Angry White Dude: The Trouble with MMA
We've all heard the stories.
Kid gets bullied and turns to martial arts. Not to kick somebody's ass, but to kick their ass if anyone wants to mess with them.
The folklore's that the martial arts teach people discipline and respect, and I have to say that every martial arts conference I've attended has been 100% just that very way.
The problem with MMA is that it seems to not teach what is the very foundation of martial arts:
Everyone's watched the spectacle that's become MMA. The trash talking's bad, but they're just trying to be like professional wrestling. Talk some smack, get people to watch or attend.
You know, put on a show.
At some point, though, you have to draw a line, and the UFC has no clue where that line should be.
Take UFC 235, for example.
Johnny Walker KO's his oppenent with a flying knee and a flurry of blows just 34 seconds into the first round of the fight. The ref steps in and stops the fight and then the lack of discipline and respect take over.
Instead of raising his hands in victory, Walkers drops to the mat and tries to perform some outdated dance move called the worm.
Is that from the 80's?
Whatever, it's got staying power ... for those who've mastered it, anyway.
In the process of Walker's celebration, dude inficted more pain and injury on himself than his opponent did during that 36-second fight!
Damaging his own shoulder! Trying to do the worm?
If this crowd is the best martial arts fighters in the world, don't you think they might want to show a small amout of discipline and respect?
Is that not the very first thing they learned when they took off their shoes and walked onto the mat?
Day No 1: Discipline and Respect!
Respect toward your opponent and enough discipline to not hurt yourself doing some dance move that Shabba-Doo tore up in a 1984 movie called Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo?
Whats next for Walker?
Perhaps watching a few episodes of What's Happening and breaking it down with a couple of moves like Rerun did back in the day?
That's the trouble with MMA. No discipline or respect.