mma on bbc 2 right now

crazy monkey

there's a current affairs programme on bbc 2 [ just switched on after sopranos] dealing with MMA as a cultural aspect of society....

It's been described as a skillful endeavour

muckwarrior

Think I caught the last couple of minutes of that. From what I seen it looked like they were trying to pertray it as unskilled brutality only watched by scumbags.

Im2Lazy

muckwarrior wrote:

Think I caught the last couple of minutes of that. From what I seen it looked like they were trying to pertray it as unskilled brutality only watched by scumbags.

I caught a bit of that too, it was interesting to see how the journalist seemed to be the one pushing it as the unskilled brutality aspect.....so much for journalists being inpartial.:rolleyes:

I did think the professor of sports & culture(or something like that) raised some good points with him & did try to change his mind & saw it for what it is a very skillful sport.

Frank Warren was an idoit he obviously knew nothing about MMA, he was going on about boxing rounds being scored(so is MMA Franky:p ) & fighters trying to select the right punch to win the fight istead of 2 guys just pounding each other silly on the ground. I think MMA fighters have to be more skilful because of all the diffwerent ways to win a fight.

To be fair Cage Rage do push the "Thunderdome - 2 men enter 1 man leaves" aspeect of MMA fighting abit too much for the main stream to swallow.

damo

Im2Lazy wrote:

To be fair Cage Rage do push the "Thunderdome - 2 men enter 1 man leaves" aspeect of MMA fighting abit too much for the main stream to swallow.

Agreed. Cage Rage had the opportunity about this time 18-24 months ago when mma really started to boom, to really grow and to become a strong force in mma and really take control of the european mma scene. But they didnt, their tacky production and unambitious fighter roster (youd swear they just go down to the local boozer to find 2 drunken brawlers - cabbage vs butterbean main event for example) is a joke and is damaging for the image of mma around the UK. Those 2 wheeler dealer used car salesmen idiots who run the show blew it. The future of mainstream mma in the uk and europe lies with the big boys (ufc) now.

The Shane

Much and all as I hate Dana White, the UFC seem to understand that you will watch two fighters that you have a personal opinion on over two better fighters that you don't know.

Stuff like the Ultimate Fighter TV show is creating personalities within the sport that you want to succeed. It's one of the reasons I'll be at Ring of Truth. I know and like those guys figthing. While there may be technically "better" MMA on a japanese card that I could download - I've got an emotional attachment to these guys.

The UFC is also packaging the training these guys do as something worthwhile - the all access shows really grabbed the attention of people when you see how much these guys go through.

Cage Rage on the other hand seems tack. I don't like the chauvinism, I don't like the bigotry and I don't like the human cockfighting element they bring to the game.

Shane, The

vasch_ro

The Shane wrote:

Much and all as I hate Dana White,

Shane, The

I just think Hate is such a strong word, where's the LOVE dude ?

Baloo .

Scramble

While I think we can agree that speaking in general terms there people from every kind of background and profession training in MMA for a variety of reasons, I've been wondering whether there are variations from country to country in terms of who has picked up the sport and ran with it.

If you did a cross-section of the memberships of a few gyms in London versus a few in Dublin, would they broadly speaking be the same, or would there be differences?

Since Shane has mentioned Cage Rage, I would just comment that while it doesn't necessarily put me off, I think it's interesting that the advertising (in the UK at least) reminds me of the kind of thing Guy Richie makes movies about: East London geezers watching prizefighting / beers with the lads / gambling / checking out the Nuts girls / having a 'larf etc. For example, there's an advert I keep seeing on one of the sports channels which features one of the owners leaning over a roulette table in a monkey suit, I think with a blonde in tow. Fun, and I can see how this type of marketing appeals to a particular demographic, but I wonder if it's the best approach to gaining real mainstream credibility for the franchise?

filament

it might be that they're setting their sights on the lower market, with ufc starting to do big shows in the uk it seems they might have to go the small and specific route like ecw did to compete with the wwe for those that watch/watched and for some time it worked brilliantly