One of the byproducts of MMA’s ascent into the consciousness of the casual sports fan is the awakening of the dreaded monster known as “The Mainstream Media.” While guys such as ESPN’s Jim Rome present an open, balanced forum for MMA coverage (both good and bad), there always seems to be some angry (and usually old) sportswriter who just doesn’t get it—the haters will always hate. Here are three of the dumbest things the media has said about MMA.
DAVE BEGEL
MILWAUKEE DAILY MAGAZINE
JUNE 9, 2009
“This thing is proving to be very popular among men between the ages of 18 and 49. That doesn’t give me much confidence in our future.This sport was an obvious outgrowth of the chaos and relative civility of boxing. And I’m worried that the logical outgrowth from MMA is to put a fighter in a ring with a lion, a tiger, or a pit viper.”
JACKASS METER:
UFC 142: Couture v. Pit Viper. Can you feel the excitement? One man has the advantage in game-planning and dirty boxing. On the other hand, the pit viper has shown great elusiveness and has a very impressive stand-up game. My prediction? Pit viper via coma.
MIKE FREEMAN
CBSSPORTS.COM
MAY 2, 2007
“Mixed martial arts will never be as good as boxing on its worst day. Many of the ultimates are nothing but thugs and ruffians. All that league has done is take a few former nightclub bouncers, knuckle crackers, and parolees, put on some fancy TV graphics and told them, ‘Kick the other guy in the nuts.’”
JACKASS METER:
It’s like Freeman’s editor just said, “Forget about things like researching the collegiate wrestling champions and world-class athletes in the sport. Just make up a bunch of stuff and give us some journalism worthy of a message board.” He might as well riddle his column with emoticons.
BRYAN BURWELL
NBCSPORTS.COM
JUNE 4, 2008
“All I want is for someone to realize what a distasteful freak show mixed martial arts is in these bastardized forms. What I want is for sane folks to slow down this gradual slide into a post-Apocalyptic haze where the absolute worst elements of human nature are sanctioned and celebrated …What I want is for us to stop glorifying the most deviant aspects of our own personalities, the ones where pitbulls, roosters, and human beings can be gored, gouged, and brutalized for sport, and where intelligence is a fault and the dumbing down of our society is considered a point of pride.”
JACKASS METER:
I’m pretty sure Burwell typed that last paragraph on his typewriter while talking to some youngsters about how he used to walk to school in three feet of snow, uphill both ways, while fighting the Germans.
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