Well, I don’t need to tell you that as a person who said MMA host Mauro Ranallo, “It’s higher degrees than a thermometer,” they ask me all the time, “What the hell are you doing fighting in the cage?”
Then the next statement is: “It seems so violent. So barbaric!”
This statement and line of questions occurred so frequently that I really had to sit back and ask myself … “Is MMA Barbaric?”
I didn’t really bother to have a discussion about violence because let’s face it …
Hockey is violent …
Soccer is violent …
Rugby is violent …
Boxing is violent …
Judo is violent …
By definition, many sports are VIOLENT. Hell, war is VIOLENT.
Now there are varying degrees of violence, but all are violent or have a propensity for violence at some point due to the nature of the sport.
But the question is … “Is MMA or cage fighting barbaric?”
Well, if you do a quick search on the Internet, you will read how former US presidential candidate and Senator John McCain call the sport “barbaric” and similar to “human cockfighting”.
You will even read how one of the sports stars and practitioners, Chael Sonnen, calls the sport of mixed martial arts “barbaric.”
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I know right now you’re saying to yourself, “So what!?!?” But this is what WHAT!
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By definition, the word barbarian means, according to Webster:
1
a: of, relative or characteristic of barbarians
b: possessor or characteristic of a cultural level more complex than primitive savagery but less sophisticated than advanced civilization
2
a: marked by a lack of moderation: wild
b: have a strange, primitive, or unsophisticated quality
Now, by definition, MMA is NOT barbaric!
MMA IS VIOLENT.
MMA IS DANGEROUS.
BUT IS IT BARBARIAN?
NO!
Is there an ELEMENT or a hint of barbarism in it? YES! (but that IS only due to the lack of training of the practitioner if there is such a lack of experience and understanding) …
BUT BY DEFINITION, it is NOT barbaric !!!
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Objective Dr. Ferguson, How
Can you say that?!?!
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- Well, in the same way that Jimmie Johnson from NASCAR can tell you that driving at 180 miles per hour is the norm, while for some people it is extremely dangerous and stupid to drive a car that fast knowing that an accident at such speeds can cause death. .
- Well, the same way I can watch a soccer game and see someone get hit and knock them unconscious and stick my right hand in the bowl of chips and dunk, hit my boy with my left hand and say, “that’s it. part of the sport. Don’t run through the middle next time in a zone defense. Sit in the zone! “
- Well, in the same way I can watch 12 rounds of boxing in anticipation of someone receiving a brain trauma. (Uhhhh, because we understand that he is knocked out Trauma to the brain !!!!! It is not his head, HIS BRAIN FREAKING !!!
And it is not BARBARIC for those with a trained eye.
Just as war is not barbaric.
Because the sport of Mixed Martial Arts is VERY VERY COMPLEX.
As is the sport of soccer. How is war, if you care about studying military science as I do and have done it because war is an ART (please look at Sun Tzu if you don’t believe me).
It is more complex than the primitive and sophisticated savagery as advanced as civilization. You CANNOT win or be successful or play this sport if you are not in moderation. And in fact, this sport INVOKES moderation in its practitioners.
And the QUALITY of sophistication is only available to the naked eye to the trained eye..
If you were watching the game of chess and you didn’t know how to play. He would not know if the practitioners’ moves were “sophisticated” or not, but because he is familiar with the game of “chess”, he would assume a high level of sophistication.
Well, for those who are NOT familiar with MMA, they assume that there is not a high level of sophistication with the sport and they couldn’t be further from the truth. The science of MMA is as “sweet” as boxing and although the sport is violent by nature, as boxing is, it is VERY FAR from being barbaric.
And those who call him a barbarian are one of two things:
(1) One, who is not familiar with the definition or the term barbarian, or
(2) Two, not qualified to speak about the sport with any hint or sense of authority.
Having an opinion is one thing … HAVING AN INFORMED OPINION is another.
To understand mixed martial arts you have to study it. YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO IT to understand it. But to understand it, you MUST study it. You cannot look at it for a split second and decide on a sport to which you bring an inherent or learned bias to its observation. You cannot do that. You also can’t speak to a group of people who believe your thesis statement without quality speech. That is stupid and ignorant.
Mixed martial arts is definitely a sophisticated sport.
I do. And I’m not an academic lazy.
Rosi Sexton does it and she has a PhD in Mathematics and honestly, Rosi is one of my heroes in sports and it is something that I admire and really admire.
I think she’s the FIRST person to fight with a Ph.D. and I think I’m the first man, in terms of fights on television.
And she is SUPER SUPER smart because she has her son practicing judo 🙂
UFC Jeff Monson does it and has a Master’s Degree in Psychology.
Veteran MMA fighter Dustin Denes did it and also has a master’s degree in psychology.
Former UFC Champion Rich Franklin has a Master’s Degree in Education.
You see, for your sport to be barbaric, barbarians must practice it !!!
That is why, as practitioners and enthusiasts of mixed martial arts, we DO NOT USE the term “cage fighting”. We use the term “Mixed Martial Artist”. Because as a student of the “Fine Arts” from which the “Martial Arts” come, you cannot be BARBARIC in the attempt to acquire mastery.
As violent as the art of war perhaps … STILL AN ART!!
Trust me, I’m a doctor!”
