Mixed Feelings About Mixed Martial Arts

I have always been a lover, not a fighter.

The reason for this is not a moral high road or good up-bringing so much as common sense. I'm 5'10, 165 lbs and the least intimidating physical presence this side of Matthew Broderick (who people are most likely to say I remind them of).

Despite the fact that I'm no fighter, I do like a good fight. Anything in a ring is good by me. I love a good boxing fight. I have always been a wrestling fan. My short list of personal heroes goes beyond Benjamin Franklin and Abraham Lincoln to include Muhammad Ali and Ric Flair.

Which brings me to MMA - Mixed Martial Arts. It is exciting, brutal and the latest controversial craze. John McCain famously called it "human cockfighting" (he is also against gay marriage...I'm not the first nor will I be the last to make that joke). For everyone who finds it to be Roman gladiators Version 2.0, there is another who loves the combination of boxing, kick-boxing and all those martial arts I don't understand.

I've watched enough on television and the Internet to know that I don't know how much I like MMA. Like millions of others, I watched some of the EliteXC fighting on CBS Saturday night (EliteXC is a different company from the more popular Ultimate Fighting (UFC)). It has been the talk of the sports world as talking heads try to figure out if it is athletic competition or freak show.

I have no doubt about the athletic competition part. The appeal of MMA is that the fighters have a wide array of weapons to win the fights. There are stand-up artists, wrestlers, submission experts, guys with wicked elbows or knees. A fight can look to be going one way, the suddenly be over with a victory the other way (Brock Lesnar suffered this type of reversal of fortune in his UFC debut) because of the crazy submissions and counters in MMA. The guys are usually cut out of stone with less body fat than brain cells. They put their faces and bodies on the line for glory in the cage. I have always been inspired by seeing guys literally give their lives just to win a contest.

The problem I have with Mixed Martial Arts is the brutality. There are moments in the fights when I have a hard time watching it. The "ground and pound" aspect of the sport often leaves a man bloodied, broken and unconscious on the mat. Watching a man take multiple elbow strikes or punches to his unprotected face is disgusting, but it is also fairly common in the sport.

Proponents of MMA argue that the quick knockouts are better for the fighters than the slow, steady pounding of a boxing match. I have watched my fair share of Arturo Gatti fights and know these proponents are correct. Most of the time the fighters "tap out" before a submission hold chokes them unconscious or snaps their arm in half. Why don't I feel as uneasy watching a boxing fight that is more likely to end up in brain damage or death (there has yet to be a specific case of either in MMA) as i do an Ultimate Fight?

These mixed feelings about mixed martial arts make events like Saturday night feel like a horror movie. I cannot decide if I'm enjoying it or wishing it would just be over. Chances are I'll keep coming back for more as I figure it out.