I have been a fan of boxing all of my life. I can still recall going to fight between Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran to see it on closed circuit TV. It is now rare that I miss a fight involving a top flight boxer. I no longer watch them on HBO or Pay Per View. Instead, I am more likely to follow the 'round-by-round' account from various blogs. The recent fight between Manny Pacquia and Miguel Cotto being a prime example.
Now...this MMA craze has also gotten this old man who is working on his "Second 50" years (yep, the title of my blog) a bit crazy. I have become an MMA fan. At first, it seemed that two men fighting in a cage where blood seemed to prevail and mayhem seemed to be the objective, was a bit barbaric.
Yet, now, just as I did when I was a young man following boxing, I appreciate the great skill of the great fighters. The skill of an MMA fighter however is a bit unique. An MMA fighter must master a number of disciplines to be effective..Striking on his feet like a boxer, Kickboxing skills to do damage with his feet with head or leg kicks, karate skills, Jiu-jitsu (judo like) skills, an art form call Mu 'thai, wrestling skills for the obvious wrestling that will occur and so forth.
Now that I have watched a dozen plus matches, and with the aid of excellent commentators who explain the 'MMA skill' of a particular move, I find myself being able to identify and appreciate the various skills as they are on display.
I have gotten a kick out of seeing Rachel Frederick's blog, MMA Hot Stuff, for lady followers of MMA. I knew the testerone driven male, 25 to 35, would enjoy the sport. But women? It appears that 35% to 40% of this growing phenomenon are ladies. Well, I am in the South and have grown accustomed to ladies being passionate about college football, i.e., Alabama or Auburn. For some reason, I get a bit of a kick out of seeing them passionate about MMA. Go Rachel!
