Why MMA is not “human cockfighting”
Despite it’s immense growth and the bare fact that proof is readily available to any idiot who can spell “google,” too many still like to paint mixed martial arts – or MMA for lazy ones such as myself- as a horribly violent blood sport or that old epithet “human cockfighting.” The MMA world’s National Lampoon, Cage Potato, goes so far as to have “MMA is not a crime” as their motto. As much as MMA has been maligned and outright slandered it deserves an intelligent, articulate defense befitting this great sport. However, I can do neither of those so on this site you’re stuck with my babbling.
First of all, calling ANY sport “cockfighting” is a ignorant slur that discounts human involvement. Cockfighting is most definitely a barbarous form of entertainment, the adult version of scorching ants with a magnifying glass. In this act two roosters are thrown into some cage or other and forced to fight to the death. Neither animal knows what’s going on before this happens, or really understands why they’re fighting the other. Each one is just following the survival instincts of a cornered animal. Contrast this with MMA: both fighters are intelligent, rational beings who are completely aware of what is going on and understand why they are there. No one is forced into an MMA match, no athletic commission would ever allow that.
Did you get that last sentence? Every single fight is signed off on by an athletic commission of whatever state said fight is occurring in. Every single fight is refereed by a licensed official of that state and judged by three judges who are licensed (My application for this is currently in the mail) and the time is kept by another licensed official. Medical concerns are overseen by the ringside doctor, who is of course an actual MD and licensed by the commission as well. Not only that, but all American MMA matches are held under the Unified Rules which are a MMA-adapted version of the Unified Rules of Boxing, which nobody really calls a bloodsport any more. Yes, MMA is a combat sport which by its nature is violent, but why shouldn’t violent tendencies be harnessed into useful and safe expressions such as MMA or even traditional martial arts. Even Tai Chi that all those old people practice in the park started as a combat art.
I’m going to state unequivocally that blood does occur in MMA and sometimes it flows heavily. This does not qualify MMA as a bloodsport, however. In this context “bloodsport” is usually meaning a overly violent sport that is completely unregulated or with no rules, none of which is applicable to MMA. While rules may vary slightly from state to state and more so nation to nation all MMA matches are well regulated. Only standard strikes-knees, elbows, kicks and punches- are allowed and groin shots are strictly off limits in every single league I’ve ever known of. Submissions and ground work are a large element of MMA but no small joints, like fingers or toes, are able to be manipulated legally. Fish hooking, eye gouging, and other overly violent maneuvers have been banned since the sport’s inception. Every fighter is checked by officials before entering the ring for any sort of foreign object, and fighters are usually drug tested before and after major fights and randomly for others. The troubles that Strikeforce is having with Josh Barnett attests to this, as does Barnett’s career for that matter.
The aspects of MMA are all well accepted in sports. Kickboxing, boxing, judo, and wrestling are top tier arts in MMA and all are represented in the Olympic games. Jiu-jitsu is another large part of MMA, notably on the ground, and is itself descended from judo. What makes MMA so great is that no other sport combines so many different aspects that often require a lifetime of training to master, yet these athletes must do it all year long, with no seasonal breaks ala football, basketball or baseball-my personal favorite mainstream sport.
While grudges and true bad blood does occur, most fighters are very friendly with one another. Yes, there are pure assholes in the sport but name any sport where there are no assholes or bad blood. Go on. Of course one can’t be named as ANY human enterprise will have that so long as more than two humans are in it. Even tennis had it’s resident asshole in John McEnroe, even if I enjoyed most of his stuff. In fact most fights are notable for their completely professional proceedings. The current pound-for-pound* champion, Georges (pronounced George) St. Pierre, is the epitome of a classy fighter, with one notable shit talk moment he has openly regretted. Otherwise he only has good things to say about opponents, even after he has completely demolished them in the ring. However there are others that are his polar opposites, say Nick Diaz for example, but they are far fewer than professional fighters.
I realize that one badly worded essay will not convince the most die-hard haters of the sport, but this isn’t really written for them. The idea I had for this post was to defend the best sport on the planet to those who are unaware of the actuality of sport and only see it from the mouths of jackasses who seek to demean it for nothing more than either attention or political aspirations (see New York for that one.) I hope at least you can read this and understand that we’re not watching gladiatorial deathmatches or bloody wars of horrifying violence. We are simply watching two highly skilled, hard working athletes who are pitting their skills in martial arts against each other.
*Pound for pound is a ranking, which is subjective as all rankings are, of what fighter has the most skill regardless of size. It’s not fair to put a featherweight (126-135 lbs) up against a full size heavyweight (206-265 lbs)
