An underlying current of racism and prejudice in MMA fandom?

UFC 114 did so well because of a gigantic cross over from black and/or boxing fans who had their interest peaked that normally wouldn’t buy an MMA event. It wasn’t all whiteys buying that card for sure. I think Kevin Iole or Dave Melzer wrote about that as well. Is it an aberration? I guess time will tell. I think the racial overtones of the fight kind of hyped it as well, with Rashad making all those racially charged comments toward Rampage. SC, do you agree with any of this?

And that leads us to where we are today. Many feel that the popularity of MMA (which doesn’t have a large base to fall back on) will began to wane as minority fighters (and I don’t mean Brazilians unless you’re talking Anderson Silva Black Brazilian) began to take the top spots. Many of the fans who became big MMA followers will lose interest as it becomes just like boxing, just like the NBA and majority of the NFL and MLB and loses it’s “specialness”. Again, I don’t know if I agree or disagree with that.

MMA is too world wide and too popular among athletes of all races to become like boxing used to be, and like the NBA is now. I have no doubts MMA will be more diverse as time goes on, but I don’t believe MMA will ever be dominated by a single race as this statement seems to imply. The socio-economic factors that cause various races, ethnic groups or cultural groups to dominate different sports don’t apply to MMA. White’s from all over the world dominate in Hockey because it’s a Northern sport popular mostly among white athletes in mostly white countries. There are so many great Canadian players because Hockey is part of the Canadian identity. Basketball is a part of the African American identity, like boxing is/was. And like it used to be for poor Irish and Italian Americans. The best soccer players come from all over because soccer is popular all over. The best bullriders come from rural communities because it’s popular there.

And I never really saw MMA as a “white sport” though at all. Maybe it’s because I fell inlove with MMA through Pride, or maybe it’s because it’s never been a white sport in the freakin’ first place. Fighting is universal, like the bald man says.

but the same is true for NFL fans when it comes to either minority quarterbacks or even going the other way, caucasian running backs and wide receivers, and even NBA fans when discussing if white men can jump. I think it’s human nature overall and not something MMA has an acute problem with. But then again, I didn’t ride in on Chuck Liddell’s Mohawk either and don’t associate with “casuals”, whoever they are. Also, I am a white person so racism directed at non-whites doesn’t register as much as it might for someone else.

SC, just curious on how you stand on this, considering in combat sports there is often a nationalistic element(especially boxing) are whites allowed to root for whites based on skin color alone? Is it wrong for a white guy to root for Chael Sonnen against Anderson simply because he is white, in the same mode a Mexican fight fan might root for Cain Velasquez or an African American might pull for Rampage or a Japanese person might root for Yushin Okami or a Brazilian might root for a Brazilian? I am not advocating any position or trying to prove any points, I am simply asking a question.

I’ve always thought it was strange for white people to cheer for white fighters. I mean, I get why Mexicans cheer for Cain and blacks cheer for Rampage. But white people? You guys rule the world. Do you really have a chip on your shoulder, STILL?

(This doesn’t apply to lower class whites. I get why it matters to a white dude living in a trailer and working at Walmart. But your average middle class white guy? What the fuck do you care if a white fighter is champion?)

Who Cares? 78% percent of this country is made up of whites with Latinos and blacks making up for the majority of the rest.

The odds are stacked in favor of the white race when it comes to many things in this great country of ours (ours= all races, just to clarify). Get over it or have more children to even out the numbers. The latinos have already passed the up the black population, so I think it would behoove you to stop writing about racism and start procreating. You’re losing the race!!!

I’ll wait to see what specific quotes from your article people disagree w pretty sound if you ask me

A former politician, his act might not fly in the real world, but in the realm of pro wrestling MMA, it seems to be working thus far.

pro wrestling MMA

You keep using “YSWSCM (Young Straight White Single Christian Men).” What does Christian have to do with anything? I’m not Christian, but the rest of it would apply to me. In my experience, the vast majority of black people in this country are Christian, so why does that even matter?

I was watching the Liddell/Evans fight with a black friend. When Liddell got KO’d, he was really sad and dejected. He loves Chuck and hates Rashad. Meanwhile, there were some black people there who were cheering. When Machida KO’d Rashad, my friend was as happy as could be. Point being, race had nothing to do with any of this. Liddell is simply a more likable guy and is the more exciting fighter.

I was in the building that night too. It got so eerily quiet. I looked at Dave Meltzer from Yahoo and we both just knew it had the feel of an ugly building. It was the only UFC show I ever attended where I was afraid of a riot. Or people throwing stuff at the cage – since I was right in front of it.

Mike Tyson is black as far as I know. He made everyone care about boxing in the 80s and 90s, regardless of race. Nobody as exciting as him has come along since.

There hasn’t really been an American White boxer of substance in some time.

Well…that’s simply not true.

An underlying current of racism and prejudice in MMA fandom society?

And the answer is obviously yes. MMA fans are a segment of society, so the math would have it that a certain percentage are racist or nationalist or don’t like certain religion or religion at all or overweight people, etc…

While many would like us to think that this doesn’t exist, or it is a a fringe problem, I would say they are full of it. I see it everyday. Not directed at my honky self, but I do see it. Much of the time, it is more ignorance than hatred, but it doe exist. and it isn’t all white vs black.

Now I’m not saying that Silverstar or Sonnen or any one person is “racist”, but in the very least, they are irresponsible and that creates an opening for the hatred to find its way.

Imo, racism exists to a big extent, it is just doing a better job of disguising itself and not parading around in white hoods. Hopefully we as a world can continue to strive for equality, but it will take a long time.

And, like it or not, I feel very sure, that if every fighter in the UFC was non-white, the white veiwership would decrease.

I was gonna do a piece about this but i didn’t because i’m not American so i don’t really know how the atmosphere is at events etc. To me, Sonnen is plain racist, or at least he portrays himself as one. The fact that he can get away with some of the stuff he says is absolutely baffling to me.

And that leads us to where we are today. Many feel that the popularity of MMA (which doesn’t have a large base to fall back on) will began to wane as minority fighters (and I don’t mean Brazilians unless you’re talking Anderson Silva Black Brazilian) began to take the top spots.

This, combined with your “asians are race neutral” stance pretty well rules out by far the largest segments of non-whites. I have neither the time nor the inclination to do so, but I strongly suspect that whites are a minority if you look at the racial breakdown of the top-10 or top-25 fighters across all weight classes.

Don’t misunderstand, I don’t believe for a moment that racism is dead, here or anywhere else, although overt racism in the US is at least confined for the most part to the underclasses, white and otherwise.