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Anderson Silva (left) works out in preparation for his UFC 101 bout against Forrest Griffin.
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John Smallwood: UFC bringing the Octagon into the mainstream
OF ALL THE athletes at Wednesday's workout session for tomorrow's Ultimate Fighting Championship event at the Wachovia Center, the one most annoyed by the misconceptions about mixed martial arts was Phillies outfielder Shane Victorino.
Victorino is a dedicated fan who follows the happenings in MMA the way baseball fans follow the major leagues.
He has seen it evolve from an out-of-leftfield curiosity to one of the fastest-growing sports.
Victorino wants everyone to know how far the sport has come.
"The misunderstanding that bothers me, and I hear from the word that some people use, is it's 'human dog fighting,' " Victorino said. "It frustrates me being an athlete and understanding how hard these guys work and how dedicated they are to this sport.
"Nobody would ever say that about boxing. Critics say it's a no-holds barred kind of thing. This sport has evolved . . .
"You can't just take some guy off the street, throw them in the Octagon with one of these guys and say, 'Let's see what happens.' This isn't a bunch of bar fights. There are so many disciplines involved.
"To me, it's just that before you talk, watch the sport."
The sport of mixed martial arts has been around long enough and has enough educated fans like Victorino that it really doesn't have to worry anymore about legitimizing itself to the public at large to remain successful.
The vast majority of the capacity crowd of 16,000-17,000 will have a clear understanding of what they will see.
Still there is no denying that MMA still suffers the stigma of Sen. John McCain calling it "human cockfighting" in the mid-1990s.
Undoubtedly there will be some novices in the crowds who might still cling to that image and the ones portrayed in movies like "Bloodsport" or "The Octagon" when they think of MMA.
They will be surprised.
"I think there is still a misconception with some people that we are all barbarians," said Kenny Florian, who will fight BJ Penn in one co-Main Event. "We're just fighters who want to go out and punch someone in the face and get hit in the face. That's not the point.
"What pushes me everyday is the technical side of the sport. The pursuit of perfection to master these fighting disciplines, as elusive as that is, as impossible as that is.
"The technical side, the strategy side is something a lot of people forget about."
Look, this is fighting, and no one in UFC or mixed martial arts tries to deny that, but just as boxing is called "The Sweet Science," mixed martial artists want people to understand that this is an athletic skill, one that requires years of training and education.
"I don't talk to a lot of stupid people, so I don't hear about the misconceptions," said Forrest Griffin, who will fight Anderson Silva in the other co-Main Event. "Earlier, you'd get people who looked at you funny like you were some bare-knuckle brawler.
"Since it's been on television so much, people, even if they are not fans or indoctrinated in it, have a good idea what it is. It's a sport that has rules and it's something a lot of people like to watch. It's jumped some hurdles in that regard and will continue to."
For the novice, myself included since this will be my first live UFC event, mixed martial arts is exactly that. It includes karate, jiu-jitsu, boxing, kickboxing, grappling, wrestling, sumo and other combat sports.
Mastering a single discipline usually isn't good enough to win.
"I was just a big guy in high school, and I figured if anybody tried that karate [stuff] on me, I'd just beat the [bleep] out of them," Griffin said. "Then I went to a gym where they did the karate [stuff] and I got my [butt] whipped by a skinny kid and a fat kid . . .
"I thought, maybe there is something to this stuff. Maybe I should learn it."
There are nine ways to win a bout, including knockout, submission and referee stoppage.
There are more than 30 fouls - including most of the actions popularized in movies.
The reason why the UFC is just making its debut in Pennsylvania is because it will not hold events in states until it goes through the sanctioning process, just like boxing did, of state athletic commissions.
UFC is now regulated in 37 of the 44 states that have athletic commissions, including heavyweight-boxing states like California, Nevada, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
"UFC is approaching it correctly by getting it regulated state by state," Florian said. "UFC is putting a lot time and effort into doing that.
"That's a huge benefit to UFC, the fighters and every mixed martial arts organization out there. Getting it approved by each state government is a huge step toward making this really mainstream."
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