Why Is MMA A Rage?
Why is MMA a rage?
Forgive me for my digression. Firstly, my question should be why any kind of legalized fighting is appealing to us? Secondly, amongst all the fights why MMA is a rage?
However, few of them understood my question in the wrong way. I asked you why MMA is a rage. Not why MMA fighters are always in a rage. Or why MMA is all about rage. Okay, allow me to be clearer—why MMA is famous, relatively?
Nonetheless, few of my gym clients were lost, for they didn’t know what is MMA. MMA is mixed martial arts. It is a combat sports that uses both striking and grappling. It is derived from various other combat sports and martial arts.
Now, answering the first question—why fighting is appealing to us?
Primal drive
Fighting is a natural attribute to man such as running. When in danger the beast in us may force us to become physical. Also, man has to get some aggression out, for he has to satisfy his primitive nature. Fighting comes naturally to man to dictate his supremacy. So, even if you cannot engage in such fights, you would like to imagine yourself to be in the ring. Importantly, you want to see the primal instincts in action.
Why MMA is famous?
I believe MMA is liked by many because of its bloodiness and the variety of strikes and grappling involved. At the same time, not many can take it. For example, I cannot see myself doing it. However, there are several of us who like it. Moreover, when the presentation looks so desirable it appeals to many.
As far as the liking and disliking the sport, I believe, looking at the remarks you made it is disapproved by many. However, I am going to present your case. I thank you for your opinion.
Ashwin
I dont know the exact rules of the game – I saw few matches in UFC and in some movies.
its rage : because of the rule/format of the game- fighter can strike and grappling techniques. and to beat some one in this kind of sport , one has to be violent and kick or strike hard !
its kind of human nature you will kick hard and hit hard when you are in mood of anger!
My response to Ashwin: In a general sense, when you look at MMA sport this is what you make out. So, I agree with what Ashwin says.
Sahil
Basically my viewpoint was that fighting and conquering the opponent is a carnal instinct in humans. People love seeing fights as subconsciously they project themselves as the fighter in the ring and combat has always run in our blood. MMA is probably as real a fight can get which is also legally sanctioned. It combines the lethality of many forms like Muay Thai and Ju-Jitsu and the presence of blood and knockouts in almost every fight makes it even more “real” to the average viewer. With the Hollywood-like glitz and glam and superstardom status of fighters, MMA becomes the perfect concoction for the viewer. Hence it has more popularity as compared styles like the “boring” boxing.
My response to Sahil: I wholeheartedly agree with what Sahil says. It seems very glamorous. However, when he says boxing is boring I cannot accept.
Sowhardh
I think MMA appeals to people for different reasons. Combat sports have always appealed to us because of the nature of the sport itself. For ages now, we have been patronizing combat sports. Gladiators from the kingdom era to Boxing in recent times. Seeing two people fight and beat each other up (ground and pound in MMA), I think, satisfies some inner desire of humans and always excites us. It’s about who’s stronger / more powerful. Most of us lead our lives this way as well trying to be more powerful than others (financially, emotionally, etc.) . So that way, its easy for MMA to appeal to us. Its an extension of boxing but with other martial arts skills involved. In a sense, it includes all aspects of fighting, almost no-holds barred (there are very few things you are not allowed to do to your opponent). In terms of a freestyle fight, this is the best it can get (legally :)).
Apart from this,for me, there is another reason why I follow MMA. The life of an MMA fighter is a strange paradox. On the face of it, it looks like two hyper aggressive mad men fighting like mad dogs to kill each other. You could be a mad man inside the cage but to be successful you need to lead a super disciplined life outside the cage. You need to train incredibly hard , be super focussed to be good at this sport. The sport is super unpredictable. You can have the best training camp for months together and still lose a fight in the first 10 secs. It takes a lot of self discipline and courage to pick yourself up and be super motivated to succeed in such an unpredictable scenario, so I really admire people who can do this. I don’t know if its the same for other people, but For me as a sports fan, this is the biggest attraction towards MMA.
Lastly, I think its great marketing skills. UFC is very commercialized with some top fighters making millions for just one fight. The sport is very young but I think UFC did a great job at marketing the sport really well. I don’t think any sport has become so popular within 20 years of its origin and UFC deserves credit for it. It was also about being at the right place at the right time. The sport was great and had potential to appeal to a lot of people. There were a lot of organizations as well promoting the sport but didn’t know how to do it well (Pride, One, K-1 etc.) but UFC put in a lot of money, signed the best fighters, got celebrities to endorse it, got prime time pay-per-view slots and promoted the brand well which helped the sport of MMA get popular.
My response to Sowhardh: Well, this a very positive perspective about MMA. Just because I dislike MMA I cannot disagree with what he says; especially, regarding their lifestyle.
Sammith
After being in London for close to a year now, and experiencing the different types of fitness techniques that are prevalent here, I can say it with firm conviction that MMA occupies a important position in the growing arena of fitness activities, mostly because of its ability to fuse together an array of physical and mental exercises thereby enhancing the interest in it. The Theory on the evolution of man suggests that we as humans, are always attracted to barbarianism, but as we have evolved, there is an increased perception of safeguarding ourselves while letting our beastly instincts thrive. Unlike martial arts, kickboxing etc, where the emphasis is just on response, predictions, patience and physicality, MMA allows the additional components of survival skills, mind games and moreover, the ability to freely use an extensive array of moves without much restrictions. While the other aforementioned activities lays emphasis on containing within rules, MMA allows freedom of choice to the fighter, which strokes his interests. For example, the ability to counter a judo kick with a grappling pankration move is always more engaging than blocking a kickboxing high kick with the traditional elbow and fist movement. Also less protective gear and less attack gear means survival instincts blaze through and the mind is kept active. Also unlike in other activities, for beginners, say for example punching down a bag for an hour continuously, MMA allows a wider of strokes. It is similar how people on dance floors like to hear the DJ mixing a lot of songs than listen to one track. I rest my case.
My response to Sammith: Here is again a very positive note about MMA. I cannot be qualmish about his perspective. In all probability, he seems to have encountered the right kind of MMA being practiced. However, the way it is practiced and promoted here in Bangalore, I have to defer from Sammith. For example, getting certified as a MMA trainer seems an easy job. How? The manner in which the MMA classes are cropping up with certified and well qualified trainers is humongous, ironically.
Mihir
Here are my views about MMA. However I am no expert on it. I have only heard things. So these might be a little biased or misinterpreted.
MMA training as i have seen a friend do it is all about endurance training and movements. It can improve the body flexibility and reflexes. And the kind of endurance training they make them do is very severe as i have heard.Going by what we have learnt from your lessons and training, this kind of training is like Cardio everyday but is a small compromise with muscle loss. Complex movements involving body-weight (in numbers like 150 or 200 reps per day) but no HIIT is what i heard.
However there are a lot of people out there who have simply glamorized it to the public and really dont teach anything useful. There is a friend of mine who teaches in vijayanagar but his classes are2 days a week and i dont see how that is beneficial as exercise. I have heard Hamsa Hastha is a nice group of martial arts training.PS: I doubt if that is something which you already dont know. However if you feel like it is helpful feel free to do anything you like with it and my name!!!! 
My response to Mihir: Well, Do you think I am an expert? Far from that. However, what you have heard about MMA training is what I have heard so far–a negative face.
Phew! I am tired. Well, there were many more responses to my query. Since many didn’t understand the question I will not post those replies. However, I thank you all, for your time and perspectives. Didn’t we learn lot from these exchanges? I think I did. It was a pleasure to know so many opinions.