Mixed martial arts is an ever growing sport, and has evolved massively since the early days circa the 1990’s. With the introduction of the internet and social media, promotions like the UFC have learnt to harness the power of the web to help expand their product to never before seen levels of success. But with this widespread use of the internet comes a freedom of speech, a freedom that some abuse to often criminal extents. With their identity safely hidden behind a generic username, the keyboard warriors can be extremely spiteful, especially in MMA.
Two prime examples of when the internet was used to bash UFC fighters recently? Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor. After experiencing their first UFC losses, the two top level stars were also served with a barrage of insulting memes and comments from internet tough guys. It seems that in mixed martial arts, more so than in any other genre, the fans can be extremely unforgiving. Of course you can argue that the UFC itself put these hard feelings in the back of the fan’s minds with their relentless promotion of ‘Rowdy’ and ‘The Notorious,’ but it still doesn’t justify the hate they received.
Two legends of the sport in Mauricio Shogun Rua and Anderson Silva have heard enough, and they blasted the keyboard warriors in recent interviews. Here was Rua’s take on the trolls, as per Combate and translated by BloodyElbow:
“It’s the price you pay when the sport starts to grow. There’s more criticism, more people bugging you. I’m going to give you a pornographic example. I don’t want to generalize, because only a few fans do that. Some people feel good when they go on the internet to criticize. They are like a virgin guy who watches porn all his life and thinks he knows everything about boning, but never had sex. It’s the same thing. Most fans support me. When someone is your fan, they like you as a person and an athlete. Brazilian are fans of results, though. This example goes to that small amount of fans. The virgin who thinks he knows how to bone. They are keyboard warriors.”
So what did former UFC middleweight Anderson Silva make of the criticism he’s received lately?
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