Time To Focus On The Positives, Negativity Only Hinders MMA's Growth

It never fails.

Anytime the sport of MMA finds it's way on to national television, the "blood-thirsty caveman" detractors of the sport search for the tiniest, most minuscule aspects of the event to try and bring the sport down another level.

Now, when barbaric fights such as last night's post-fight brawl, or should I say beat-down, between Jason "Mayhem" Miller and the entire Cesar Gracie squad happen, the negative journalists will have a field day with the abundant ammunition provided for them.

Rat-a-tat-tat-tat.

Firing away, these journalists blast our beloved sport until there is no tomorrow, or at least until some uncollected morons give them a different type of ammunition to use.

It's no surprise that some of these naysayers of the sport will search for any excuse to down play the rise of MMA. They are stuck in their close-minded opinions and that is something that I can reluctantly live with.

What is surprising is the garbage that the defenders of the sport decide to write.

This may sound a bit arrogant, or close-minded in itself, but in a sport that is still in it's growing stages, why hinder the growth with the type of material that the cynics of the sport are continually searching for?

While the hardcore fans see the sport for what it is, many casual fans are still stuck in an area of uncertainty. When they come across websites such as Bleacher Report and see nothing but Brawl This and Brawl That, what type of message is that sending to them about MMA.

Hell, it doesn't just include this website.

Knowing a few people who have been on the ropes about the sport for sometime, I know that when they go researching on-line, they typically wind up on articles titled Post-Fight Brawl as opposed to the ones that state Gilbert Melendez Uses Masterful Game-Plan To Defeat Shinya Aoki.

As a writer, I know it's difficult to avoid the controversial story lines of the recent event, but at some point, it just gets a little bit ridiculous.

Last week's UFC 112 is a perfect example.

The seven to one underdog Frankie Edgar defeats the world's greatest lightweight and pound-for-pound contender B.J. Penn in a closely-contested fight with a great strategy, yet the majority of the MMA headlines focused solely on the antics of Anderson Silva.

A guy given practically zero chance pulls off a huge upset, but the only thing people want to talk about is the childish display of another fighter on the same night.

When the casual fan searches the Internet and sees the negative articles swarming every MMA website, it's hard for them to avoid the swarm and get a positive impression of the sport.

There's no doubt that someone will always find a way to discredit the sport, but if we (the defenders of the sport) all start focusing on the positives over the negatives, MMA has much more room to grow.