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In Sports Commentary

By Dave Begel Special to OnMilwaukee.com E-mail author | Author bio More articles by Dave Begel

Published July 28, 2009 at 8:19 a.m.

Tags: mma, mixed martial arts, brock lesnar, randy couture, ali, sonny liston

The last thing in the world I wanted to do was to write about mixed martial arts again.

We've already had our trial by fire over the UFC, its barbarians and people who think I'm a wimp, a wuss, a jerk, etc.

Honestly, I wanted to leave it alone, at least until I took some people up on an invitation to see a fight in person during the State Fair.

But, I can't. The reason is a picture. Or rather, two pictures.

One of my favorite pictures of all time, maybe my all-time favorite, is the one of Cassius Clay standing over Sonny Liston. It's the first round of their rematch in Lewiston, Maine. A young, brash Clay has just knocked Liston down and is standing over him, shouting "Get Up! Get Up!" It's a picture that captures everything great about sports: competition, victory, defeat, battle, power, good, evil and grace.

The other picture is from late last year. It was taken in Las Vegas. It shows Brock Lesnar on the ground pounding the living crap out of a 45-year-old man named Randy Couture, who was the reigning UFC champ when Lesnar crushed him.

I saw a video of the match last week, and it got me thinking about MMA again. I just can't leave it alone, and that might be my problem, but after weeks of reflection, television viewing, deep profound thought and a visit to a shaman, I am moved, once again, to indict this thing as a barbaric freak show that is attractive to our lowest common denominator.

Let's talk about the first picture first.

Clay hit Liston and down he went. Some called it a phantom punch. Clay, full of himself, taunted Liston, then he raised his hands in glee. Then he went to a neutral corner.

In the second picture, Lesnar hit Couture with a hard right hand and the champ went down. Instead of going to a neutral corner, Lesnar pounced on him and started to pummel him in his head and everywhere else. It was brutality on display.

The crowd at the Clay-Liston fight was about 2,500. They were a little confused at the ending and full of applause and amusement for the new heavyweight hope.

There were almost 18,000 people at the MGM Grand Garden Arena for the Lesnar fight, plus a big pay-per-view audience. They were, to put it charitably, bloodthirsty after the fight. Watch the crowd at this fight and you wouldn't be surprised to see them foaming at the mouth.

The MMA fans and defenders can say what they want. They can talk about all their college wrestlers and civilized fighters. They can talk about how they've got rules galore and nobody gets seriously hurt.

But, you know what? First of all they fight in a cage, which is normally where they put wild animals. Secondly, in boxing, when you knock a man down, you go to your corner.

In this farce of a sport, you knock a man down, jump on him and pound him bloody until he either surrenders or the referee stops the fight.

Yeah. Right.

One more thing.

There will be a time when Wisconsin is asked to establish some rules for these fights. Lobbyists will point to all the regulations in all the other states and how it makes the sport "safe." I know some of the people involved in this and love them almost like brothers.

When the movement starts, I will be standing on the other side, pushing as hard as I can, to not only refuse to establish rules but to establish one rule that says, NONE OF THIS CRAP IN OUR STATE!

We did it for capital punishment and it makes me proud. We can do it again.

19 comments about this article. Post a comment / write a review.

Recent Talkbacks ...

Posted by mstodd on July 31, 2009 at 12:04 p.m. (report)

Since Dave Begel just did the last thing he wanted to do (write another article about MMA), does that mean he won't be taking up space on onmilwaukee.com anymore? That would be great. He very well may be a wimp or wuss, I couldn't glean such qualities from reading an article. There is a word for people who write such articles on the internet: A troll (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=troll). I think MMA is cool. I think boxing is cool. When I was a student, I would use my student ID to go to symphonies and operas at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts (I've been there at least 7 times that I remember). My girlfriend does ballet and I've enjoyed watching her dance the past two years. If I am part of the lowest common denominator, then how could I enjoy all those other 'high class' things? Dave is simply sounds like at liberal wannabe elitist troll. I'll let readers decide who is the lowest common denominator now. Sorry for feeding the troll.

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Posted by applefreak on July 28, 2009 at 9:22 p.m. (report)

Hasnt this article already been written???? TWICE!! Its not MMA that is the problem it is how OUR society takes it. Look at China and Japan, they sell out MEGA arenas for mma events. Some stars are bigger than Jordan and Lebron combined. They also have some of the lowest crime rates in the world over east. I admit that MMA is not for everyone, however it is not MMA that is the problem here it is the lack of morals and education by some of the "fans" in our society that give the sport a bad name. There will never be a winner in this argument however I think it may be time OMC does another feature on MMA that casts a better picture since the last 3 have been far from positive. Right here in Milwaukee we have some pioneers of the sport..Rufus, Matamoros, Serrano...and some bright up and comers in the sport..Schaffer and Pettis to name a few ( sorry for spelling). All I ask is for a little support for the sport on OMC since it obviously has many readers that happen to like it.

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Posted by superchin on July 28, 2009 at 7:20 p.m. (report)

The only thing this article made me nostalgic for was quality journalism. Im going to state this up front, so theres more time to digest it: In my opinion, MMA is more civilized and more elegant than boxing. Im a fan of both, but the fact stands that MMA is actually both more technical and less damaging to the fighters. All of the techniques allowed in boxing are allowed in MMA, but additional striking and grappling techniques are also allowed. By definition its a sport with more techniques involved than boxing. Its a progressive sport, allowing a full range of techniques to decide the contest. However finely you want to slice the techniques of boxing beyond punching and moving, these techniques are also all allowed (if not entirely viable) in MMA. MMA is also a less violent sport. This is largely because techniques from the less violent combat sports (i.e. the grappling arts) are allowed in MMA. Grappling sports are based on controlling your opponent, binding, and subduing him, all usually without causing concussive brain trauma. Submission grappling by itself would probably be the most civilized of all combat sports, but my guess is that you and those like you would find it boring. The reason for this is probably because you, and the other antiquarian boxing purists like you, actually prefer the violence of boxing. The sport might as well be called face punching, because thats what it largely amounts to. Its basically a sport purposefully limited to highlight the most violent aspects of all combat sports the strike. The blood, the slurred speech and the lost mental faculties that face-punching has on its hands is well established. The sport of face-punching could have a single knockdown rule, rather than allowing 8-counts and multiple knockdowns in a single round if it cared about what was civil. Yet you decry the spectacle of seeing an old lion taken out by a young one in the case of Randy against Brock and lionize Ali standing over a semi-conscious opponent. What was missing in your description was Randys game performance before the finish. Additionally, even if it was the case of a legend being overmatched and thoroughly dispatched, I much preferred the way it occurred it to the brutality Ive witnessed in face punching. I would much rather have my legends shown the door decisively and with some dignity (as the finishing power of wrestling combined with striking allows in a world without 8-counts) than to see them battered for an hour like Muhammed Ali was against Holmes or Berbick. In fact, the most violent spectacles in combat sports remain in the sport of face punching: The Thrilla in Manilla, Gatti/Ward I, and others too numerous to count. Frazier/Foreman was twice as hard to watch as Lesnar/Couture. If that fight had been contested under civilized MMA rules, it would have been over after the first knockdown; because Frazier never fully recovered from that punch and was allowed to fight on in a sport that prizes repeated damage for the sake of spectacle. You, with your doddering Burt Sugaresque fear of the new are the barbarian. You and all face punching fans like you are the barbarians and youre at what will more and more be MMAs box office gates.

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Posted by Johnny66Tele on July 28, 2009 at 6:09 p.m. (report)

You can't argue with people who like mma, they might go mma on you. There will always be a market for it or something like it, it's at the other end of the spectrum from modern dance. Most of us fall somewhere in between, so I think there's hope.

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Posted by bam57bam on July 28, 2009 at 4:39 p.m. (report)

How can people be so blind to this sport?! First of all you say "When Clay knocked down Liston he went to a neutral corner, but when Lesnar knocked down Couture he jumped on him and pounded him" You are right. They are two different sports. You have to completely forget about boxing when watching MMA. Second, you trash MMA for being brutal and barbaric but yet just last week two boxers died because of brain damage sustained in a boxing match. Yet MMA, in 16 years of existence has had 1 death, and it was not in the UFC it was in a non regulated MMa match. People need to open their eyes and stop bashing something they know nothing about!!

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