MTV Caged: New Reality Series Will Be Great for Aspiring MMA Fighters
When MTV gets in the business of reality television, the odds are good that you can expect a lot of over-dramatization and backstabbing to make sure that the show is so over the top that no one takes it seriously. But that won't be the case with the network's latest project, a mixed martial arts series called "MTV Caged."
The series, which starts on Monday night, follows around young, aspiring fighters who are trying to balance their personal lives with their dreams of making it inside the cage.
Here is a portion of the official description from MTV.com:
""This weekly documentary series will take an honest look into the world of young amateur MMA fighters, both inside and outside of the cage. One is dealing with his lost love, another tries to balance his young family and fighting, and another just yearns to make his family proud. It's impossible for them to leave these issues outside of the ring, and each week, viewers will see how their personal lives and choices affect their chances inside the cage."
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"For these modern day gladiators, every day is a fight to break free from the past, and to find their future. It's their chance to turn their lives around, and an opportunity to stand up and fight to make something of themselves."
Mixed martial arts is still growing in this country, so it would make perfect sense for the series to follow around a group of young fighters, because as the sport continues to grow, they are trying to grow and find their place in this world.
I am skeptical that the series won't devolve into a parody of what it is supposed to be. We have seen MTV use all of its reality shows--or shows being presented as reality--as excuses to get people to have sex, talk about having sex, think about having sex or thinking of talking about sex.
This series should focus on the journey of the people that are being profiled, not any of their trashy fantasies about the girl next door. As long as the show does that, it will be a success and can help the sport of mixed martial arts grow in popularity along with it.
Since this is the first episode of the series, hopes should be high. Mixed martial arts is not an easy sport to break into, and hopefully we will see what aspiring fighters have to go through in order to make it to the top.
