FACEBOOK TWITTER RSS APP PODCAST MMA News : UFC UFC NEWS: Dana White endorses MMA becoming an Olympic sport (w/Keller's Analysis of how the cage hurts MMA's perception)

Feb 19, 2010 - 4:20:31 PM

The Associated Press just ran a story featuring Dana White expressing support for Mixed Martial Arts in the Olympics.

"It would be a huge benefit to us if mixed martial arts became an Olympic sport," White said. "It would create instant awareness around the world, and it would be huge. I would support it 100 percent. I personally am not out there trying to get mixed martial arts as an Olympic sport ... but if it popped and they said, 'Yes, we're thinking about it,' I would go guns ablazing and try to make it happen."

He said UFC will not actively lobby for the inclusion, but they support the idea.

FULL ARTICLE LINK

Keller's Analysis Here's the lead sentence describing what Mixed Martial Arts is: "Although UFC matches feature caged fighting, the different disciplines of mixed martial arts -- boxing, wrestling, taekwondo and judo -- feature in the Olympics as individual events." That captures one thing that works against MMA - the cage. A neighbor of mine (over age 60) once asked me with a tone bordering on disdain if I covered "that cage fighting." It was as if he thought I was a nice person, so how could I watch or write about something so nasty and inhumane.

That phrase by the AP writer says it all: "Although UFC matches feature caged fighting..." Nobody who watches and understands MMA thinks of the cage as what defines MMA from other fightning disciplines. It's just the field structure they compete in because it's practical.

The "cage" is so misunderstood, perhaps because a generation of sports writers knew of cage matches only in pro wrestling, which were sold as bloody grudge matches to keep the wrestlers in the cage. Sure, the fights were staged, but the cage was used as a weapon and touted as the ultimate way to do damage to someone. In UFC, the cage is there to protect fighters, not be used as a weapon. It's the most practical way to keep fighters from falling off of the stage that they fight on.

Sure, they could expand the stage, draw a circle around it, and have a 15 foot perimeter that would prevent fighters from falling into the lap of reporters or Joe Rogan, or they could just put up the familiar ropes, but both of those situations break the continuity of the action and end up giving an unfair advantage often to one of the fighters.

I wonder sometimes whether it wouldn't be prudent for UFC to explain why the cage exists on their PPVs and cable specials. Just explain that the cage is not used as a weapon. It's not to keep fighters from "running away." It's a safety issue; the cage is the best way to keep fighters from falling out of the ring and for the fans to see what's happening in the ring.

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