I have loved fighting ever since I snook out of holiday club during summer break in the early 1990s so a friend and I could play Street Fighter II on his Super Nintendo. When I say I have loved fighting, I mean watching it on TV or playing it on a console because I am not the biggest fan of being punched in the face; I probably could not fight my way out of a wet paper bag should the situation arise. One would think my love affair with violence would mean I am the UFC’s biggest fan. One would think wrong.
My first recollection of watching a professional fight was in the 1990s when British boxers Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank twice fought each other in the WBO middleweight division. I was only nine years old at the time of the first fight and a tender 12-years-old for the rematch. My mother hated Eubank with a passion, which was strange because she seemed to love everyone. (Ambien) Nonetheless, the moment Benn knocked Eubank to the canvas resulted in my mother sliding on her knees in front of the television, much like soccer stars do near the corner flag after scoring a match-winning goal, except the latter does not usually end up with friction burns on their lower limbs. Live fighting had me hooked.
First Foray Into the World of UFC
Dozens of big fights caught my eye over the years when another friend of mine suggested we watch UFC together. The thought of extremely violent people squaring off against each other with very few rules getting in the way seemed like a recipe for unrivaled excitement. Except it was not. The actual fight eludes my memory – it was that boring – all I can remember is my friend punting off on UFC vegas betting sites because he was adamant his favorite fighter, or athlete as the UFC refers to them, was stepping into the octagon.
Barring a flurry of early activity in which the two fighters, sorry athletes, swung wild punches at each other, most of the rounds were spent with the guys on the floor struggling to get a grip of the other while the other wriggled around in an attempt to prevent their opponents from getting them in a chokehold or trying to break their arm. Subsequent fights that I have watched have followed a similar pattern, with only a handful of encounters ending with someone flat on their back and the referee counting them out.
Is It a Case of Bad Luck?
Sure, it could be a case of small sample size and me getting unlucky with fights, fights where the emphasis was on wrestling and groundwork, but those “fights,” and I use the term loosely, were enough to put me off for life. I would much rather tune into a boxing match where most boxers attempt to take their opponent’s head off. Some 66% of all boxing matches end in a KO or TKO. (http://theshoalspharmacy.com) This increases to 79% if you watch the heavyweight division. Compare that to the UFC, where only 52% of the 69 title fights have ended with someone sprawled out on the canvas or the referee stepping in, and there is a significant difference. I have little in the way of spare time, and I want entertaining during my restricted downtime.
Do not get me wrong, I have the utmost respect for anyone who fights for a living, and you would not catch me in the octagon in a month of Sundays. Furthermore, I think Dana White and the Fertitta brothers, Frank and Lorenzo, have to be applauded for turning a $2 million gamble on what was a rapidly failing business into an $8-10 billion dollar enterprise but it just does not light my fire. Where will I be at the next UFC? Probably sneaking off to play Street Fighter II on the SNES; Hadouken!
