MMA’s Full 38’ 3.12.08: Documenting Mixed Martial Arts: Part I
Posted by Sid Needelman on 03.12.2008
MMA is a phenomenon of culture, sports, anthropology and history. It reflects changes in society, a mixture of culture and the business driven desire to make a buck. MMA has being documented in news clips, scholarly books and on DVDs. Here is the first part in a look into how MMA is documented, this week by a film centering on Randy Couture and a scholarly level text.
MMA is a phenomenon of culture, sports, anthropology and history. It reflects changes in society, a mixture of culture and the business driven desire to make a buck. MMA has being documented in news clips, scholarly books and on DVDs. Here is the first part in a look into how MMA is documented, this week by a film centering on Randy Couture and a scholarly level text.
There are many places one can start to look at how the sport has been documented over the years. You could look at the documentary of Mark "The Smashing Machine" Kerr which gave notoriety to substance abuse and the brutality of the sport, or a much more relevant to today's reality, the C-NBC hour long program of the business of blood sport. With so many places to start, choosing at random is as good of a method as any. We begin with a DVD which was fairly recently released and is still relevant, and with the knowledge that a DVD is more conducive to today's MMA fan than other mediums.
Fighter
The film "Fighter" features a cover with the recognizable figure in the sport, Randy Couture. For those who cannot get enough of the hall of famer and multi-time champion, they will already be sold on the idea. For those people already convinced, go to MMA Classics. The film took Best Documentary at the Foundation for the Advancement of Independent Film International Film Festival in Hollywood, California and then selected to appear at the New York International Independent Film and Video.
The expose is not a look into "the Natural" and his time in MMA. While it does do a lot of that it also focuses on the sport and other fighters as well. The film does take a good hard look at Rico Chiapparelli. The wrestling great and trainer to some of the MMA greats is both reported on, and used as a source of information through interview during the DVD. However, anyone who thought this was going to be a tight focused review of the UFC champion, will start wondering why so much focus is drawn onto an athlete who most people have not heard of.
There are some interesting segments in the film, some for the mere insight factor, and some for more of the sport. For those less familiar with MMA, there is a ground level explanation of what is allowed, how fights are won and where they take place. For those looking for insight into the lives of the fighters, knowing how Randy "The Natural" Couture likes his socks rolled was kind of humorous. In all, this documentation of the sport and athletes will appeal only to those who cannot get enough of the sport or of Randy, while some other viewers might want to find a different way to learn more about the sport.
Fighting For Acceptance: Mixed Martial Artists and Violence in American Society
While I have not completed the text yet, there is much to say about the first half. It is written in a way that screams college graduate, if not another degree on top of the regular BA or BS. The writing is laced with references giving proper credit when outside sources were used, and the mini-thesis that each section of paragraphs seeks to make are back up in ways you would expect from an authoritative and scholarly work.
For those who want to grasp some insight, this is a great place to turn. The writing is complete with background information to help those out who need a little more information on such topics of whether or not Pride (Japanese MMA rules) are more violent.
To begin in the order you will find the text presented, the reader is welcomed with a lighthearted intro from none other than Jason "Mayhem" Miller.
"When Dr. Mayeda asked me to write a foreword for Fighting for Acceptance I said ‘Yes, of course I'll write a forward!' But then I asked myself, ‘What the hell is a foreword?"
Jason is one forty people in the industry interviewed for this project. Some were fighters, some were trainers and some were just people with some training but have a business interest in the sport. Jason jokes about how he was not familiar with what he was being asked to do. In honesty, I assume he did but with many things, went after the laugh. He got it from me.
Like the rest of the text, his intro was informative on how the sport is perceived and how people need to feel the need to explain the sport to those who at first glance would not perceive they are witnessing a sport.
The first main chapter lays out the basic intro history of spectacle to sport. Sadly, even a decade and a half after SEG started the UFC, any good look at the sport must mention McCain calling the sport "human cockfighting." Any intensive study should do so, and that's why it was appropriate to be included here, I just hope that reference does not make it into every article Yahoo.com write about the sport for another couple years.
Before the reader even makes it to chapter four they are treated with some black and white pictures. While this work is beyond the casual pictorial review of athletes, the inclusion was enjoyable and reminds the reader this is reading for fun and in most cases, not for a term paper.
The question of violence is a main focus of the study as well. Did the sport make people violent? Would they have been otherwise fighting on the streets? Do people want to rear-naked choke their little brother after watching a UFC champion do it? All questions tackled in Mayeda and Ching's work.
One of the best parts of this read is the small stories you may never have heard had you not picked it up and read it yourself. Can you imagine cornering your own son and having no MMA experience yourself? One mother had to as described on page 77, where with little notice a replacement was needed for Toby Grear. The bulk of her effort was shouting to her offspring to "balance." In Toby's own words he explains why he thought she must haved screamed such instruction:
"Cause she didn't know what to say, that's all she knew! And I must not have looked balanced…"
It is safe to say this source will be one of the most detailed inspections into the world of MMA and you should run out and grab a copy, or at least look forward to my review of the later part of it.
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And for those of you wondering what is MMA's Full 38' It means: an octagon is 30 ft across with 4 feet extra on each side, for cornermen, doctors and camera crew. To know MMA, sometimes one needs to make sure they cover some of the lesser know aspects of it, and 38' represents a number a lot of hardcore fans would not recognize. But be warned, do not try to set up an arena without knowing how big the octagon really is, or there will be problems. Sid also welcomes you any MMA fans heading to South Florida for Spring break to visit the MMA store on South Beach Miami - Sobe Knockouts on 235 9th street for the best in MMA Gear and fashion and where Sid will be getting more items to review in the future.
Sid Needelman
