UFC and Stuff
I was never into pro wrestling. I appreciated that the folks doing it were athletes, even though their stories are scripted. For whatever reason, I could read superhero comics until the cows came home, but I thought wrestling was too “fake and scripted” to have it haul in my attention. But again, those folks doing it are definitely athletes. (Steroid issues aside, I guess).
So, the other day I rented one of those UFC DVDs from Blockbuster. You know about these? They are mixed martial arts fights, meaning that the fellers can punch, kick, elbow, and grapple each other until they win either by technical points, a knockout, or putting the other person in submission. I was curious to see Randy Couture fight.
First off, Randy is 40. Yep. 40 years old, and fighting these dudes in the heavyweight division that are often 20 years his junior. Oh, and he’s the champ.
Now, the DVD had something like nine bouts on it. It started with the lighter fellers fighting and grappling, and immediately, I found what DIDN’T appeal to me about this stuff. When folks grapple, it looks a lot like they’re doing something else. Fine. Nothing wrong with that. But not exactly what I wanted to see.
Another thing about this specific DVD. Randy didn’t fight. 14 seconds and the fight got called because the other guy poked Randy in the eye in such a way that they had to call it, give the other guy his belt, and everything was over. Talk about a ripoff.
However, there was this one really great overall theme. The guys who did lots of good physical fitness training on top of their martial arts training invariably won the fights. If a guy had plenty of muscle, he could almost always just outmuscle the other guy who was using all kinds of techniques.
That’s certainly something for me to file away for another time. Anyhow, if you get a chance, check out one of these fights just to see someone doing something very physically taxing. Definitely not pro wrestling, and kind of interesting in a way that boxing isn’t always.
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