The Growing African American Influence In MMA

Mike Chiappetta has a great article up on ESPN.com

http://sports.espn.go.com/extra/mma/news/story?id=3928949

Here are several key points of the article:

Before he ever stepped foot inside a gym to train in the sport in which he would become a champion, Rashad Evans was just a fan watching on TV. And in his upstate New York hometown, that made Evans a rarity: a black fan of mixed martial arts.

"For the most part, I was watching it with my white buddies," he said.

 Evans has since become part of a growing influence of blacks on the sport. In December, he became the fifth black fighter to capture a UFC championship (Maurice Smith, Kevin Randleman, Carlos Newton and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson are the others) when he scored a third-round TKO against Forrest Griffin, and he hopes to use his title reign to draw more African-Americans to the sport.

For those who would like to see more racial diversity in MMA, the trend is encouraging. Along with Evans and Jackson, there are a host of other UFC contenders and prospects, including welterweights Anthony Johnson and Josh Koscheck and light heavyweight Jon Jones. In other leagues, there is unbeaten heavyweight Brett Rogers, light heavyweight Muhammed Lawal and welterweight Jay Hieron.

 Most of today's black stars didn't have many African-American fighters to look up to when they started out in the sport. That's no longer the case.

 "Any positive faces we can put out there is a good thing," said Johnson, who at 6-foot-2 is considered a top prospect in the 170-pound division. "Black men get stereotyped as thugs and drug dealers, and that's not what we're about. We're good people that want to be something in life. I'm proud we have guys like Rashad out there doing their thing and making something of themselves, so the young guys have someone positive to look at."

 If Evans and Jackson meet, it would be a historic event: the first time in UFC history that two black fighters square off in a title match. Johnson believes such a showcase would cause many to take notice.

 "It can show a lot of kids that they can be something, no matter what anyone says about them," he said. "It's going to open some doors, and kids will want to follow in their footsteps. They'll see that dreams can come true, and for the right reasons."

 The trend likely was helped by a pair of other factors: the unlikely rise of Kimbo Slice, who was the face of the EliteXC promotion when it aired on CBS, and the series "Iron Ring," which was a surprise hit for the Black Entertainment Television channel in 2008. Although neither Slice nor "Iron Ring" was embraced by the hard-core MMA community, it did introduce the sport to a demographic that rarely was specifically targeted. (A BET spokesperson said no decision has been made about whether a second season of the show will air.)

 All of which means that around the country, young black fans aren't alone when rooting for their favorite MMA fighters, as Evans was years ago.

 "I knew back then black fans would come on board," Evans said. "They didn't know anything about it, and they didn't want to spend money for the pay-per-views not knowing what they'd get. But once they got a taste, I knew black fans, white fans and fans of all colors … everyone was going to love it."

It's kind of funny because I was just talking about this on another post. Evans vs. Jackson would be great for the sport. Nothing against Jardine but I really hope Rampage comes out on top so we can have this matchup. It's a very interesting read. Hit the link to read the full article.