, mainly the shiny headed Dana White, the sport has been transformed from an underground bloodsport to a mainstream fad. I use the term fad in the worst sense as well, because currently at the moment the sport is the biggest thing around. There are many new upstart companies on the mma bandwagon that seem to want to cash in on the success, and lots of celebrity socialites at every show. I will not deny that all celebrities are not fans , like Kevin James, but for the most part it seems to be a place to show they're pretty faces and be noticed (and in Rob Schneider's case renoticed).

However, as a die hard fan I am glad to see that there has been some success, but with major success can come some very bad things as well. Mainly the bad things are looking to take mma backwards and market it as the " human cock fighting" that Sen. Joh McCain warned us about. Such examples of this are the little known organization known as Rio Heroes in Brazil, Yamma Pit Fighting,  children mma leagues, and the more recent movie Never Back Down.

To start things off we must first begin with the mma organization/ TV show known as Rio Heroes. Rio Heroes is a strange mix of mma organization and television show.Filmed in Brazil; all the fights are filmed on studio and have practically no ring. The rules of the fights are basically the old school Vale Tudo rules that are reminiscent to the early days of the UFC. Two fighters enter a studio surrounded by video cameras and they begin to slug it out with bare knuckles and an anything goes kind off attitude. Fighters brutalize each other till one submits or is knocked out. This sort of thing although exciting to watch is nevertheless a step in the wrong direction for a sport that has fought to become legitimate. Many mixed martial artists have denounced the organization like Wanderlei Silva, who actually made a name for himself in competitions like this.

Next off we have the Yamma Pit Fighting Show which was created by former UFC promoter Robert Meyrowitz. The event was promoted as some sort gladiatorial blood sport, but in reality was basically a seniors league for lost and forgotten fighters of old (anybody remember Mark Kerr?). The ring, which was a cage, had a floor with forty five degree angles leading up to the actual cage part. This weird set up was to keep the action going, and to possibly eliminate as much ground fighting as possible. Despite the fact that this really only increased the amount of ground and pound in the fight; Meyrowitz is looking to take the sport backwards in its evolution which truly a sad thing.Mma is suppose to be a sport that promotes a diverse set of skills used to win and Yamma wishes to eliminate diversity and skill and focus on blood and money.

Recently ESPN did a special about these mma classes and leagues geared towards children. They showed different instructors and the principals and the techniques that they used to train their kids. The first instructor was some fighter from the Sharks Tank, and the second was some jiu jitsu instructor. The instructor from the Sharks Tank was training kids like they were adults: having them box, grapple, and ground and pound one another. He was teaching them all sorts of difficult and dangerous holds like knee bars and ankle locks. The intensity that these kids were putting into their training was insane and probably dangerous. Next, was the jiu jitsu instructor, a pretty mellow guy, the instructor basically taught principal and technique. He was looking too keep it fun and light not dangerous and uncivil. Later on in the program they showed these children mma competitions where kids were arm barring, neck cranking, and pounding on one another. The most horrifying thing was when one child slammed another on the ground. This of course is an awful step back in the sport, these children have no sense of anatomy, no real rationale, and are overly emotional. The pressure of winning at the expense of your body or another can be a dangerous thing. Children need to understand the effects of fighting on there body before they actually start doing it competitively.

Finally the greatest tragedy in mma popularity is the movie Never Back Down, this movie promotes mma to the lowest degree possible. The movie shows people slugging it out in back yards, alleys, and dance clubs. One part Step Up and one part Fight Club, the movie makes mma out as some sort of hip cool fad that all the high school kids are sure to want too emulate very soon. But what is most disappointing is the fact the attitude that the characters have towards the sport, they simply wish to beat the hell out of one another. There is absolutely no "bushido" with these characters: it is not about respect, honor, and the trial of being an athlete. Rather these characters wish to be some sort of sorry bad asses.

Although mma is growing as a sport and one can only hope and encourage it to grow. These slight missteps in the marketing and the promotion of the sport may gather some very negative attention and press that look to unhinge everything the UFC has worked to put together in the U.S. UFC president Dana White may or may not be in favor of this sort of thing but if he is he needs to look to distance himself and make a stance against such foolish and idiotic ventures in the world of mma.