Mixed Martial Arts

People must have their circuses. Their curious fascination with the brutal side of life, evidenced by the popularity of physical 'sports' like professional wrestling and boxing, like hockey and rugby games where the goal seems all so often to inflict as much physical punishment on the adversary as rules and regulations appear to permit. The roar of the crowd, the approving entreaty to continue to thrill their vicarious mesmerization with anything approximating combat, brings an euphoric pleasure to the minds of the protagonists.

This is redolent of earlier times when in Roman-era arenas gladiatorial skills in combating equally skilled men of powerful physique and familiarity with the primitive side of human existence, gave the crowds their moments of collective satisfaction. Not quite the reflection of an even earlier era when Greek 'games' of physical beauty manifested in the perfect shape of a well-toned human body brought admiration, doubled by the contestants' ability to demonstrate the grace and power of physical prowess and precision performance.

In our era, a jaded public, bored with the usual that the sporting world has to offer, has their imagination caught by 'ultra sports'. Mixed Martial Arts in which brutish appearance and hulking physique twin with a marginal spirit of fair play and a far harsher interpretation of what's permitted on the battlefield of the stage. Men and women priding themselves in having the genetic physical endowment, the training and mindset and the urgent need to display themselves and their muscular training to advantage.

Winning, earning adulation and brief stints of glory, acquiring the 'win' proceeds and the reputation transcends dedication to the pure spirit of competition for the sake of demonstrating grace of movement and beauty of presentation. These martial arts games are another story altogether, combining all the worst elements of physical manipulation and strength, cunning and belligerence marked by events to which the public flocks: Ultimate Fighting Championships.

These events stand on the threshhold between civilization and primitive behaviour where the champion is the one with the greatest strength and carefully crafted moves meant to overpower the attributes of the other through intimidating viciousness. Just as boxing dealt wicked blows to the human head resulting in the eventual destruction of brain cells and debilitating future health conditions, so too do these modern-era events with their techniques geared to winning at all costs, auger ill for their players.

As much as the supporters and the presenters enjoy speaking of these extreme events as exhibitions of the "martial arts", they are not. They are, quite frankly, exhibitions of human brutality posing as an art form. One that exploits the public's keen enthusiasm for witnessing blood and pain and atrocious conduct in the guise of a well-accepted 'sport'.

These events have their relative counterparts elsewhere in the world. Public executions still take place to great public acclaim in those parts of the world where a deeply fanatic religious movement has taken root. Where men and women are flogged, tortured, stoned to death and an entire village will turn out to aid and to celebrate the deaths of those who dare challenge religious values.