Check this from the Baltimore Sun's Bill Ordine:

I gained a new appreciation for mixed martial arts watching it from a distance of 50 feet.  There is a very intriguing technical aspect to it as punchers try to stay on their feet and ground fighters try to wrestle them to the ground and exert more subtle violence on their opponent.  Such a fight was between middleweight puncher Patrick Cote and all-arounder Ricardo Almeida.  Almeida began the fight by literally jumping into the arms of Cote and trying to drag him to the canvas.  He was successful and easily won the first round.  But Cote managed to stay upright through most of the next two rounds and his obvious aggression forced the judges to award him the next two rounds, and Cote ultimately won on a split decision.  It was all strategy and tactics.  Almost cerebral. 

The naive innocence is really kind of cute. Its gratifying to see him appreciating the strategy of the old-school style striker vs grappler match -- state of the art MMA for 1997 but I know I was gripped the first few times I saw that dynamic play out.  Now that Bill has grasped that strategic aspect of MMA, maybe he'll be a little closer to appreciating the strategic elements of a full-on war between two well-rounded fighters.