Ultimate Fighting

Paul in Cannon Beach

Have you heard of this? Ultimate Fighting Championship or UFC? Its HUGE! You may have seen the DVDs of the big matches at your local video store.

Some say that it will replace boxing and wrestling and even be bigger than both sports. If you haven't seen it, its basically two guys beating the crap out of eachother. You can box, kick, head butt, etc.. Just about anything short of killing the other guy.

I have never watched one of the matches or pay per views but I did watch a compilation of UFC fights online and it was pretty disturbing. Its not a big step to gladiators and coliseums.

I used to enjoy watching boxing. I found it graceful albeit brutal. This just seems brutal.

System

Yep, I've heard of it, though have seen only very little in action. I still enjoy boxing much more. Seems like more of a sport. There's a lot of technique and thought/strategy involved that people don't always realize. Though maybe I'm just not realizing the thought/strategy that goes into UFC matches, having never fought bona fide UFC-style.

joannie

Missk,
You box and arm wrestle. Are you also trained in martial arts?

System

[font color="3366cc"]
>Missk,
>You box and arm wrestle. Are you also trained in >martial arts?[/font]

No, no martial arts. For some reason that never appealed to me. Maybe not "raw" enough for my tastes. Who knows.

ACU Frank

I was actually introduced to the spectacle about 10 years ago. There was a fatality at an "amateur night" fight, and I worked with one of the deceased's family members. As a sport, this is about 1/10th of a notch above dogfighting, IMO, and that's only because the competitors have the ability to take it or leave it as they choose.

Paul in Cannon Beach

What does it say about our culture that this "sport" has really become hugely popular?

ritaanz

Culture? I do not think the word is culture. What comes to mind is the brutality and cruelty that certain blood thirsty creatures lust. It is certainly not "our culture".

ray a

Actually Ritaanz, this is a part of our culture whether we like it or not. WWF is on TV several nights a week, and one of the cable channels is now showing this "sport" weekly. It sells. There are enough viewers interested in it that advertisers are willing to spend their dollars to support it and keep it on the air. Doesn't matter if you or I like it or not, it is popular, therefore it has become a part of our culture.

ritaanz

How easily you take ownership for this crap. I, for one, refuse to acknowledge that this is part of my culture.

Just because it exists does not make it our culture. Child porn exists. Sexual deviants exist. Serial killers exist. That is not our culture. That is sick.

ray a

No Ritaanz, I didn't say I take ownership of it, I said it is becoming popular therefore it is becoming a part of the our cultural fabric. That does not mean we have to embrace it or accept it. It just is. There are other elements of our culture I have never accepted and I'm sure neither have you, but we can't deny they exist. The scary thing is how will it effect the 10 year olds who think its really neat?

ritaanz

I am not denying that this sadistic stuff exists. What I take umbrage to is your accepting it as a way of life and calling it part of our culture fabric. A 10 year old in your household would probably think it is neat. In my house, there would be no doubt that this crap is unacceptable and barbaric.

I'm afraid we have become too complacent in allowing this kind of manure to appear and wanting to be politically correct in not destroying it before it destroys us.

ray a

No, when my kids were younger they did not watch stuff like that.

And I am not saying we shouldn't fight against it, either. I didn't say anything about just accepting it, I said it exists. Recognizing its existence, that it is not some passing fad, should lead us to speak out against it. The first step is change the channel. The second step is be aware of who is sponsoring such programming and responding according to your level of commitment.

Paul in Cannon Beach

As a former wrestling fan, I object to your putting WWF and Ultimate Fighting together.

Pro wrestling was always entertainment. Everybody knew it was fake. It was a soap opera. It was low theater.

Ultimate Fighting is very real. The guys really beat the crap out of eachother.

The best fights are here on the forum like the one where I literally knocked the pants off ACU Frank.

Where was Missk when all that was going down? She sounds like she could have beat the two of us up.

ACU Frank

You would have never got my pants off if they didn't want to come off.

HRQ

Ummmm.......

Allsteaks, help me out here.

NaeNae55

Sorry, Paul, but WWF was never allowed on our channels either. The fakeness didn't make it any more charming, nor did the yelling into the microphones or women parading around as if they were proud to be sex objects. I find the entire thing offensive.

UF won't find a place on our tv either. I don't think the sponsors care that we are not watching though. They are appealing to the Y generation and could care less if we hate them. Of course, if enough of us got together against an advertiser and it made the news....

Dutch2

Do you really think that enough can come together for a company to drop their sponsorship of a program. I remember the old days when basically a program would be sponsored by only one sponsor. Such as Tide and Red Skelton or the Colgate/Palmalive (spell?) hour for Bob Hope, etc... and the stars of the program always encouraged you to buy their sponsors products to help keep them on the airways. Seems now-a-days it takes the power of the press to cause enough stink to actually cause a sponsor to back off.

allsteaks

Ultimate Fighting? Can't we all just get along? Frank's voluntary depantsing? That fits the WWF prototype!! Q speechless? It has to be global warming! Idol playing, Q groovin, Frank pantless, Paul on WWF, Nae and Dutch reminiscing (I looked it up for spelling): priceless.
Thanks for letting me watch!!

joannie

It has to be
>global warming! Idol playing, Q groovin, Frank
>pantless, Paul on WWF, Nae and Dutch reminiscing"


Allsteaks, Isn't that the Billy Joel song "We Didn't Start the Fire"?

allsteaks

Those lyrics would work, or it could just be a Visa commercial.

Paul in Cannon Beach

Nae, I agree with you . WWF is totally offensive. It wasn't always that way though. There was a time when it was more about the stories and less about sex and outlandishness. Ok, maybe its always been about outlandishness.

I dont watch it now but there was a time I enjoyed it. Ok, I got that out and I feel better.

Lets keep talking about wrestling so we dont have to acknowledge Frank's awkward statement.

ritaanz

Frank, why would you lose your pants?

Paul in Cannon Beach

Well, you got Rita's attention.

ritaanz

Paul, go to your room.

Paul in Cannon Beach

Hey I signed up for computer in the community room and I intend to use it for my full allotted time until "free choice" activity time is over or my meds kick in.

ritaanz

Dam! I never ever thought your problem was drugs. That explains a whole plethora of stuff

HRQ

Frank still hasn't answered the "pants" issue. I happen to know the history, but I am waiting for him to explain why his pants "wanted to come off" for Paul.

ritaanz

I think I'm sorry I asked.

Paul in Cannon Beach

I think the meds are kicking in.. oooohhh the pretty lights.... what was the question?

Paul in Cannon Beach

Ultimate fighting or "mixed martial arts" as some call it even made the Daily Show this week as one of the reporters called it a "more purer form of homoeroticism than boxing".