Snapshot of the Day: How MMA Appears to the Uninitiated

Saw this one this morning and wasn’t too thrilled, especially after reading the accompanying description by Tycho. But after a deep breath, I just let it roll off my back. We’re just gotta accept that not everyone is going to enjoy MMA, and apparently two of my favorite internet personalities are two of those people. But, hey, cock punch jokes are better than some of the shit Michael Wilbon and co puke up on national television.

worth quoting the text that accompanied the comic.

There was a point at which Gabriel and I decided we would be Mixed Martial Arts enthusiasts for some reason, and I don’t recall exactly why. Fascination with “combat systems” is not out of the ordinary for boys of any age; and speaking personally, any new conceptual space is loaded with jargon, sparkling in rich seams, and fighting is particularly dense in this regard. I have an urge to begin simply listing the radical, mind-expanding lexicon of this space, but I wont. Krav Maga! Okay, that one just slipped out. Glaive-Guisarme! I’d better get a new paragraph going, for real. Gotta lock this shit down.

We rented a slew of videos and prepared ourselves for displays of incredible prowess. I don’t know what we were expecting, exactly, some Wing Chun shit perhaps, but the matches we saw tended to follow a very specific pattern:

1. One dude, let’s call him “He Who Is About To Lose,” tries to rock some Wing Chun shit.
2. The other dude grabs this leg, and proceeds to bend his opponent’s body into a shape we no longer recognize as human.

Reference the comic above for a detailed analysis of the rest of the match. Part of it is almost certainly that we (this is the greater, gamer-encompassing we, but also anyone who watches movies ever) have a somewhat warped idea of what human bodies can tolerate in terms of hit points. Even by those standards, we were not prepared to see how short the distance is from Point A to Point B, where Point A is a human specimen in peak condition and Point B is a wholly sundered being.

Given the prevailing cultural opinion, you would imagine that (given the quantity of videogames I ingest) seeing two people try to castrate each other on television would have no discernible effect, or maybe even soothe me, in some grisly inversion of the supposed natural order. So steeped am I in terrible violence that seeing a man’s vas deferens hauled out of him, like precious copper from some doomed building, should be as gentle as seeing a formation of dandelion seeds sail by – but it isn’t. I can’t actually watch things like this. We pulled up a few videos while we were writing the comic, searching with keywords designed to create maximum amusement, and we saw fit to close the browser. It may be that such “look away moments” are the attraction of the sport, but in my specific case I am happy to look away as a matter of considered policy.

It’s not for everyone, no question. I’m surprised they posted this though as I don’t think I’ve ever read them talk about MMA before so I wonder what sparked the comment and the comic.

Yeah, the text tycho puts up there really adds a couple things, but mostly it shows their perspective as video gamers and nerds. This is not a criticism (I am both), it just shows how it colors their expectations of the sport.

Here’s the link to the post:
Tycho Brahe – The Ball Region

I offered to make some fight recomendations to @cwgabriel on twitter, but he hasn’t responded yet. hehe.

Is one of my favorite comics. Their unbelievably hilarious rants on World of Warcraft are hilarious because they, themselves, were engulfed in its addiction.

I have followed Penny Arcade since their birth, and this just goes along with a topical view of what they thought of something from the get go. I wouldn’t take it personally that they don’t like MMA.

Trying to talk to someone about rap music and all they can talk about is MC Hammer and the Sugar Hill Gang

This is disappointing. You’d think they’d be smart enough to look into it more.

People believing something about a product that it markets itself as.

I have NO idea who these people are.

And based on this exposure I should make a comic and commentary about what mouthbreathers they are.

Kimo and Herring?

normally, and until today, i would have agreed with you, but whilst i was getting ready for my fight in august by doing some no gi grappling, one of the pro boxers (3-0) came over, and jokingly picked up his son, grabbed his ankle with one hand and said, “Alright, I don’t know any grappling, but someone show me how to do a footlock….”

All joking aside, he was aware that a footlock existed…this is a guy with 50 amateur fights, 3 pro boxing bouts to his credit…and he is aware that the ground game exists, then said that he was glad he only had to worry about hands in the ring….

the sport is slowly changing…to people who only see commercials they might think the above, but i genuinely see the attitude changing, even among fighters and trainers…..