Why wrestling is going to ruin MMA

I have seen a few articles and posts trying to detail why wrestling will ruin our great sport. Not just will ruin but has ruined some recent fights. Now, in general these folks have been dismissed and had their points and objections laughed at or ignored out of hand. I'm here to change that and up the ante. I'm going one further. Wrestling isn't just ruining the sport now and in the future, oh no. Wrestling has been ruining the sport from nearly it's inception (not the weird dream with collapsible buildings, either.)

I'm going to provide a list of wrestlers in MMA, past and present, in an effort to finally get through to the MMA bourgeoisie. Convincing them to stop embracing these men who have only one clear goal. To make real fight fans cry salty tears.

Mark Coleman: Coleman might not have been the first wrestler in MMA, but he was for sure patient zero as far as creating the trend of wrestlers ruining the sport. Up until Mark, it looked like BJJ was king. Remember that? It was a time when the sport was growing to all ends of the earth. Positive media attention came in waves to the sport, people couldn't get enough of unlimited time grappling matches. In a matter of a few short years it was certain MMA would overtake Football as the world sport. You couldn't walk down the street without hearing someone mention a Gracie. Then Mark Coleman showed up. Brutally headbutting his way to short stoppage wins. Actually punching people while on top of them. It was madness. Barbarism in contemporary form, single-handedly sending the sport into the dark ages.

Mark Kerr: The Smashing Machine took what Coleman started and ran amuck. Sure, he was aggressive and a freakish athlete of speed and power but that stuff is easy to come by. We should just ignore that. We need to focus on how he didn't allow real martial artists to shine. It got so bad that people just ran out the ring and through the ropes to get away from him. People will tell you it was because he was so scary when, in reality, they just didn't want to cuddle. 

Kazushi Sakuraba: Kazushi is a bit different from our first defendants as he comes from a pro-wrestling background instead of amateur, which is worse really. Every MMA fan knows pro-wrestling is evil. Once we accept that fact (hurry up and just accept it)...(NOW)...(thank you, it's like pulling teeth with you people) Sakuraba is clearly the devil. Saku is, for my money, the most heinous of our offenders. It wasn't bad enough for him to come in and wrestle away our hopes and dreams like the previous men. He made it his goal to destroy the beautiful Gracie legacy. Every castle we built for the kingdom of BJJ he unceremoniously desecrated. Boo this man.

Chuck Liddell: I know what you're thinking, "Chuck is a striker, not a wrestler!". Well let me tell you, that's just how insidious wrestling has become in MMA. The Iceman was a D1 wrestler, only this menace decided to use his wrestling to stand up and knock people out. Who wants to see that? We watch MMA to see people fight, not just knock people out. When does that get fun? Don't get me wrong, it's perfectly fine to knock someone out but you should have to actually fight with them first. Chuck was always lazy and just did it the easy way. Wrestlers...

Brock Lesnar: Thus far Brock is likely the pinnacle of wrestlers destroying the sport. Not only does he have an amazing amateur wrestling background but he also sold his soul to the Sakuraba and became a pro-wrestler as well. That's right, Brock Lesnar is a wrestling double whammy of horror. To make matters worse he has seemingly convinced the majority of fans that he is the best, but lets take a closer look. Like Kerr, take away his size, speed, strength and overall athleticism. Once those are gone he doesn't have much and frankly, anyone could gain those attributes. It's nothing special. Apparently the greatest trick the devil has played is convincing people Brock is worth watching, since he brings in an infinity amount of PPV buys. And for what? To see some run of the mill behemoth bludgeon people instead of fighting them.

Starman: This is really just a look to the future. After Brock there is sure to be more wrestlers, amateur and pro alike, coming into MMA to destroy it. Let us endeavor to not let this happen. Consider, do we really want Star Man in MMA? If we don't speak up now he'll be here soon, flying forearms for all of us.