What's the allure in MMA?

[Squabbles94806]

I'm just curious. Since this whole thing was put together, i've never seen the attraction. Am i missing something? Why can't i get hyped over MMA specifically? I really tried, but i just can't get into it. What is it about MMA that makes people go ******ed? How did it get so trendy? Why does everyone want to be a "MMA?" How did conventional Martial Arts become deconstructed and rejected? I used to watch WWF, when i was a kid, and MMA is the same thing is it not?

I just don't understand it. Okay. i've been a martial artist since 8 and i'm a first degree black belt in three conventional systems: Escrima/Arnis, Hapkido, Okinawan Kara-te. Also, i'm an amatuer boxer (5-4) training to become a professional. I've been training, studying and learning how to fight practically from birth. I'm a born fighter. That's what i do.

I love fighting. Absolutely love it. And i can watch all types of fights. Boxing's number one of course, but in my opinion, MMA sucks. I'd rather watch a street fight. In fact, i get more excited watching a street fight than an MMA fight and they're essentially the same thing. Maybe it has to do with the fact that in a street fight, there are no rules and the only one rule is to kill or be killed. But there are many rules that make up the UFC/MMA and restricts the fighters from doing certain techniques that would make sense to do in a street fight. Hence, MMA is not "real fighting."

Boxing is far more limited; you can only throw punches. But there are serious injuries and death involved. Kill or be killed. Therefore, boxing is "real fighting"

So please help me. I need to convert to the new age. I want to be so excited when there's a UFC 200 ppv event. I want to get a hard on when i see two half naked men, writhing with sweat, rolling around on the ground like two kids in the park, dry humping each other. I want to be an MMA fighter because that's the trendy thing to dom and it's popular these day. It's cool. I want to change my image so i can wear the v-neck tatted up T-shirts, with a flat billed hat wearing a TAPOUT shirt and ray ban sun glasses. I want to meet Joe Rogan.

How do i do it? Please? Can someone give me pointers so i can join this phenomenon called the UFC/MMA? Boxing's outdated and finished anyways. MMA's going to rule the world soon, and i'd like to be a part of that. There must be something wrong with me if i don't like MMA. So please help. Cus, the was i've always felt since this thing came along.....is that the UFC/MMA sucks major major dick.

[donkim]

Some guys love to see glass jawed,half naked men rolling around in the undies in the middle of the cage.


They used to watch pro wrestling all the time for the same reason but were bitterly dissapointed to find out that it wasn't real.

Then along came the ufc and they found some legitimate gay ****o.

[Pork Chop]

Well I think interest in any sport's always going to be a personal thing.

In the beginning, as a martial artist, mma was very interesting to me because it was finally a venue where everyone could strut their stuff & show off their skill. It was exciting because finally we could see if all the deadly stuff actually worked. At the same time, it was very discouraging because a lot of us had to accept that a lot of what we had taken as gospel for so long just didn't work like that in the real world.

Unfortunately that eventually gave way to the situation we have today: a lot of cookie-cutter garbage fighters who are only good enough in each area as to not get totally destroyed.

The appeal for some of it's pretty obvious:

-there are a lot of people in this country with a wrestling background & professional wrestling has long been a joke

-strategies like ground and pound look a lot more like a real street fight than a John Ruiz-ish jab, grab, and get separated style boxing match.

-so many facets to the game means more chess pieces & more chances for a weakness, which leads to a higher percentage of one sided fights (there's a reason so many people think Tyson's one of the greatest & why Lennox's chess matches are almost forgotten).

-some guys look at mma as the "truth"; ie real fighting. the proving ground that was old-school nhb brought forth the idea that only certain styles and techniques were valid, modern mma being the inheritor of that. this "truth" tends to attract a lot of meatheads who like to look & talk tough but can't fight for cr@p... especially the tattoo & faux-hawk crowd with the affliction shirts.

Personally, I like K1-max. Probably like you, I'm a fan of stand up and not so much ground stuff. Even a boring fight on that is more fun to watch than a lot of mma slop-fest. Of the mma guys out there, it's guys like Nog, Fedor, Machida, and Silva that actually keep me interested, guys who exhibit absolute mastery in at least one facet of their game. I could care less if I ever again saw guys like Clay Guida, Forrest Griffen, Rich Franklin, Diego Sanchez, Koschek, Gray Maynard, and most wrestling-based guys.

If it means anything, I think the hot streak mma's been on is starting to cool off. The last few UFC events have been pretty terrible. MMA definitely lost something when it lost the old NHB format (and even when Pride went away).

When you take away stuff like soccer kicks & knees to a downed opponent, i think you lose a lot of that reality and it does lead to more boring fights because there's no way to make a guy pay for an ugly/bad wrestling shot.

As I said before, I like K1. I also like muay thai. Neither sport is really riding the wave of the mma popularity explosion. If anything, in the US it's harder to get fights in muay thai/kickboxing than it was in the early 90s. MMA has garnered so much attention from (and money for) state licensing boards that they expect the same of muaythai/kickboxing fights, ie a much smaller sport, & thus have made it much harder to put on events.

If I would recommend anything, it would be to pay attention to those guys who put on exciting fights. Check out guys like Fedor, Mousasi, Wanderlei Silva, and Anderson Silva. Try to avoid guys who grind out decisions, guys who do a lot of lay and pray, or wrestlers who use opponent's fear of their wrestling to score KOs with cr@p stand up. Maybe learn to appreciate the stand up chess match from guys like Machida and (to a lesser extent) Cung Le. There's a lot of bad, but there is some good.

Above all else, try not to have an "us vs them" mentality. I get lumped in with mma guys eventhough I'm a muay thai guy, and i can't stand a lot of the UFC meathead marketing. I know those "modern warriors" wouldn't even have the low level of stand up that they do have without boxing and/or muay thai; so i don't take that cr@p personally.

[Pecs]

I love fighting. Absolutely love it. And i can watch all types of fights. Boxing's number one of course, but in my opinion, MMA sucks. I'd rather watch a street fight. In fact, i get more excited watching a street fight than an MMA fight and they're essentially the same thing. Maybe it has to do with the fact that in a street fight, there are no rules and the only one rule is to kill or be killed. But there are many rules that make up the UFC/MMA and restricts the fighters from doing certain techniques that would make sense to do in a street fight. Hence, MMA is not "real fighting."

Boxing is far more limited; you can only throw punches. But there are serious injuries and death involved. Kill or be killed. Therefore, boxing is "real fighting"

.

In what way is boxing *real fighting* while MMA is not?? You only use your fists in real fighting?? * Real fighting allows 10 count for the knocked man to get up?? or a standing 8 count??

come on, if you don't like something, doesn't mean that people cannot like it.

[jakkups]

For me it's simple, a fight's a fight. The good thing about combat sports of any type is more often than not you don't need to explain to someone what is going on because it's quite obvious.

And MMA, boxing or any fight sport cannot be considered real fighting. Real fighting has no rules.

[YoungReezy]

I'm just curious. Since this whole thing was put together, i've never seen the attraction. Am i missing something? Why can't i get hyped over MMA specifically? I really tried, but i just can't get into it. What is it about MMA that makes people go ******ed? How did it get so trendy? Why does everyone want to be a "MMA?" How did conventional Martial Arts become deconstructed and rejected? I used to watch WWF, when i was a kid, and MMA is the same thing is it not?

I just don't understand it. Okay. i've been a martial artist since 8 and i'm a first degree black belt in three conventional systems: Escrima/Arnis, Hapkido, Okinawan Kara-te. Also, i'm an amatuer boxer (5-4) training to become a professional. I've been training, studying and learning how to fight practically from birth. I'm a born fighter. That's what i do.

I love fighting. Absolutely love it. And i can watch all types of fights. Boxing's number one of course, but in my opinion, MMA sucks. I'd rather watch a street fight. In fact, i get more excited watching a street fight than an MMA fight and they're essentially the same thing. Maybe it has to do with the fact that in a street fight, there are no rules and the only one rule is to kill or be killed. But there are many rules that make up the UFC/MMA and restricts the fighters from doing certain techniques that would make sense to do in a street fight. Hence, MMA is not "real fighting."

Boxing is far more limited; you can only throw punches. But there are serious injuries and death involved. Kill or be killed. Therefore, boxing is "real fighting"

So please help me. I need to convert to the new age. I want to be so excited when there's a UFC 200 ppv event. I want to get a hard on when i see two half naked men, writhing with sweat, rolling around on the ground like two kids in the park, dry humping each other. I want to be an MMA fighter because that's the trendy thing to dom and it's popular these day. It's cool. I want to change my image so i can wear the v-neck tatted up T-shirts, with a flat billed hat wearing a TAPOUT shirt and ray ban sun glasses. I want to meet Joe Rogan.

How do i do it? Please? Can someone give me pointers so i can join this phenomenon called the UFC/MMA? Boxing's outdated and finished anyways. MMA's going to rule the world soon, and i'd like to be a part of that. There must be something wrong with me if i don't like MMA. So please help. Cus, the was i've always felt since this thing came along.....is that the UFC/MMA sucks major major dick.

Congratulations! After reading this I came to the conclusion that you are not queer, you are straight, that explains why you can't get into watching 2 sweaty glass chinned punks roll around on the floor, twisting each other's arms while wrapping their legs around each other. Im glad you weren't hypnotized by the queers and lured into watching that gay ****.

[Barney.]

Boys don't wrap their legs around other boys. Boys only roll around with girls.

[Squabbles94806]

In what way is boxing *real fighting* while MMA is not?? You only use your fists in real fighting?? * Real fighting allows 10 count for the knocked man to get up?? or a standing 8 count??

come on, if you don't like something, doesn't mean that people cannot like it.

True. I have no problem with people enjoying MMA. In my definition, "real fighting" consists of life and death. War? Duels? Battles? Fighting for your life is a little different than fighting in general.

What i'm saying is: in MMA you can't do certain things in a real street fight, (like hit int he back of the neck, stomp their head, grab a fence, stick your thumb in an eye, fishhook, break fingers, slam a knee when both of you are on the ground. etc. etc.) Therefore, it couldn't be real if it's limited. However, in a situation of life and death, there's only one rule which is to survive. Death is not an uncommon thing in boxing.

But i respect people who are amped about MMA. I don't understand, but it's cool. As long as they don't buy into the hype. Either boxing or MMA.

[Thurman_Murman]

I just can't come to like MMA, iv'e tried to watch many times and I still think it's gay. I would slap the **** out of my son if he asked me to take him to an MMA gym, i would call him a ***gg! Good thing everyone in my family is in boxing, my younger brother is a pretty good amateur, and so are my cousins.

[F l i c k e r]

People love to see a fight. That is first and foremost. They want to see a bunch of guys fight each other.

The Allure of MMA is that these guys are fighting with their entire body. They use their hands, feet, knees, elbows. Thats when you see a difference in range of combat. You can only use your hands so far away, your feet until a certain distant, knees and elbows at a certain distance. They also wrestle and slam people.

Before you know it, you begin to understand the submission aspect of MMA. Seeing just how technical the submission (or boring part to mainstream fans) really is. It isn't just two guys laying on each other, it's using your brain to figure out how can you control your opponent and get him into the position you want. You can do this with force or you can do this by 'tricking' your opponent into thinking your gonna do something else.

Think of it like this. I am not knocking any sport but this is what I relate the two sports to...

Boxing is like checkers. Sure you can duck and dodge, use the "technical boxing" style. But at the end of the day, its "hit or miss". Who can last longer. In checkers all you do it hop over the opponent's piece. Then you repeat this until the other guy has no more pieces. Just like boxing, you keep "hitting or missing" until the other guy falls out or gives up.

MMA is like Chess. There are so many things you can do. In chess you can end a match in no time at all. Just like in MMA. But then if you get two really good players up against each other in Chess, the match can go on hours. In MMA, when this happens you normally see a guy in a person's guard, waiting patiently only using a few moves before getting the check mate. Requires alot more strategy. On the surface chess looks boring and blan. If you look deeper you see it is a strategic game being played. Just like MMA.


Like I said, I didn't make this post to knock any sport. I like both sports. I have looked so far into both sports my head is practically sticking out of the back end.

Personally, I like MMA because its Martial Arts. Some dont do know what the hell they are doing but the same can be said for some boxers. Plus, most of my favorite fighters are real martial artists, not some cookie cutter bjj guy who earned his BB from McDojo and dont know what the hell to do on the ground.

But hey. If you like it, you like it. If you dont, you dont.
Not trying to argue, nor am I going to.