In my recent examination to better understand why mixed martial arts will never become more mainstream and popular than it currently is, I have concluded that a lot of the animosity that is aimed directly towards mixed martial arts stems from its poorly perceived social image as it relates directly to the intimidation factor that currently exists in today’s pop culture environment.
The use of intimidation in every single aspect of this particular sport goes against everything that is pure about martial arts and as entertaining as it may be for its’ current blood-thirsty demographic, the sport of MMA will most definitely suffer for it in the long run (as will the reputation of all traditional forms of martial arts).
What is intimidation?
Intimidation is threatening to use power or control to get others to do what you want them to do. A very nice advantage for any fighter.
Where is this intimidation?
Everywhere you look!
Nicknames such as “The Axe Murderer”, “The World’s Most Dangerous Man”, “The Predator” and of course “The Nightmare”.
And not just nicknames….
The music that is played during a fighter’s entrance.
The clothing line complete with skulls and phony blood spatter.
The trash talking and poor sportsmanship which always takes place before, during and after a fight.
The over-sized muscles (steroids).
The neck tattoos.
The entourage of highly experienced and well known trainers in a fighter’s corner screaming “He’s nothing!! He’s scared!!”
And last but not least, a fighter being known for his street-brawling YouTube videos (Gee, I wonder who that could be?).
The list is very long indeed.
The back-fire effect is that when a fighter acts overly confident and tries too hard to implement scare tactics to get inside of his opponents head, a smarter fighter will usually sense that he is really only trying to cover-up his own feelings of massive insecurity, uncertainty and overall lack of talent. It becomes a “window to the soul” so to speak.
I can remember when I was younger, I fought in a local tournament against a guy that I had beat rather embarrassingly at a black belt grading the year before. This was our first meeting since then and I could tell from the moment that we first made eye contact with each other that he was out for redemption.
As I endured the constant dirty looks throughout the day, I knew that we would be destined to meet again in the ring. And I was right.
As fate would have it, we had been paired up against each other in the very first round of competition. The winner would move on. The loser was done for the day.
While the centre judge prepared us, my opponent suddenly looked afflicted with severe constipation. He had this odd, scrunched up look on his face and he was breathing and grunting like a beast in heat. When the referees’ hand was finally drawn away, my opponent came firing out at me like a wild man, determined no doubt to take his revenge.
The growling and the grunting became increasingly louder as the match unfolded. He was huffing and puffing and doing everything that he could to get into my head. Unfortunately, his biggest problem was the same as when we had met the first time. He was up against a young man who would not be easily intimidated.
In the end, my opponent lost. Again.
What’s the moral of the story?
Remember kids, the more a person tries to intimidate you, the less likely they are someone that you need to worry about.
If you should worry about anyone, worry about the quiet, serious guy who always keeps to himself and minds his own business. He is likely more dangerous. Everyone else in my opinion is nothing more than a hyped-up poser.
As a major sponsor, Harley Davidson is an absolutely perfect fit for the UFC because the entire biker image has been developed solely to intimidate. “Wow look!…another fat bald guy with a goatee, in black leather chaps and flame tattoos up his forearms! How originally intimidating!!”
Pardon me while I piss myself laughing.
To me, the entire “fighter” image has become absolutely ridiculous. Someone please tell these guys that the more that they try to intimidate, the more insecure and cowardly they appear.
They are simply becoming a recycled product of mass marketing and media influence.
The more they try to be different, the more they are exactly the same. I ask you, what’s to fear in that?
This article can also be found on the Bleacher Report entitled “The Initimidation Factor”.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/273383-inser…
The picture is amazing
LOL, I thought so too!
Great story, James! It is my hope that it will reach a child that is being bullied so that he or she can learn and understand that he or she shouldn't put up with it. Also that the more intimidating someone they are actually more scared inside. Thanks!
Thanks Keith. Great advice.
hey James, really like this article and agree totally, well put
EXCELLENT JOB !!
You make in interesting points about how this will effect traditional martial arts in the long term. It really is ironic that something that was originaly designed to help villagers ward of soldiers with the simple tools they had available has now over time become a sport, but martial arts competition didnt just develop lately.
I disagree with some of your points, but overall in interesting perspective. I think the images that you speak of or the actions really attract the demographic this industry is aiming for. In that sense it is by design and not seen as a detriment by those working that angle.
Then again, it is inevitable that MMA will need to branch out and lure in a larger more diverse demographic and in the process will need to soften the edge just a bit. Tone it down I guess.
But in the end, intimidation has always been a key asset to many a fighter in many combat sports. It is not something new to MMA or the fighting arts in general. It is a tool that has been around for a long time.
I remember martial arts tournaments as a child, some of the best martial artists utilized the kiai (battle cry as Im sure your familiar with) as a weapon every bit as much as the tool it is originally meant to be. To hear your opponant hollaring out gutteral sounds while rushing you and striking is not easy to ignore. That is part of the art of learning self control though. Point being, intimidation has been engrained in some way shape or form in martial arts in particular since its inception so many centuries ago. Its par for the course and not quite the detriment you paint it to be here in my humble opinion. That said, you make some great points about imagery and appearance that holds some weight. Great read, even if we dont agree, I enjoyed the article.
Hi Todd,
I don't think that we disagree as much as you may think.
Intimidation has always existed in the fighting arts – true. Silence can be intimidating. Posture. An expressionless look on a fighters face. A lot of things can be intimidating depending on how they are interpreted by another person. I believe that intimidation is an important tool for any fighter.
I just think that it's gone a little too far and in the process has ultimately contradicted its own purpose.
For me, I just feel that alot of what goes on, (with the intention to intimidate), is actually quite comical.
My “battle cry” used to be to yell “DIE!!!” as loud as I could LOL Yes, when used at the right time, it is a very effective way to literally stun an opponent.
Glad that you liked it. Appreciate the read.
Perfect example is Anderson Silva…He does not try to scare anybody..yeah, his entrance music is loud but he doesn't trash talk…and he is the best fighter in the world.Period. The one thing that goes on in every sport is trash talk..hockey,football,boxing..you name it..I don't think that will ever change.Kids learn from these”heroes”. That's why kids get bullied etc because they see their “heroes” doing the same thing. I could go on and on….Good article Jamie.
Thanks.
What about Spiders?? I'm terrified of Spiders!!! LOL
Great Article.
. Martial Arts is psychological as much as it is a physical activity. In Martial Arts movies, big guys with ginormous muscles always get beatdown by a scrawny fighter, we saw that in Karate Kid, Enter the Dragon and many (if not all) other martial arts movies. In MMA, Royce Gracie was known to beat guys bigger and more intimidating than him. Does Royce Gracie try to put a show by showing off his muscles or doing some fancy shmanzy taunting before the fight? No. Fedor , known as the best mma fighter in the world, doesn't even talk or even show emotion on the fight and a lot of people are scared of him.
It's true that in mma there a lot of these fighters, but I hate them anyway. I only wanna see them get beat up by this mysterious silent fighter, and that's why I love watching mma. There are some really great fighters out there that really exemplify what martial arts is all about and I think that kinda balances out their image.
Oh and in terms of mainstream popularity, just look at WWE. I think they reached mainstream popularity, and they're much bigger than the UFC. And this is all they freakin do, they just trash talk all day and they don't even fight for real. I think at the end of the day, this is all boils down to the fact that people just wanna see two guys beat each other up whether they realize that the fighter image has gone ridiculous or not.
I really enjoyed reading this article, this gives great insight on fighting psychology.
Spiders dont have to say anything or put on a show though, they just know.
My favorite method of intimidation ever is the tribal dance/warcry of the All Blacks. It would seem to be very effective as well.
[...] “If you should worry about anyone, worry about the quiet, serious guy who always keeps to himself and minds his own business. He is likely more dangerous. Everyone else in my opinion is nothing more than a hyped-up poser.”—A Better Understanding of the Intimidation Factor [...]