I'll Hit It! 5.30.07: MMA Goes Mainstream

Posted by Don Abato on 05.30.2007

The dreams of Mixed Martial Arts fans in America came true this weekend. The UFC received the same kind of coverage and exposure usually reserved for NFL Sundays, Tiger Woods or a series involving the Yankees and Red Sox. But while the sport has come a long way, columnist Don Abato says this is just another notch in a long line of breakthroughs. The real work is still at hand.

So it pretty much looks like our beloved sport of Mixed Martial Arts has finally and officially made it mainstream. I say this because if ESPN Sportscenter anchor and host of Friday Night Fights Brian Kenny says the Octagon has arrived. That is probably as close to a confirmation as we're going to get. In today's age it is safe to say ESPN has established itself as The sports entity in the world. If it says so, it's so!

Look around and it looks like the national media have come around on MMA. Not only did ESPN devote all kinds of time to the coverage of UFC 71, but "The Magazine" featured The Iceman on the cover, the website enveiled its MMA section, and Sports Illustrated made UFC lightweight fighter Roger Huerta its cover boy for last week's edition. Longtime fans like you also know major websites like Foxsports.com and Yahoo.com have long had MMA columnists.

For all the gains MMA and the UFC have finally made at the national level, we still haven't reached the promised land. There's a reason MMA has the tag of fastest growing sport. When you bear the "fastest growing" tag it means more climbing left in the ascent to join the "players club" currently inhabited by the National Football League, Major League Baseball, NASCAR, National Basketball Association, and why not, I'll put NCAA Football and College Basketball even though they're not officially professional sports organizations.

But before we worry about being one of the big boys, we still need to work on getting the entire sports community and the lay man to recognize the sport. The ESPNs and Fox Sports of the world have a grip on things for the most part, but what about the sports anchors and assorted commentators on the local level? Do they have an accurate grasp of MMA in your television market?

I kept on eye on what reception the local Chicago media gave towards MMA's supposed breakthrough into mainstream consciousness this week. This past Sunday the NBC affiliate, WMAQ TV, ran a piece focusing on MMA's growing popularity and the state senate preparing to pass a bill sanctioning the sport in Illinois. I only had minor issues with the story.

First, the reporter continuously called it "ultimate fighting." As we all know the sport is more correctly called mixed martial arts, and good reporters get their facts right. "Ultimate Fighting" is a proprietary term of the UFC, however Dana White and the UFC media spin doctors have done such an effective job UFC is pretty much MMA in the minds of the lay people. Many others reporters and journalists are guilty of the same mistake.

Second, the reporter claims, "new rules in place to protect the players. No eye gouging, no head butting, hair pulling or elbows." This is a something most of the mainstream media is clearly confused about, because saying such tactics have been ruled illegal by "new" rules suggests they all were legal techniques at one time. Eye gouging and biting were never allowed in any of UFC's incarnations. In fact no MMA/NHB event in North American history has ever accepted such actions as within the rules. So while the state senator who told WMAQ TV's reporter he/she helped create rules banning such "dirty tactics," it's important to note those techniques were never legal.

Third, the reporter says MMA mixes wrestling with boxing, karate and judo. I think it's factually incorrect to leave out the martial art which helped revolutionize how the athletes tactically prepared to battle in the octogan. To omit Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from a list of styles encompassing MMA is wrong because BJJ was the reason UFC was created(Rorian Gracie wanted to showcase Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.) It seems like of all the reports I see and read on the internet, most of the reporters fails to mention BJJ when discussing the disciplines practiced in the ring. I don't want to start a BJJ vs. other styles debate but a true fan understands the importance of Braz Jits in the development of today's mixed martial artists. The sports reporter from WMAQ TV is just one of the many journalists out there with another wrong fact. I'd really like someone to debate me about karate's role and importance in today's MMA style, be it history or curriculum. I just can't rationally see any point which could justify its importance over Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

After the story finished, the anchor and co-host of the sports show, former American Gladiators host Mike Adamle, quipped, "I know they're tough guys… but I think it's another sign the apocalypse is upon us." An anchor is entitled to his opinion, but after all the educating that's been done about the realities of the sport and its safety record, that is the reaction the story gets? Adamle is a Northwestern graduate, and a bright man, and as I said he's entitled to his opinion. But is MMA really so horrible that it's a sign the end of the world is coming? Is an activity combining functional martial arts with Olympic sports really such a despicable thing it's likend to a world gone mad?

The reaction is a solid reminder there is still a huge segment of the athletic community and general population that still does not either understand, accept or acknowledge the sport of Mixed Martial Arts. For all the new fans and people who've seen the light and realize what MMA really is(ahem, Jim Rome) there are scores more who don't get it.

You know what this means? It means the phrase "human cockfighting" will inevitably still pop up in debates pertaining to MMA. It means the people who militantly oppose it will undoubtedly claim the sport is barbaric because of eye gouges and biting. It means opponents will claim the participants possess no skill and are nothing but street fighters. It means all the myths, lies, misnomers and propaganda we have worked to dispel still need debunking to a whole new group of people.

Going mainstream does not mean the problems and road bumps we encountered to get to this point are in the past. It means the machine must work as hard as ever to educate those left in the dark about this young and still evolving sport.

So if you thought the job is done, mission accomplished, think again. Now the real "fight" begins. The sport has to prove it belongs, continue to change the minds of non-believers, and most importantly continue to deliver the "goods" that got it to this point. This task will be a little longer than five three-minute rounds.