UFC 109 as Viewed by an Outsider

And amusing, but really, whatever it takes, I say. I recall introducing a buddy of mine to MMA a few months back during the Pierre / Penn II fight. All he’d seen of MMA before was the early UFC days when there were no rules. He’d never bothered to watch a modern day MMA event because of the stereotypes. One day he figured if I was so interested in it, it must be worth a try. After watching that UFC, he told me all his preconcieved notions about MMA were shattered. That was a good day.

That hardly seems like rhetoric to me.

as his perspective of what he was watchin at that time.. he was still watching the undercards & said himself he wasnt fully aware of all the rules. Thats how the common “outsider” views things.. but his perseption evolved as the night went on.

I mean, people still get pissed and throw around the “TUF Noob” thing like it makes any sense. And let’s not forget that the TUF 1 finale was 5 damn years ago. But then again everyone always has to pretend they’ve been following MMA since UFC 1. Which, sure, some people have. But if was the kind of numbers that claim they were following the sport then this sport has always been huge.

Now I must rec you…

Comments like this and people like you are reasons why I enjoy coming to this site so much.

that in the grand scheme of things, people are still “getting on on the ground floor” even today. The people who become MMA fans today are still “foundational” fans. They’re the building blocks of the sport that still in it’s relative infancy. It takes very little to learn the history of MMA today. Learning the history of boxing or baseball? A monumental endeavor. A fan today can easily learn as much about the sport as someone who’d been watching since day 1 without too much time investment. You are quite right, though. The community needs to embrace these sorts of people, these converts. We need to make them part of our community, not get into a “how long have I been watching” dick measuring contest. In other words, be a friendly face, not a douchebag. It wasn’t that long ago really that we had just watched our first fight, no matter who we are. So we should try harder to make sure that they watch their second one, just like we did. We’ll all be better for it.

Try joining a programming board to get help with your c++ project.

I don’t understand why anyone would take it so literally anyway. He was alluding to the barbaric misconceptions that a nonfan would have if he was a sports traditionalist. The article is great. Our sports fanbase just grew by one. Looks like a victory for mma to me.

Maybe complaining is something innate with MMA fans? I dunno, but I thought his write-up was fantastic. This is the kind of exposure and appeal MMA needs.

Agreed that this the best article of it’s kind I’ve ever read, and I’ve already e-mailed it to 25+ “on the fence” types I am preaching to on a daily basis.

I have no complaint relating to the primary issue discussed in this thread. However,

1 – Waaay off on Randy’s pay, which would not have been that hard to research.

2 – More importantly, did Mr. Sharp compare Rob Emerson’s mother watching her son compete in MMA to watching a actual dog fight?

It’s late and I’ve been shoveling snow all day, so perhaps I misread that part. If not, I have to go vomit. I’m sorry, but that’s inexcusable.

/kudos to Brent for posting, thanks!

Not if he was wearing an Obama shirt!

The UFC needs to co-venture with the BCS! That way, every fight really is a possible playoff fight. And we have a delightful committee to decide our championship fights.

many have. but if you’re talking about my comment, I wasn’t implying that people shouldn’t mention it, just that some people try to use it as a reason to why their arguments should have more merits than someone else’s for the simple fact that they have been following the sport longer, which I think is BS most of the times. But this is not intended to you :p