If one were to tell you that Batman existed for real and was going to unmask for the sake of taking a mixed martial arts fight on a Saturday night in Connecticut, that would probably get your attention. Potential for The Joker or The Penguin to run amok notwithstanding, you’d likely wonder what he was all about when it came down to combat for sport.
For all intents and purposes, when Ben Fodor makes his World Series of Fighting debut in a few weeks, that’s what you’re going to see.
Though this world doesn’t have Batman, it does have Fodor, a much more realistic take on the heroes people have been enjoying in comic books for years. His alter ego, Seattle-based crime-fighter Phoenix Jones, has become an Internet sensation in recent years and has exploded as a source of curiosity in recent weeks after ESPN did a feature on his antics.
Those antics are, in their simplest form: Fodor dresses up in a legitimate superhero costume and fights crime. The costume has all the bells and whistles to protect him in his pursuit, and he won’t end a night patrolling until he’s stopped at least one crime from going down. He’s even inspired like-minded (though probably less skilled) individuals to take up the cause with him.
Morality of a masked vigilante existing in the real world notwithstanding, the fact that this man exists in any manner to be perceived by others is astounding. This is a flesh-and-blood human being who has taken it upon himself to do good in the world, or at least what he believes to be good. It’s the basic tale underlying every superhero story ever told.
And now, after a few years plying his masked trade in the streets, he’s going to return to the sport that gave him the skills to successfully develop that trade. He’s coming back to MMA.
After an impressive amateur career, Fodor took a break to fight crime. But in late 2013, he made the jump to the pro ranks to float his hobby. He’s 5-0-1 since, and he’ll have the biggest test of his career at WSOF 20 when he fights Emmanuel Walo. He says that the in-cage exploits are fun—a chance to make some coin to keep his enterprise as Phoenix Jones operable—and for the first time in his life, he’s got the interest of the sporting world as he pursues those exploits.
But what does that mean to MMA?
Well, just as the UFC signing CM Punk or Bellator offering up Kimbo Slice-Ken Shamrock, it indicates that no matter how sporting the fight game becomes, it will always be spectacle in a way no other sport is. No one cares if a superhero can throw a football, but everyone wants to see him fight another professional once word gets out that’s his day job.
It means that WSOF 20 will be one of the most watched events the promotion has ever had, if not the most. You can’t buy the type of exposure Fodor‘s ESPN piece got, and he’s only going to get bigger if he performs in the cage.
Perhaps most importantly, it means that a man who took his combat to the streets with an aim on cleaning them up is being rewarded for his work. While Fodor is a real-life Bruce Wayne in his passion for justice, he’s far from Bruce Wayne in his bank account.
It’s hard not to feel good about seeing his desire to do the right thing pay off where it counts.
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