Last week truly was a "super" week with Super Bowl 42 featuring a historic match up between the New England Patriots and New York Giants taking place on Sunday and the nationwide primary elections to determine the republican and democratic presidential candidates on "Super Tuesday". After the ballots were counted the presidential candidate frontrunners for the Democratic Party are Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and for the Republican Party are Mitt Romney and John McCain. While researching these final presidential candidates I came upon Senator John McCain's views on the sport known as mixed martial arts (MMA). In 1995 Senator McCain made an appearance on CNN's "Larry King Live" accompanied by Marc Ratner, who at the time was the executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, in an attempt to embark on an a systematic course of aggressive anti-mixed martial arts activities. During the interview McCain claimed that mixed martial arts was barbaric human cockfighting and that the sport “appeals to the lowest common denominator in our society”. These statements are very well known in society today and even more so in the mixed martial arts world, however what is not as well known is McCain's ties to boxing, mixed martial arts number one rival. McCain's wife, Cindy McCain, inherited one of the largest Budweiser, who at the time was a major sponsor for the sport of boxing, distributorships in the country and McCain was also known to have received copious gratuities from boxing promoters over the years. One can argue that both of these ties to boxing are strong enough to make an attemptattempt to destroy its only legitimate rival.The problem with McCain's claims against mixed martial arts is that at first glance they appear to be true. Mixed martial arts is an intense battle in which two fighters compete, testing their physical, mental, and emotional strength, and to a first time viewer this competition can come across as brutal and borderline barbaric. However, true believers in the sport feel that one should not determine his or her opinion on the sport without being well informed.
The Styles
Mixed martial arts is a full contact combat sport in which many different fighting techniques are used including dif
ferent styles of striking and grappling. Most fighters fall into three categories: a stand up specialist, a clinch specialist, or a ground specialist. A stand up specialist possesses expertise in boxing, kickboxing, and/or muay thai and will most likely look to damage his opponent with his fists, elbows, knees, and feet. A clinch specialist possesses expertise in freestyle wrestling, greco roman wrestling, or judo will often times look to damage his opponent via the clinch (a standing wrestling position), takedowns, and throws. A ground specialist possesses and expertise in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and/or wresting and will usually look to damage his opponent with submission holds and by maintaining ground control. Because of the many different fighting styles and strategies found in mixed martial arts a fighter must perfect his style and study and practice the many other styles to become a well-rounded, successful fighter. To McCain's dismay, these fighters do not just enter a ring or octagon without any strategy and pound each other like barbaric Neanderthols, instead they spend years studying the many different styles and strategies found throughout the world in hope to become a renaissance fighter, versed in all combat styles as opposed to boxers who only have to focus on one form of combat.The Fighters
Mixed martial arts fighters tend to be discipline athletes that continue to have the desire to compete after there careers in their previous sports have come to an end. Unlike in boxing where the story seems to always be "I grew up in a tough neighborhood and had to fight for survival", these fighters are usually college educated men that have a great respect for the sport, their opponent, and themselves. In boxing one often witnesses the two boxers taunting one another or participating in un-sportsmanlike "trash talk" leading up to, during, or after the fight. Not to say that men competing in mixed martial arts do not share any similarities with boxers or never engage in un-sportsmanlike activities, but it is quite rare to see a mixed martial arts fighter embarrass or bring shame to his opponent before, during or after the fight. These men respect one another for having the courage and strength to participate in the sport and, usually, display that respect with their actions and words. This attitude found amongst mixed martial arts fighters destroys McCain's statement that the sport “appeals to the lowest common denominator in our society”. As was stated previously these men tend to be college educated individuals with great discipline and respect for one another and the sport, an attitude and lifestyle that would not be found amongst the lowest common denominator in our society.
The Facts
John McCain is entitled to his opinion on the sport; however he has developed his opinion without assessing important facts and establishing an understanding of the sport. Given McCain's opinion on mixed martial arts, it appears that he has probably seen very few mixed martial arts events and while watching the event may have allowed his bias and allegiance to boxing to influence his opinion of the sport. What McCain sees as violent and brutal actually is a much more safe sport than the one he supports. Based on McCain's opinion one would believe that there have been a great amount of deaths caused by competition in a mixed martial arts event, when in fact that idea is far from the truth. Since 1890 approximately 1350 people have died from injuries sustained during competition in boxing as opposed to the 1 death caused from injuries sustained during competition in sanctioned mixed martial arts events and since 1998 there has been approximately 70 deaths caused by injuries sustained during competition in boxing and only 1 death caused by injuries sustained during competition in a mixed martial arts event. Though competition in mixed martial arts events has not been in existence nearly as long as boxing, one can not deny the facts which eliminate the validity of McCain's argument and prove that mixed martial arts is not nearly as brutal as people think.
1 comment:
The aesthetics and name of your blog are well chosen and I think they definitely match the general idea of your concept. I like the way that the beginning of your post discusses what’s going on right now in the world and then transitions into what made you decide to post about this, even though I was unsure at first where it was leading. Also, since I really didn’t know much at all about this topic I found it very informative and an effective introductory post for your blog.
Some of your words were a little confusing to me though. In the sentence “a systematic course of aggressive anti-mixed martial arts activities” I was confused by some of the word choices. I think it was probably the word “course” that was awkward, maybe you mean “discourse”? Also when you say “These statements are very well known in society today” in reference to McCain’s quote it sounds like everyone believes that mixed martial arts is human cockfighting. You might want to change “known.”
I think you bring up a good point that McCain has ties to boxing (also good use of that link), however, like I mentioned to you in class, as a non-fighter I didn’t really distinguish boxing from mixed martial arts. As a result I didn’t understand that there is an ongoing debate between the two even though you do say “legitimate rival” I’d like to see it mentioned at the beginning of that argument. In class you explained that to me very well, it could even make an interesting post later, but just one sentence in this could clear that up.
Your explanation of the styles and the fighters is very clear, and really helped me to picture how the sport works. Your passion for the sport really comes through here and lends authority to your voice and writing style. In this post I also thought that the way you divide up the sections of information and the pace were very appropriate. The statistics certainly back up your point of view here which is made clear.
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