I Kinda Miss Martial Arts

Two Idiots

The other thing I'm a fan of, besides Science Fiction and Fantasy (and story telling in general) is combat sports. I'll watch sumo, professional wrestling, boxing, just about anything. I think the stories and conflicts generated are great, the conclusions satisfying.

Last weekend though, these two morons fought. It's frustrating to me. They are great athletes, tough guys, all of that, but they are missing one of the things that makes martial arts different from two thugs duking it out. That thing is respect, maybe. Maybe it's a humble bearing. A certain maturity. I dunno if I have the words, but whatever it is these guys don't have it.

This was the biggest MMA/UFC fight of all time, by a long shot. They topped 2.4 million buys if I'm not mistaken, breaking the previous record of 1.6 million. The lead up included McGregor's gang attacking a bus Khabib was on, and the aftermath saw Khabib jumping into the crowd and starting a post fight brawl that basically turned into a melee. Irish fans and Russian fans brawled all over Las Vegas that night.

There will always be trash talk in a competitive environment, there's no problem with that. This is something different. Something disgusting. I don't like it. But with sales numbers like that you are going to see more of it.

I'll leave with a final question. Seeing as this is the most successful way to market fights, how much of this extra curricular brawling is hype? Simple marketing? I mean, if you are rewarded for acting like a thug, why not embrace it? In wrestling it's called 'kayfabe'. It means 'be fake'. It means to stay in character so the fans can never see behind the curtain and see just how fake everything really is.