After hearing some post fight analysis of the Fedor/Rogers fight that sent my already subterrainian opinion of the "casual fan" even lower, something hit me. This actually makes them less contemptable of a bunch when you re-examine their sentiments through this lens.
MMA is actually overall a very difficult sport to understand and follow.
Surely some fights are an exception. Kimbo/Tank can be appreciated by just about anyone whos bored and is flipping around for something to hold their 4 minute attention span.
But Machida/Shogun, Nogueira/Barnett, or an old time masterpiece like Sakuraba/Fig F'ing Newton cannot.
And its not because of any inherant flaw in the casual viewer. Its because they literally wont know what they are watching. They wont understand whats going on, why the athletes are making the decisions they are or are employing the strategies and tactics they are, when they are doing so.
It will quickly become frustrating because they arent getting what they expect from having witnessed movie fight seens, or seen a street fight in person. They are mostly looking for a dramatic, telegraphed motion that ends in someone being hurt.
Going down a layer deeper, few of these fans have any real backround in any of the main components of MMA. They dont know the limitations or requirements of throwing 20 kicks a round. Or bodylocking someone and squeezing as hard as you can. This makes them quick to criticize athletes for not doing what seems obvious to them as a viewer at home.
Theyre never tried to calmly escape a locked in triangle while exhausted. Theyve never had to hit a double on a guy whos waiting to sit down on a big shot as soon as you lower your head.
Even more simply: Theyve never had a stranger come and get them back stage to order them into a cage where someone is waiting to try and hurt them in front of a 1000 people.
And not that you have to have experienced those things first-hand, but you must at least be able to imagine or understand the impact those factors have.
"Why doesnt he just choke him!?" is a favorite that I hear often when watching with people outside my usual circle.
Like a battered wife, I still will keep coming back for more. Try to explain to them, or even volunteer to get down on the floor and act it out for them to experience.
But it makes no difference. After all, they should be up on the feet throwing 10 hit power punch combos anyway.
Far worse however than the shallow interests and expectations are the laughable post-fight critiques offered. Accusations of "exposed", "ducking" etc are so prevalent that youd think these fans are posting from a room with padded walls.
Wrap your minds around this for a moment:
When in 2005 we were seeing threads that Joe Riggs could beat Fedor, they were serious. There were people out there who thought that. They took in the observable data and came to that conclusion.
When you see people now who claim that Adrei Arlovski has a "shit chin" because he's been knocked out by Rizzo, Sylvia, Fedor, and Rogers, realize that they think they have a great point.
And theyre going to bestow this wisdom on us daily.
Not because theyre bad people or lacking in character.
But because they simply do not know any better.
A very distrurbing aspect of it, imo is the common trend of simply regurgitating information youve been fed and disguising it as genuine insight.
A friend last night told me "Josh Barnett ruined affliction by testing positive for steroids.....he sucks!"
I then asked him to name a single opponent Josh Barnett has ever faced in his entire career. He could not.
This is a guy whos been watching MMA since TUF1 and reads all the magazines. He's not a bad guy at all.
But he in no way understands or grasps the sport. He cares more about watching a vide blog and hearing gossip or smack talk than about discussing how Henderson's style matches up against Marquadt.
He's very representative of the average new "casual fan"
Deep down it doesnt matter what "it" is as long as its currently popular, is marketed as cool and gives you something you feel is relevant and fun to talk about. The more extreme of an opinion you express, the more other know-nothings think youve got your finger to the pulse.
I can and do talk MMA with anyone. Ill listen to even the most outrageous opinion if you know what youre talking about. Doesnt matter if I agree or not.
But its not hard to expose someone who doesnt. Just like if I tried to run my mouth about Kentucky basketball. Having no knowledge of it, Id be run off a forum or embarassed at a bar in short order.
There are legitimate differences of opinion. Rutten/Randleman is still argued to this day with hardcore fans split routinely about who really one.
"Bustamante would have tapped Erikson if the fight just kept going until a finish" is a legit opinion that many will disagree with.
"Fedor is overrated" is not.
Saying that is like saying "water sucks as a solvent"
BTW, you dont stop being a "noob" by watching MMA for a long time or buying a blue name.
You stop when you get some F'ing sense. Whether that takes 2 months or 10 years.
HELWIG just regained 1/2 guard and got an underhook on the correct while the correct was mounted and throwing elbows. But nobody watching noticed.
tjmitch - HELWIG just regained 1/2 guard and got an underhook on the correct while the correct was mounted and throwing elbows. But nobody watching noticed.
Or understood what he was doing.
Yeah, the hardcore sports fan who has ESPN on 24/7 in the background will try to drop some stats and analysis anytime MMA is in the mainstream. I'll agree that it's pretty annoying just because they try to sound like an expert through the 2 or 3 things they know about a fighter.
When I watched the World Series, I didn't say shit while the rest my friends were talking stats and strategy about pitchers.
I don't follow baseball enough to a valid opinion and didn't want to sound like a TUF SHAQ NOOB!
HELWIG - "They're ignorant"
FRAT version for all the noobs
Lucas Maximus -well said helwig and luke!HELWIG - "They're ignorant"
FRAT version for all the noobs
TTT
"Even more simply: Theyve never had a stranger come and get them back stage to order them into a cage where someone is waiting to try and hurt them in front of a 1000 people"
+1
Being in a fight in front of loads of people gives you a true appreciation for what these guys do.
Applauds HELWIG
The worst thing I hear more often than I can stand is "That grappling move wouldn't work, All you gotta do is [Insert novel escape here]"
Fantastic post! Even if it did make me realize I'm more of a noob then I sometimes think I am...
"Being in a fight in front of loads of people gives you a true appreciation for what these guys do."
As well as why sometimes guys cant make something happen.
ttt
ttt