It wasn’t the first mixed martial arts match I watched on TV, but it’s one of the first I vividly remember. And for the same reason I remember childhood viewings of Friday the 13th.
Blood.
A fighter named Edwin DeWees entered the UFC octagon with blond hair and exited as a redhead. You can still watch the match on the Internet, but fair warning – midway through the second round, it’s no longer a video for the squeamish. In fact, it has to rank among the goriest moments in televised sports history.
I don’t know who got the worse end of the bargain – the cameramen, DeWees or the opponent he was bleeding on. But despite the copious cost in corpuscles, DeWees won the fight. And frankly, I hope to never see a bout like it again.
Which doesn’t mean I’ve stopped watching. On the contrary, as my familiarity with the sport has grown, so has my respect for it. It boasts too much action, too much talent and too many good people.
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| Why watch the UFC? For guys like Anthony Pettis. Photo by Dan Bishop. |
Like Milwaukee mixed martial arts guru Duke Roufus, the man behind Roufusport Academy and the biggest reason the UFC makes it’s debut in Milwaukee on Sunday. Roufus’ fighters speak of him with the reverence reserved for a father, but he knows they’re battling public perception as much as each other.
“The biggest misconception,” says Roufus, once a champion kickboxer, now Milwaukee’s premier MMA trainer and cheerleader, “is that these guys are just barbarians.”
Yeah, the blood doesn’t help.
It’s an unfortunately unavoidable side effect, like concussions in football and hit batsmen in baseball. Every sport has its unpalatable risks, and MMA is no exception.
Look, I’m not here to recruit for the UFC. You’ll either watch or you won’t because you want to or you don’t. It is, quite understandably, not everyone’s cup of tea.
And it’s equally understandable why so many of my friends – be they colleagues in the media or my lawfully wedded wife – can’t fathom why I watch it.
So I thought I’d tell them a few reasons.
I watch the UFC not because of the blood, but in spite of it. And not for the raw brutality, but for the way it’s channeled by talent, focus and dedication.
I watch because high school and college wrestlers finally have a professional outlet without sequined outfits.
I watch for the clash of fighting styles, from wrestling to boxing to kickboxing to martial arts, and because MMA forces you to be an expert in all fields. “Tell a guy to be a quarterback, a running back, a linebacker, a kicker, a safety,” Roufus says.
I watch in hopes of seeing another Anthony Pettis Superkick.
I watch for the stories of guys like Milwaukee’s Chico Camus, who met Pettis in a barbershop and “stopped my gangbanging and my bad ways.”
I watch for stories like Daniel Downes, the Marquette grad who eschews suits for slugging, but never forgets to laugh.
I watch under no illusions. I know there’s that chance for a little blood, but I’m glad it’s not a big chance for a lot of it.
And I watch knowing they’re not all angels or heroes or role models. Every sport will have it’s knuckleheads and villains, though in MMA, there are probably fewer than you think. Spend a few minutes with Pettis, and you wonder if he might someday be mayor.
“Actually,” Roufus says, “they’re some of the best human beings that I know.”
Feel free to follow me on Twitter, where I tweet as howiemag. And listen to me chat sports with Mitch Teich once a month on WUWM’s “Lake Effect.”
