Jake Rossen underscores a tremendous problem:
Let’s face facts: The vast majority of promoters and fans in this industry want to see a mediocre kickboxing match with four-ounce gloves. The stand-up rules, the restarts, the round durations, the illegal blows (no knees on the ground) all work to discourage ground fighting.
This is a business, and business dictates that extended stretches of patty cake inside someone’s guard is box office death. It’s why you saw Art Davie screaming for John McCarthy to stand up Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock at UFC V, why Liddell claims John Perretti told him to keep his first fight at UFC 19 standing and avoid the ground if he wanted to be invited back, and why EliteXC is currently mired in a public relations nightmare over what they did or did not say to Petruzelli about taking Slice down.
The fighters have been so ingratiated into this practice that you can have a bout between an amazing wrestler in Sean Sherk and an amazing jiu-jitsu artist in B.J. Penn decided by nearly 25 minutes of striking.
This industry rejects at least 50 percent of its own product. It’s like Hostess trying to get rid of the filling in a Twinkie. Insanity.
Insanity, indeed.
While there is no denying that many MMA fans who appreciate the sport do not extend that appreciation to every facet. And perhaps there is even a ceiling on how much the ground game will ever be appreciated even by the most ardent MMA fanatic. But while some MMA fans will never warm to the ground game, what I've mostly found is that a reluctance towards that portion of MMA is due more to unfamiliarity than revulsion. Over time, most fans grow to enjoy the ground game as they began to understand it's nuances, complexities and applications.
It is absolutely critical that promoters not incentivize fighters to avoid the ground game if for no other reason than the sake of the sport. MMA is still in its nascent stages and should not be forced to hide from itself. In order for more fans to be converted and converted fans to become more appreciative, the long education process of understanding and appreciating the ground game has to take place. An investment should be paid now so the entire sport can reap the dividends later.
The type of MMA that Gary Shaw believes in is not MMA at all. Strangely, it isn't kickboxing either. It's an incomplete portion of the game isolated by those who believe it to be the only redeeming aspect of a much wider, more diverse sport. Shaw's tactic is to trade in what the sport actually is in favor of a truncated version for short term gain. It's of benefit to no one except Shaw himself and should be repudiated at every turn.