With flashbulbs popping, and the Brazilian crowd cheering as loud as humanly possible, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua stepped into the cage to face Dan Henderson for the second time on March 23, 2014. Henderson had made his entrance to the ring already. He looked the part of the proud American: red, white, and blue adorning his walkout shirt, camouflage on his hat, and terrible country music leading him to the cage door. As exciting as it seemed, this fight was plagued by unrealistic expectations from the jump. In their prior meeting, Henderson and Rua fought to a decision in a bout that many felt was one of the best that has ever taken place in the UFC. But who cares? Who’s watching the rematch? Who’s still catching every UFC fight card? This Saturday the UFC will be putting on two events on the same day. This is the second time this year that a UFC two-event day will be taking place. Call it over saturation; call it feeding the hungry fans what they want. No matter how you look at it, the UFC is going to serve up heaping spoonfuls of what fans hope is quality action.
Look, I am what you might call a “hardcore” fan of MMA. At least I thought I was. I was always willing to tell you who the next guy to watch was, sending you links to articles that could help you to better understand the art of the ground game, spending as much time online cruising MMA forums as I could. I watched it all: UFC, Pride, Rumble on the Rock, King of the Cage, anything I could find. As the sport grew in popularity, thanks in part to The Ultimate Fighter reality show debuting on Spike TV, I got excited. I was buying the big dream, I was listening to Dana White while he spun his web and I got stuck right in the damn middle. I waited for the day that MMA would have the mainstream acceptance that Mr. White was always talking about. As it turned out, he was sort of right; the UFC cut a deal with FOX and started getting legitimate coverage by a respected network. It’s what us “hardcore” fans had wanted for years. But soon it started to change.
It started to change for me when the UFC began giving fans access to preliminary bouts on Facebook; everyone could now enjoy the fights that once only showed up on DVDs. I was excited by the idea that anyone with Internet access was going to be able to watch high-level MMA for free and that would help to grow the sport. As it turns out, nobody really cared. Apparently highly functioning adults found going to a website and clicking on a link was just a bit too challenging. Before too long the “Facebook fights” made their way onto regular television and the UFC counted the views as a success. This action gave the viewer a chance to see just about every fight that was happening under the UFC banner. While I loved the idea of all this access, I wasn’t ready for what was still to come. Toward the end of 2013 UFC President Dana White said the UFC was planning around 50 events for 2014. Fifty … that’s a big number. To put it in perspective, in 2005 (the year The Ultimate Fighter reality series started) they had 10 events. In 2006 those numbers jumped up to 18 and just last year in 2013, the UFC held a record 33 events. So yeah, 50 is a big number. It’s like Andre the Giant big. And now the UFC has its own digital network, Fight Pass, just in case you couldn’t get enough. Now, I am not saying I’m not going to try and watch it all, I am. I am currently a subscriber to Fight Pass and I changed cable providers so I could get Fox Sports 2. I guess I am still pretty fanatical about MMA but I just don’t know if this amount of volume is what fans really want. I can find time to watch all the UFC events. But can I find time to do anything else? When will I find time to watch the small shows that I hunted out in the past? What about Portland’s Rumble at the Roseland? What about Sub League? What about United Combat Sports at the Oregon State Fairgrounds? As easily as I can get sucked into watching 10 hours of UFC fights I can get pulled away from supporting the local shows that help create future MMA champions.
Living in Portland, I am constantly reminded of how important my community is. Every day I drive home, I pass my local co-op grocery store, an independent bookstore, and a park that has community events every Friday night in the summer. My community embraces me and I want to embrace my community. So when it comes to MMA I like to make time to go to local events or talk with local fighters and share with my community a little bit abut whom they should be looking out for. I have found it increasingly harder to do this myself and I can only imagine how much harder it is for someone who isn’t as emotionally invested in the sport as I am. As the UFC continues to force-feed us content until we are ready to burst, it is increasingly more important that we, as fans, respect where these fighters came from and show them the support they so very much deserve. So this weekend, if you are taking in one or both of the UFC cards please remember, there might be a local show just a few days away that could use your support.
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