The Bias against Mixed Martial Arts
Posted on 03. Aug, 2009 by nostraboris in MMA
An article in the Boston Globe, titled “The Disturbing Appeal of Human Dogfighting” was the latest in a series of astonishingly uninformed and intellectually lazy pieces of verbal diarrhea spouting from the anus that is the anti MMA lobby. In reality, UFC fighters are well paid, skilled, professional athletes. They are neither mistreated or held captive. Comparing Mixed Martial Arts to dog fighting is about as accurate as comparing the NFL to a chain gang.
As ridiculous as the BG article may be, without a single united league to confront all the misinformation, politicians and pundits will continue to latch onto MMA’s popularity, and drive traffic to their opportunistic editorials.
A huge opportunity was missed this week by the UFC and Fedor Emilianenko. After Affliction ended it’s MMA promotions it seemed as if loyal Fans were finally going to get what they deserved: Fedor taking on the cream of the MMA Heavyweight crop.
When negotiation failed over M1’s insane co-promoting demands, Fedor signed with Strikeforce, ensuring that the real battle will continue to only take place rhetorically on the many MMA messageboards.
There seems to be a real schizophrenia in the minds of the sport’s representatives. On one hand, there is a desire to be accepted by the main stream of the world’s sport fans. The other side displays an unwillingness or inability to do what is best for the sport.
Dana White, who pretty much can be credited with MMA’s current “spike” in popularity, insists on constantly cussing while addressing the public. I don’t believe the UFC would be better off with a generic Harvard suit as representative, but why supply the sport’s enemies with ammo?
By refusing to agree to co-promote with M1, White takes the UFC’s interests over those of MMA. Completely understandable, as he represents the business that is UFC. I can’t help wondering how much the UFC as a business could exponentially profit from the immense boost the presence of Fedor in it’s Heavyweight League would give. Would a M1 logo really dilute the UFC brand that much?
I guess we will never know what the outcome of Fedor vs Mir, or Lesnar, or Dos Santos, or Velasquez, or Carwin would be.
As long as infighting and divisive politics continue to impede the best fighters to face each other, MMA will continue to be looked at like the Middle east of sports.
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