Boxing vs. Ultimate Fighting

[viscousmemories]

I grew up thinking sports that encourage violence were barbaric and stupid, including football and hockey, but especially boxing. I'm not sure why this is, but I think it has a lot to do with my being a kind, sensitive person and my Dad being a boxer with a violent temper. I have an insanely volatile temper too, but fortunately it has never manifest in physical violence.

Well, I take that back. It didn't result in my hurting anyone, but it did result in me attacking and getting my ass kicked by my brother a lot. So when I didn't feel like getting my ass kicked I would attack inanimate objects. In particular plasterboard walls and other easily breakable things.

So anyway I've always thought the world would be a better place if people didn't hurt each other, so I never understood the popularity of sports that encourage it. In particular, I could never understand the appeal of boxing. You can say it's about strategy and stamina, yada yada but in the end it's really about one person trying to beat another person to unconsciousness.

Then a couple years ago I was helping one of my brothers design a website for an Ultimate Fighting (http://www.ufc.tv/) competitor, and after watching a couple competitions I was hooked. Ultimate Fighting rocks.

See here's the thing...

For some reason, despite the fact that Ultimate Fighting is far and away more violent than boxing, it doesn't strike me as being as barbaric. This is why: Because the key to victory isn't to beat your opponent unconscious, but to force them to submit. Simply put, to physically overwhelm them. It's a virtually no-holds barred battle of strength and skill that can be quick and relatively painless or long and brutal. The choice is theirs.

And for some reason this fact makes it possible for me to watch a couple of guys beat each other to within an inch of their respective lives and feel nothing but respect and admiration for both of them. It's the strangest thing.

I wonder if I can get any fights from Netflix...

[Brimshack]

II followed Ultimate Fighting for awhile, bake when Roice Grace (Sp?) was on top. It was fascinating, he would be on the bottom, getting his ass totally kicked as far as I could tell, and the announcer would be saying he was about to win. I'd think what the fuck! And then the other guys would panick for a moment and suddenly tap out. Haven't followed it since then really, but I did enjoy it a great deal.

[viscousmemories]

Yeah it's spelled Royce. From what little I know the Gracie's are pretty much the royal family of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. The guy whose website I worked on was Carlos Valente, one of Rickson Gracie's students. Meeting him was scary... I mean he was really nice and soft-spoken, but impressively massive. Suffice it to say I was very glad to be meeting him on friendly terms.

I totally could've kicked his ass, though. :egad:

[Brimshack]

...and then run like hell, right?

[The Lone Ranger]

See here's the thing...

For some reason, despite the fact that Ultimate Fighting is far and away more violent than boxing, it doesn't strike me as being as barbaric. This is why: Because the key to victory isn't to beat your opponent unconscious, but to force them to submit. Simply put, to physically overwhelm them. It's a virtually no-holds barred battle of strength and skill that can be quick and relatively painless or long and brutal. The choice is theirs.

And for some reason this fact makes it possible for me to watch a couple of guys beat each other to within an inch of their respective lives and feel nothing but respect and admiration for both of them. It's the strangest thing.

I wonder if I can get any fights from Netflix...

Despite the fact that I participate in full-contact karate, I've never particularly understood why anyone would find boxing appealing. Certainly, it takes a great deal of skill and athleticism (if you've never fought another well-trained person, you simply can't imagine how exhausting it is!), but I've never understood why anyone would want to participate in a sport where the goal is to hurt your opponent.

The difference, as you've quite perceptively noted, is that in something like full-contact karate or even Ultimate Fighting the goal is not to hurt your opponent (and there are very strictly-enforced rules to ensure that this doesn't happen -- not that there aren't occasional accidents), but to, through superior skill and conditioning, force him/her to submit. Especially if you understand what's going on, it can be quite an inspiring -- and even beautiful -- display of skill and courage, despite its apparent brutality.

Cheers,

Michael

[viscousmemories]

...and then run like hell, right?
:runaway:

The difference, as you've quite perceptively noted, is that in something like full-contact karate or even Ultimate Fighting the goal is not to hurt your opponent (and there are very strictly-enforced rules to ensure that this doesn't happen -- not that there aren't occasional accidents), but to, through superior skill and conditioning, force him/her to submit.
Right. Of course not all Ultimate Fighters are martial artists (some are primarily boxers and/or otherwise inclined to go the pummel into submission route) and they have a very... shall we say imaginative notion of what 'hurting' consists of, but that said it is definitely far more elegant in my view than boxing.