MMA SQUARED: Middleweight needs this matchup to bring excitement back

This is a personality driven sport. Even if the personalities are extremely uncomfortable to behold.

Chris Rini

I just put out new editions of my first two books, The Fine Art of Violence, Volumes 1 & 2. These books start on January 1st and end on December 31st, telling the story of a year in MMA through art and short essays.

Volume 1 covers the explosion of Jorge Masvidal as a star, culminating in the Bad Motherfucker Madison Square Garden Headlining Climax, among other newsworthy events. Josh Rosenblatt “discovered me” and we worked together at Vice on a historical MMA column called Defining Moment. He writes ten short essays based on artworks that refer to art history, from marble sculptures of ancient Rome to Looney Tunes animations. Josh has also written an impressive book about MMA himself.

Volume two expanded the scope, I put a spotlight on a valued, retiring member of the MMA community in Esther Lin. Then I asked a group of artists, analysts, storytellers and one retired professional-fighter-turned-writer to contribute and they’re great:

Eugene S. Robinson on Jon Jones & Daniel Cormier

Julie Kedzie on Zhang Weili vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk

Shaheen Al-Shatti and Edward Cao on Dustin Poirier

Chuck Mindenhall on Jose Aldo

Fernanda Prates on Esther Lin

Schwan Humes on Rose Namajunas vs Jessica Andrade

Adam Nelson knocks it out of the park with a ton of drawings and one hilarious piece on Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier.

I hope you enjoy what I bring to the MMA community, this book series brings me a lot of joy to maka and I’m grateful you and BE make it happen.

Take care of yourself and I’ll talk to you Monday.

Chris