FACEBOOK TWITTER RSS APP PODCAST Opinion & Analysis : Staff Columnists HANSEN: Nick Diaz and Robbie Lawler knock it out of the park for MMA, puttiing on a show for mainstream sports reporters

Feb 6, 2010 - 3:52:51 PM

By Bjorn Hansen, MMATorch columnist

On a day that 47 year old former Heisman Trophy winner Hershell Walker attracted extravagant mainstream sports media attention, Nick Diaz and Robbie Lawler embodied two of MMA's most popular facets: brutally concussive conclusions and don't-you-dare-blink-for-a-second-or-you'll-miss-it moments.

Now, while Hershell's fight was hard to watch, TUF 10esque if you will, you have to figure at least most of the mainstream sports media crew stayed tuned to get their full money's worth of the PPV. When you know guys such as Tony Reali, Stuart Scott, and maybe even Woody Paige are in all likelihood watching, you want them to come away from it more convinced it's a sport worth covering more regularly.

Devastating knockouts are a fail-proof method of introducing the sport of MMA to the uninitiated male sports fan. Now, if you add impossible come-from-behind drama to the mix as well, you have an exceptionally good chance of converting a non-follower. (Any hardcore fan who has unofficially served as an MMA missionary/ambassador can verify this.)

While the physically imposing Melvin Manhoef was chopping and slugging away at the punch-less Robbie Lawler, no one except Robbie himself could have known that one of MMA's greatest come-from-behind KO's ever was to come next. Knowing Marius Zaromskis' striking pedigree, once he dropped Nick Diaz, I'm sure many thought the fight was over, or at the very least, that BJJ black belt Diaz had made a foolish mistake trying to prove a point fighting on his feet.

Both fighters were under the kind of extreme duress that normally results in a TKO loss on their record. But that's not the form of mettle these fighter's are casted from. In Forrest Griffin's "Got Fight" book, under "Fight Language You Need to Know," he defines "gameness."

"In order for a person to be game, he must have a mixture of toughness, heart, and stupidity. Even if he is getting his ass severely stomped, he will never quit. He shows courage and determination even when the end result might be catastrophic injury to himself. A perfect example of a fighter who has gameness is Nick Diaz."

You could easily switch that name for Robbie Lawler as both fighters are as game as they come. Lawler was getting punished on his feet, yet had the moxie to stubbornly follow his improvised game plan to achieve a stunning highlight reel fixture for years to come. Diaz got dropped, but stuck to his guns and instantly bounced back boxing only to shock the crowd moments later by permanently dropping head-kick knockout artist, Zaromskis.

Diaz and Lawler provided excellent representation as to why this sport inescapably attracts more and more fans each month. Men love fierce physical competition. It's part of the reason the NFL prospers the way it does in the USA. It's what sports is all about. Nothing defines that purer than MMA does. Diaz and Lawler gave those mainstream sports reporters an example of why more coverage of this sport is due.

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Bjorn "Norwegian Nightmare" Hansen is a weekly columnist for MMATorch. If you've got questions or comments, send them to: bjorn.hansen@fiu.edu...

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