“MMA is too dangerous”
“All that blood is disgusting”
“How do you watch this?”
“Do they always just roll around on the ground like that?”
As somebody who is continuously immersed in the MMA world, I am often taken back by somebody who can’t see the beauty in the sport. How can they not be just as excited as I am when the UFC intro song is blasting right before an event?
More often than not, the reason people who don’t “get” MMA is because they don’t take the time to understand the sport. Instead they rely on perceptions that dominated the early years of MMA.
Or is it more than that? Are you and I so enclosed in an MMA bubble that our perception of the sport is skewed?
I suppose it happens with every other sport. I can’t count how many times I’ve heard somebody say they only like watching hockey or baseball in person but can’t stand it on TV.
If you’re one of those people then perhaps you are just as guilty as an MMA fan who says they don’t know why you like to watch guys beat the crap out of each other.
Think back to when you were first introduced to the sport. You probably didn’t fully understand things like side-control, DA’rce choke, and an omoplata.
Chances are when Joe Rogan freaked out about something you didn’t understand why he was so excited. Well, I think some of us still struggle with that at times.
As fans of the sport we understand what’s going on, but we often make the mistake of believing the rest of society understands the sport as well as we do. The fact of the matter is most of the world still sees MMA as bunch of guys brawling in a cage.
Those who oppose the sport due to its violent nature haven’t stepped foot into a facility such as a UFC Gym and witnessed children training MMA. They haven’t seen the mutual respect that most fighters have for each other at the conclusion of each fight.
Unfortunately, our perception of the sport is such that we think everyone is jumping on board. We believe the sport has reached such a mainstream point that we are surprised when somebody hasn’t heard of Frank Mir or Junior dos Santos.
If one were to go ask ten random people who Chael Sonnen is, how many of those 10 do you think would recognize the name? I would say maybe one.
Living inside the bubble of MMA isn’t all that bad, but we do need to recognize that our perception of the sport is not necessarily reality.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com