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By Bjorn Hansen, MMATorch columnist
The mainstream media takes no notice of Mixed Martial Arts. Their perception is still polluted with misconceptions of primitive barbarity and wreckful lawlessness.
MMA has proven, without a shadow-of-a-doubt, the above assertion to be asinine. But, you can't cognitively digest what you don't see.
To battle this obscurity I firmly believe MMA needs to dive head-first into the stream of consciousness of the mainstream media by match-making two recognizable past-their-prime athletes interested in proving their mixed martial worth(lessness.)
Kill the integrity of the sport with their shameful performance, you say? My counterargument comes in the human forms of Nick Diaz and Robbie Lawler.
A few weeks ago their brilliant display of valor and killer instinct provided two barn-burning must-see bouts for any straggling left-over mainstream media still tuned in. My only issue was Strikeforce's sequence. I think they should have had Robbie Lawler and Melvin Manhoef fight right before the Hershell fight.
With this packaging, it would be like an inversed meat sandwich: two pieces of meat sandwiching bread fluff (Diaz-Zaromskis and Lawler-Manhoef clearly playing the roles of meat).
I propose to you my bait and switch recipe for a mainstream media trap:
Set two pieces of aged, moldy cheese, (you can substitute with any once-upon-a-time athlete that a panel of skeptical "mainstream" sports writers chooses, like say Walker-Canseco for instance.)
Sit back and watch as you catch a whopper of media attention of abnormal proportions.
If done correctly, they won't stop paying attention just yet. Here's where the "switch" takes place.
Immediately prior to and after, place two can't-miss bouts so that the pieces of cheese, er Walker-Canseco, are wedged in between MMA greatness.
Sit back again and hope the beef satisfies the hunger.
If successful, at least one pleased mainstream journalist, let's say Scott Van Pelt, will convert into a follower and spread the MMA word with their magnified voice and far-reaching appeal.
Rinse and repeat until desired result.
Do celebrity fights lessen the integrity of sport? Yes and no. I know there are many nauseated at the thought of the Canseco vs. Walker ever fighting again, and will lose respect for any promotion that puts this fight together.
But for how long will that last? Fifteen minutes? Do you really believe they won't tune into the next fight? Or even the Canseco-Walker fight for that matter?
Sure. It's risky business for a sport trying to legitimize itself, but let's be clear though: that burden falls on the UFC, not Strikeforce.
Strikeforce is supposed to survive. That's it. If they're still around five years from now, you'll know Dana's sledgehammer has missed its mark.
The fact that the UFC has the luxury of taking a higher-than-thou approach to these sorts of celebrity bouts is great for the legitimacy of MMA, but it comes at the cost of tremendous exposure to the gatekeepers of the mainstream sports world.
By having the Canseco-Walker fight take place at a second-tier promotion, it opens the floodgates to the several mainstream reporters who covered Walker's last fight to follow up and watch the next bout and thus watch two MMA cards in half a year span.
That's called MMA opening the door of their stream of consciousness, sitting down on the recliner, and kicking its bare-footed feet straight on the table.
Ugly or pretty, concussive or bloody, decision or submission, anyone who has never witnessed entertaining MMA before is sure to spend the rest of their day absorbing and breaking down what the hell just happened.
If positioned carefully, they will spend that day reflecting, not about a reprehensible fight between two wash-ups, but about the stellar brilliance of MMA served by bonafide athletes like Nick Diaz and Robbie Lawler.
That's what you call bait-and-switch, MMA edition.
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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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