Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.
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Has anyone ever described the motivation for watching fights, or what people get out of it ? I greatly respect anyone who is crazy enough to get into such a fight, unless they're obviously crazy and unprepared.
But watching the fight itself is completely different to being in a fight, which to me is a very exhilarating experience judging by serious grade school fights or some kinetic sparring I've done a few times.. but that's sadly too risky and I generally prefer to avoid doing it- especially the 'real' fights with hot blood. There's just nothing there, sure it's somewhat more interesting than the fake fights in films, but it's only a very 'academic' interest.
Clearly, that's not other people's attitude so I'm wondering what's going on.
If people healed like in computer games, I'd probably be very much into MMA, but we sadly don't.
It's the motivation for watching any sporting event + a few additional benefits:
Yeah plus it has real consequences, if you lose a fight, you may never be the same again as your chin diminishes, you can pick up a career ending injury or you can learn from it and come back better.
Violence is an essential part of the human condition, hand to hand combat is totally useless unless you wish to act like a dick in bars, the large practical impact it had was proving that there were certain styles and certain ways of making them work. All combat sports work, Karate works if you have no walls, bjj works if the other guy does not know anything about grappling at all and has no friends, wrestling works if you have no issues getting murder charges for slamming a guy into the pavement, muay thai works. People watch it for the reason as most sports, the resolution of a story, a man's dream gets destroyed to fulfill anothers. The wierd side effect of that has made combat sports around the world better as everyone can cross train now.
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Violence has always been something people have been fascinated by as viewers. The NFL offers a watered down much worse version of it, mma is just more honest about it.
I personally watch it because I like seeing how people solve problems, how a set of techniques and strategies can best another.
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Will speak as a fan.
MMA is really the only bloodsport I watch. First, I love the progression from the prelims to the main event, with the latter often being not worth watching at all. It's very fun to watch in a group with 8 light beers and a pizza showing up.
What it's not: A way to fantasize about my own fighting capability
What it is: A way to observe the pinnacle of human achievement in pain tolerance and performance. Making our bodies into weapons is an insane counterpoint to modern western living. Sure you can get like... 60% of that experience by being a traditional athlete, but nothing comes close to the insane violence in MMA. It gets my blood pumping, and even the women's events are a type of masculinity that the elites have done their best to smother everywhere.
Seconding this.
And if you have a decent amount of training in some of the disciplines on display, you can actually sort of comprehend what's going on in that tangle of appendages, and understand why that particular spinning kick-into-right-cross combo took a lot of skill to unleash, even if it didn't land.
I learnt MMA after watching it for a while. It helped me appreciate how hard the sport really is. I still have an obsession with it that i wish I did not have but I have never really liekd any other sport as much.
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