MMA's learning curve
The sport of MMA could benefit by making a more concerted effort to teach the fundamentals and nuances of the sport to the casual observer.
Everyone thinks that they understand boxing. Though after spending the last several years working closely with 2002 boxing 'Trainer of the Year' and former 2-time world champion Buddy McGirt, I have learned that I used to and most people still truly understand very little about boxing. Believe me, if most people do not understand the subtleties of boxing, then MMA is way over their heads...a triangle choke?...what's that?
This fact recently became very evident to me when I had the good fortune of watching a live MMA show with a good friend and boxing officianado, music producer Chris 'Gotti' Lorenzo. Chris has a long and deep history with boxing but is a newbie when it comes to MMA. He began the night skeptical to say the least.
Chris was immediately impressed with the size of the crowd at a small regional show. He also didn't expect the crowd to be so enthusiastic for no-name fighters. In the boxing world, inexperienced fighters in 4-round fights are only seen by the fighter's manager and loved ones...no one else cares.
With his boxing background he understood the striking (though he saw a lot of technical flaws) but once the fight went to the ground he was lost. I did my best to explain the differences between ground and pound and the jiu jitsu submission game.
The card had 10 fights and none of them went to a decision. That's the beauty of MMA vs. boxing. What inexperienced MMA fighters lack in skill set they make up in aggression. Inexperienced boxers seek out mismatches to build their records or use avoidance in the ring.
By the end of the night, the combination of in the ring action, crowd energy and tutoring combined for a good time. I don't know if MMA has captured another die hard fan just yet but I'd bet he is more than willing to go to another live show.
After this experience, I was struck with the need for MMA to do more teaching in order to better promote itself to mainstream America.
In MMA, a casual viewer with a bit of explanation is soon a fan.
Shout out to UFC fighter Dale Hartt (the dude who inadvertently broke Corey Hill's leg). Dale was at the MMA Explosion show and he's good people.
Everyone thinks that they understand boxing. Though after spending the last several years working closely with 2002 boxing 'Trainer of the Year' and former 2-time world champion Buddy McGirt, I have learned that I used to and most people still truly understand very little about boxing. Believe me, if most people do not understand the subtleties of boxing, then MMA is way over their heads...a triangle choke?...what's that?
This fact recently became very evident to me when I had the good fortune of watching a live MMA show with a good friend and boxing officianado, music producer Chris 'Gotti' Lorenzo. Chris has a long and deep history with boxing but is a newbie when it comes to MMA. He began the night skeptical to say the least.
Chris was immediately impressed with the size of the crowd at a small regional show. He also didn't expect the crowd to be so enthusiastic for no-name fighters. In the boxing world, inexperienced fighters in 4-round fights are only seen by the fighter's manager and loved ones...no one else cares.
With his boxing background he understood the striking (though he saw a lot of technical flaws) but once the fight went to the ground he was lost. I did my best to explain the differences between ground and pound and the jiu jitsu submission game.
The card had 10 fights and none of them went to a decision. That's the beauty of MMA vs. boxing. What inexperienced MMA fighters lack in skill set they make up in aggression. Inexperienced boxers seek out mismatches to build their records or use avoidance in the ring.
By the end of the night, the combination of in the ring action, crowd energy and tutoring combined for a good time. I don't know if MMA has captured another die hard fan just yet but I'd bet he is more than willing to go to another live show.
After this experience, I was struck with the need for MMA to do more teaching in order to better promote itself to mainstream America.
In MMA, a casual viewer with a bit of explanation is soon a fan.
Shout out to UFC fighter Dale Hartt (the dude who inadvertently broke Corey Hill's leg). Dale was at the MMA Explosion show and he's good people.
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