Diatribes 謾罵 : MMA Fans

One of the few things that annoy me about mixed martial arts (MMA) is the current quality of the US fans, at least the ones that seem to show up for the live events. Not to stereotype everyone in the audience for UFC events, it still seems like the average person in attendance has the temperament of an ill-mannered five year old. It's a little puzzling, as the ticket prices for these events must be fairly expensive, yet the people there seem more like drunks looking to see some blood rather than spectators looking to appreciate high quality MMA.

The recent UFC 88 in Atlanta highlighted some of the problems. The main problem is the crowd's habit of obnoxious booing everytime something happens that they don't like or understand. If there is a slight lull in the fight or if the fight is more technical on the ground, the audience boos, which seems to reveal that most people there just want to see fighters fling punches with abandon without really caring about or understanding the sport.

The audience also booed when the referee temporarily stopped a fight to check on a cut on Rich Franklin. To me, this makes no sense at all. Again, the only explanation seems to be that the crowd is more interested in blood than in the safety of the fighters.

Probably the most disappointing moment was when the audience repeatedly booed Dong Hyun Kim, as mentioned in this article (bottom). Chanting "USA" during the fight is pretty tacky but at least somewhat understandable. Booing Kim during his introduction just because he's a foreigner was low, as was booing him after he won the split decision. (As noted in the article, the decision was not really controversial, and should have been unanimous, as he clearly took the first and third rounds.)

It doesn't have to be this way. For comparison, look to the fans at Japanese MMA events. As Bas Rutten, a Dutch MMA fighter and commentator, has repeatedly noted, the Japanese MMA crowd is very educated and respectful. During fights, it's generally quiet enough to even hear the fighters breathing, with cheers and applause when appropriate. Fighters get a lot of applause and appreciation after a fight, win or lose, even in cases where a foreigner like Bas beats a Japanese fighter. In marked contrast to American audiences, you hardly ever hear boos. (The one notable exception is with Yoshihiro Akiyama - a lot of Japanese seem to really dislike that guy, which I don't know if I completely agree with.)

Hopefully as MMA becomes more mainstream in the US, the quality of the fans will get better. If that happens, I'll be reduced to complaining about Mike "meteoric rise" Goldberg.

An update after Seth Petruzelli's victory over Kimbo Slice at EliteXC: Heat

Once again fans in attendance at a MMA event showed their complete lack of class. After Ken Shamrock had to withdraw from his fight against Kimbo Slice due to a cut above his eye, Seth Petruzelli, originally scheduled on the undercard, stepped in as a replacement. When the announcement was made, the crowd instantly booed.

What exactly were they booing? Ken Shamrock was deemed unable to fight by the Florida State Athletic Commission. Booing that decision is tantamount to saying that one doesn't give a damn about the fighters' safety.

Perhaps they were booing Seth Petruzelli, which would be even harder to understand. If Seth didn't step up, the fans might not have gotten to see a fight at all. Moreover, Seth was slated to fight at light heavyweight - at a moment's notice he agreed to fight against a very intimidating opponent at a higher weight class. For that, he gets booed?

The important thing to keep in mind is that this is a reflection of the quality of the MMA fans themselves, not of the actual MMA fighters, who are much more mature. Immediately after winning, still in the heat of the moment, Seth still had the class to thank Kimbo for agreeing to fight him, noting that it is very difficult to fight an opponent different from the one you were training to fight, and offering a rematch. Similarly, Kimbo said afterward of Seth, "Before tonight nobody knew who this guy was, now everybody knows who he is. I have nothing but good stuff to say about him."

Now why can't the fans grow up and learn a little bit about respect and honor from these guys?

Even more egregious fan behavior at WEC 38

Not to beat a dead horse, but I was once more appalled by the general stupidity and callousness of general MMA fans at WEC 38's main event. In the fifth round, Jamie Varner was hit by an illegal knee while he was on the ground. After taking the hit, Varner was temporarily unable to see out of his right eye. Yet the fans, knowing nothing about the extent of the injury, roundly booed Varner for not continuing on. Ridiculous.

These fans, most of whom probably have no idea what it takes to compete in MMA, assumed that Varner, a top notch fight and WEC lightweight champion, was just looking for an easy way out. As Varner said later, "What hurt me the most was the crowd. They had no idea about the pain or suffering I was going through." Varner's injury had the potential to be career ending, and while one would assume any fan of the sport would care first and foremost for the safety of the fighters, sadly the vocal majority seem to be immature idiots who would care less.

Aftermath of UFC 100:

This was one of the better commentaries I read following UFC 100 - UFC 100 Afterthoughts. There seem to be two schools of thoughts regarding Brock Lesnar's post-fight behavior: those who condone it or even desire it as a means of generating excitement about MMA, and those who see it as counterproductive to MMA getting mainstream acceptance and a violation of the mutual respect fighters are supposed to show one another after a fight, regardless of the outcome. Count me clearly in the latter category. MMA is already going to attract those who are more interested in the blood and violence than in the technical aspects of the sport and the ethics of martial arts; I'd rather not have UFC associated with anyone who is only in it for the type of antics Brock Lesnar displayed.

Lest you think I'm making up the respect and ethics aspect of the game, consider this excerpt from this CBS sports article:
“ As Mir staggered to his feet after the loss on Saturday, Lesnar took a victory lap around the cage. Then he circled back to Mir, who appeared ready to congratulate Lesnar and accept a pat on the back for a good fight. That's what usually happens after a UFC fighter finishes his opponent and then walks up to him afterward. It's a sign of good sportsmanship, a show of respect.

Not this time, apparently. Lesnar angrily barked something in Mir's face that was hostile enough for a swarm of suited officials to quickly get between them and move the champ to the other side of the cage. ("Talk all the s--- you want, now," was Lesnar's comment to Mir according to UFC play-by-play man Mike Goldberg.) 		”

By the way, I actually don't care for or agree with the rest of the article.

This brings me to the related matter of Dan Henderson's post-fight comments. Here are the details. Again, people seem to have one of three thoughts on this issue: Those who think Bisping deserved it, and liked the extra bit of violence. MMA can do without these type of fans. Then there are those who think that Dan Henderson did nothing wrong because the fight was still going until the referee stops it, and that if any blame is to be placed, it should be on the referee. While better than the first class of reaction, this second opinion still misses the important, but perhaps subtle, point. The third thought, that I subscribe to, is that Dan Henderson was seriously out of line, and it is rather disappointing considering that Henderson has, in the past, always been one of the more respectful guys in the sport, up there with guys like George St. Pierre and Anderson Silva.

The second position is technically correct, in that Henderson definitely didn't do anything wrong as far as the rules of the sport go, unlike cases where fighters have continued to fight or held on to submissions even when the referee has signaled an end to the fight (thankfully this is a fairly rare occurrence).

If Henderson hadn't said anything, then I would be perfectly fine giving him the benefit of the doubt, that he wasn't sure if Bisping was really out and wanted to make sure to win the fight. The problem is that his post-fight comments indicated that he did know that Bisping was out (and judging from the video, it's hard to imagine that he wouldn't have know it) but still persisted to land a second follow-up punch to "shut him up a little bit". While that may be technically legal, it is entirely against the spirit of the sport and of martial arts, and just lends fuel to those who see MMA as nothing more than blood and violence. Dana White was right to be upset, and though Henderson said he made the comments in jest, he either displayed poor judgment in his words or his actions.