Bet on mixed martial arts at BetUS

I consider both my father and I to be very knowledgeable and active sports fans. Besides certain players and teams we show favoritism towards, we see eye to eye on almost everything sports related. We have spent many nights together cheering on highlights, chomping on pizza, and chewing out officials.

Over the years of watching sports together, many baseballs have left the yard, and much gas has left the bowels. Beer cans have been chugged, spilt, crushed and even thrown at the television in hopes of somehow making its way through the set and hitting the referee. But between all the beers and cheers, we are two huge sports fans that share similar interests and tastes when it comes to all the different professional sports out there; except when it comes to mixed martial arts.

As plain as I can put it, my father hates MMA. Not only does he hate it, but he can’t even fathom how anyone could even be the slightest bit interested in the sport. Even though my father has never watched ten consecutive seconds of MMA, he considers it to be “Two men trying to kill each other.”

Now I am not blind to opinion. I understand that everyone is allowed to form their own based on what ever facts or events have persuaded them to form their judgment. The best way to have a valid opinion worth hearing is to be open-minded about everything. People do not have to like the same things. There are plenty of different forms of entertainment out there around to equip the eclectic demands of individual want. I have tried many times to preach to my father about the intricacies and skill set of professional MMA fighters with minimal success. I have argued and explained to him about the sport being a physical chess match combining different forms of martial arts, at a high level of athleticism. In his mind he has formed what appears to be an unchangeable opinion, he believes MMA to be “Two people trying to kill each other”, case closed.

I do not have to agree with his opinion, but I have to respect it. Luckily enough there are many people out there who share the same passion and interests with the sport as me. Combining that with its market value and some mainstream success, MMA has found its way out of the dark ages and onto not only pay per view, but television too. This has made it easier for fight fans to get their fix with little trouble.

Passion and stubbornness clash like Tito and Chuck and cause for some heated debates, but the one with my father seems to be a lost cause. Normally I would accept his opinion and move on, but here is the kicker; my dad is not opposed to fighting. In fact, I believe he is a fight fan. He no longer follows boxing, but I have heard many stories of how he used to love watching Ali fight Frasier or Foreman. I have seen him clench fists during a hockey fight, or a bench brawl in baseball. I have seen road rage get the best of him, and I have even seen him watch professional wresting (granted it was when the Diva’s were rolling around in their painted on leather pants and cleavage inducing sports bra’s) but clearly he is not that opposed to fighting, so why then the cold shoulder to MMA?

As someone who has had the privilege to train in martial arts for many years, I am fully aware of the demands both physically and mentally required by both the students and teachers involved. A professional MMA fighter is the finished product or the aftermath of years of discipline, focus and hard work. The teachers involved demand respect and honor not only in the gym, but in the student’s everyday life. They promote a healthy lifestyle and a defense only mentality that creates educated and self aware men and women. Behind the closed walls of any gym or dojo, students pay homage to old art forms, and to higher ranked practitioners. In exchange they are given the opportunity to gain self confidence and possibly life saving techniques.

Just like any other professional sport, MMA has injuries and blood shed as these are unavoidable consciences when dealing with contact sports. MMA was once called “Human Cock Fighting”. But since then, it has evolved into a talent-rich sport with the fighter’s interests and safety as the main concern. I know that without the ability to make money, the sport would not survive, but the sport has made great strides, and organizations have been successful at legitimizing the contests with rules and regulations. MMA has trained officials to ensure safety first, and have implemented judges and time limits which has allowed point fighting to be an option as opposed to two people in a ring until one can no longer stand.

All though the opinion of MMA has softened over the years, we still live in a society of over-caffeinated over-reactors who find it easier to form an uneducated opinion about this sport then trying to understand its values.

In professional hockey, football, basketball, and baseball fighting often happens. However, these sports do not take any measurements to protect its athletes when these situations occur. In fact, outside of MMA or boxing, when a fight happens in a professional sport, it is a bare knuckle boxing match where only punching to the head or body is considered acceptable.

When a fight breaks out in professional hockey, you have two millionaires who have let their emotions get the best of them bare knuckle boxing on national television. But, before they trade fists, they remove any equipment they have on that may get in the way of their scuffle. Ironically they remove their helmets and gloves and exchange punches until one man is dropped or the referee decides the contest is over. During these hockey fights, players will often try to pull the sweater of their opponent over their head in hopes of landing blind punches to their opponent for maximum damage. Usually the blood thirsty crowds will bang on the glass and yell from the stands. Frequently blood makes an appearance and teeth disappear.

If you are in the stands at a hockey game and someone squirts mustard in your eyes, and you respond by giving them the foam middle finger and a fight breaks out, you will spend the night in jail. This sentence is far more severe then the repercussions in store for a player after his fight. There is no jail time for a hockey fight, instead the parties involved are forced to sit down on a bench isolated from the rest of their team for five or ten minutes until they are allowed to play again. The venue of the fights are the same, and the justification behind the altercations make about the same sense, the only differences is that the hockey players are role models whose fight was showcased on national television for entertainment value and not a Grey Poupon beat down. In MMA and boxing, you need to fight in order for a victor to be named, but last time I checked a hockey scoreboard there was no place for fight statistics.

Another sport that seems to have very loose penalties for fighting is Major League Baseball. Fights in baseball don’t happen quite as often as in hockey, but they are just as brutal. Often, a baseball fight is started by a pitcher intentionally throwing a baseball at a batters head, which sparks the batter to charge the mound and seek revenge. At this point both teams usually clear out of the dugout and meet around the pitchers mound, and extra players will come from some three hundred feet away from the bullpen to take part in the mayhem.

Sometimes during a baseball game the fights aren’t just between the players but often the managers and umpires will have it out too. Sure, these don’t usually come to blows, but it makes for some of the most bizarre and juvenile behaviors ever witnessed in sports. Managers are notorious for questioning umpires strike zones, or how the game is generally being officiated. Once the tension peaks higher then a Greatful Dead roadie the manager and umpire will start to exchange words. They will even go face to face with each other noses only inches apart. Spittle and Sunflower seeds will bounce off each others brows and veins will protrude like a 3D movie from the neck and forehead. Once the umpire has been insulted enough, he will make a gesture with his hand towards the stands; this means the manager has been ejected from the game and has to leave the field. The manager rarely goes willingly, and if you are really lucky you will see something that is worth the ticket price alone; which is a grown man kicking piles of dirt on to another mans shoes. You can sit back and watch as a grown man flicks dirt and chalk at the umpires shoes and pants in a fit of absurdity. The altercation is usually ended by one or two members of the team coming out on the field to help restrain and remove the manager so play can resume. The game will continue and the only things lost were twenty minutes of your time and the manager’s dignity.

Fighting is in our DNA, we all live on continents that have been decided by violence and war. Violence is all around us. It is in our sports, schools, music and news.

Fighting in sports should be an avoidable circumstance, but whenever you combine high levels of testosterone and competition like in sports, is will always lurk in the background. That is why it is so nice to see a sport like MMA take the appropriate steps to ensure the safest scenario as possible.

I remember watching an episode of UFC Unleashed at my Dad’s house, and the fight I was watching ended with a brutal knockout. The man who won ran around the octagon for a moment in celebration then returned to see how his opponent was. He kneeled over him and helped him sit up. They exchanged a quick prayer and a hug, patted each other on the back and seemed very friendly and respectful towards each other.

My dad walked in the room and told me to “turn that crap off.” He flipped the channel to the news, and we watched a story about a high school boy who was stabbed after school because of an altercation at lunch time. My dad said he remembered what it was like when he was young, how two people could get into a fight and then when it was over you didn’t have to worry about anything further happening because you could be friends again right away. I smiled and thought to myself, I wonder where I’ve seen that before

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