Have you ever bumped into someone who still thinks of MMA as human cockfighting and not a real sport.
I have bumped into someone like that recently.
It is important to me to change their opinion of the sport but I'm not optimistic of it. I think for most people once they have made up their mind it's difficult to change it.
Anyone have experience of this?
My wife. Then she watched TUF, and got into the personalities and cute dudes. Now she knows a lot of the fighters names. She knows all the reasons why I dislike JJ LOL 
Lanceness021 - Have you ever bumped into someone who still thinks of MMA as human cockfighting and not a real sport.Yup...
I have bumped into someone like that recently.
It is important to me to change their opinion of the sport but I'm not optimistic of it. I think for most people once they have made up their mind it's difficult to change it.
Anyone have experience of this?
It was a guy named John McCain.
I think I changed his mind
Not anyone who thinks like that, but I did change my brothers opinion about the sport.
He is a huge pro wrestling fan, so when he sees a real fight on the ground his ADD kicks in and moves to something else.
After 4 years of seeing me watch it he finally sat through an entire UFC event. Very impressive feat since his attention span is really short, we do have to watch it without any distractions or he is off to the next thing.
Now he is reminding me of when fights are coming up, and who is head lining. It is awesome to finally have someone to watch MMA with, not just someone to talk about it.
To me this is better then converting someone who has a negative opinion. I converted someone who has never had an interest in talking about MMA, negative or positive, he simply didn't care. Also it gives me someone to yell at the tv with.
His favorites are, if a bit striking heavy.
1.Frankie Edgar
2.Robbie Lawler(was Hendricks before their first fight)
3.Mark Hunt
4.Bas Rutten
No but McGregor has all my friends pretending they're lifelong fans. 
My brother brought a VHS tape in years ago, I think it was an early UFC and within minutes my dad told him to switch it off due to the barbaric nature of it. About a year ago I was at my dad's and put it on, he wasn't impressed but watched the event with me. Nowadays he records all the events and watches them the next day.
Like politics and religion......nope.
Had a guy at work that said he hated it, so I put him in a triangle till he loved it.
A friend from high school was luke warm on mma until I took him to a bar to watch UFC 33. He was ice cold after that disaster.
Because I've been very fortunate, I get to work with a lot of elite business people and I have had conversations with a few of them about martial arts and I think I've given them new perspectives on it. I haven't turned any of them into hardcore MMA fans because a lot of people have trouble getting over the visuals of a guy taking too many shots when down or people getting stiffened up after a punch, but I think they understand what I see in it now.
I always tell them the reason I love MMA and have spent so much of my life training is because MMA, like no other sport I know, showcases the indomitable human spirit. I've never known stronger people mentally than some of the MMA elites I know.
For me, it's not about the combat as much as it's about the puzzle. I love seeing a great fight, but what I love about it is that these guys can push through almost anything and it amazes me. The courage and fortitude MMA fighters display is something special. It's inspiring.
I try to compare challenges in my life to situations in martial arts all the time and my successes and failures in martial arts teach me a lot about life outside the gym. I don't drone on about it to people, but I owe a significant amount of my success to excelling in martial arts.
I think every person I've spoken to about MMA, whether they think it's barbaric or not, can appreciate my point of view and they take away something from it. That's my hope.
I have. Several times actually. I'm very enthusiastic when I watch the fights and have no problem explaining the history or implications. Sometimes I'll pull guard on somebody that's uncertain and run armbar drills on them. I squeeze really hard to show off the dangerousness of the situation. One time I converted somebody when I was running around a buffalo wild wings doing chuck's celebration and screaming "it's all over!!!" But what I find absolutely never fails is showing off MMA fashion. Everyone loves skulls and gothic lettering and if watching MMA is an excuse to wear it, eventually they come around to the actual fighting.
yeah i've changed people's minds. loads of them. i used to post at this site, mma site, people falling over themselves to learn more and make a contribution. i felt at home there.
but as i posted more, i began to realise a few of the regular posters were starting to feel they had had enough. oh fuck off, basically everyone started to get bored of mma and they don't post any more.
you brought it up, asshole.
Bensongavemebluewaffles - Had a guy at work that said he hated it, so I put him in a triangle till he loved it.
Lol, your friend might be gay