Show me the person you honor,
for I know better by that
the kind of person you are.
For you show me what your
idea of humanity is.
                Thomas Carlyle

Mixed Martial Arts

On this page:
MMA Have Become A Religion | Safe High Stakes Gambling | Mixed Martial Artists Are Harder To Take Out Of Their Comfort Zone

The reason we chose the Carlyle quote is because we could very well modify it to read:
        Tell me your opinion of mixed martial arts,
        for I know better by that your understanding of violence.         For it shows me what your idea of violence is.

Is two guys beating the snot out of each other and rolling around on the ground violent? Yes. But that type of violence is only one small slice of the much larger and complex pie that is violence.

A complex and dangerous topic that involves a whole lot more than one on one, mano y mano, consensual conflict. A situation that doesn't have the safeties and fail safes of sports based competitions ... which is what Mixed Martial Arts are.

They are not combat, nor are they self-defense.

Therefore, the overstated claims regarding the effectiveness and value of mixed martial arts are demonstrably false. And all it takes to show why these claims are false is a trip to fields outside the MMA market.

Yes, you heard us right. Marketing has strongly influenced what people think the mixed martial arts are good for. What's worse is it has strongly colored what people think self-defense is. When we talk about "the mixed martial arts market" we are not only addressing the training itself. We are talking about the complex blend of issues of  marketing and commercialization we more fully address elsewhere.

MMA Have Become A Religion
We have several issues with mixed martial arts. Believe it or not, our problems are not with the training itself, nor the effectiveness of the moves within a specific context. In fact, we consider MMA training to be both useful tool and a chance for tool development. Nor are we against macho sports that allow young males to pit themselves against each other to enhance their social status among their peers.

Having said that, one of the biggest issues we have  with MMA is how many frothing at the mouth religious fanatics it has created.

And face it, a barking moonbat is a barking moonbat. It doesn't matter if said moonbat is 
   A) standing on a street corner screaming at you to 'repent ye sinners
      because Armageddon is at hand,'
      or 
    B) he's proclaiming on internet forums "That headbutts and eye gouges
       don't work for self-defense because if they did work they'd be allowed
       in MMA events" (1).

That is a person who's fervor and dogma has taken him to his own Little Private Idaho. Someone who's internal reality has not only eclipsed actuality, but who has confused advertising claims for knowledge and experience. Such a person rabidly believes that the narrow focus of his dogma is all encompassing.

And like the Catholic Church of Medieval Europe, the 'anointed priests' of mixed martial arts and grappling are getting very rich and powerful off their followers.

Safe High Stakes Gambling
There is a mindset that has unfortunately become common in this culture. It's what we like to call "Safe High Stakes Gambling." When put into these terms the logical fallacy of this kind of thinking becomes immediately obvious. The idea is people want to participate in the chances to win big money. But at the same time, they do not want to risk losing anything. In fact, the new definition of losing appears to be -- what used to be known as -- 'breaking even.'

This is what happens when the stakes are emotional. And aside from nice fat purses and training fees, that is pretty much the only thing that is at stake in MMA bouts. Sure there is bruising and pounding, but that happens to you win lose or draw. So those aren't the stakes. Notice for example certain terms abound in these circles; submission, dominate, premier, pride, ultimate, championship and tapout. We bring this to your attention because they make a strange contrast with other words associated with in MMA circles. Words like fights, fighting and rage.

Now contrast those words with words that are -- in a nonsport context --normally associated with fights, fighting and rage. Namely, death, crippled, homicide, hospitalization and, of course, aggravated assault and arrest. At least those words are commonly thought medical and law enforcement when  members of the 'Saturday Night Knife and Gun Club' decide to 'fight.'

And this is why it is incorrect to call mixed martial arts, grappling or any martial sport -- no matter how intense -- self-defense; much less combat. These stakes are not on the table. Can you be injured in a MMA bout? Of course. However, the intent of the participants is not to go into the ring to cause hospitalization, permanent injury or death.

In the mixed martial arts participants seek to 'dominate' an opponent. Although there are commonly references to 'punishment,' in MMA these terms do not have the same connotations. Bouts are stopped once victory is clearly achieved, including the loser surrendering. In street fights, assaults and homicides the victim have no choice. The victim is rendered helpless and then the brutal punishment begins. It is this savagery that results in hospitalization or death of the loser. We do not use the word 'victim' because quite often the loser was very much actively engaged in the creation and escalation of the conflict.

Our point about all of this is that the participants of mixed martial arts sporting events, get the rush, the emotional high of 'winning' these events, and the ego gratification of calling themselves 'fighters.' But they aren't really risking anything beyond their pride and bruises. When the death and injury toll of the entire professional and amateur mixed martial arts circuits from around the world match a single weekend tally of emergency rooms in any major US metropolitan center, then we'll believe that mixed martial artists are fighting for stakes higher than self-esteem.