Apparently, Real MMA Isn’t Good Enough for Hollywood

One of the many things that fans of mixed martial arts wondered when the sport started to become more popular was when we would see an MMA movie.  Something that we could call our own, similar to great boxing films such as “Raging Bull” or “Rocky”.  You know, a movie that would humanize both the sport and the fighters, somehow enriching the understanding of those who already love the sport, and giving a great introduction to those who would otherwise not “get it”.

Instead, it appears that mixed martial arts will be limited to such clichéd settings and situations as underground fighting rings where the stakes are high and the bets are higher, complete with fighters who either just want to vanquish the neighborhood bully, or who somehow have to fight illegally to survive.

Eyes of MMA fans simultaneously rolled when the first trailers for last year’s generically-titled “Never Back Down” were revealed.  It was everything that those who had demonized the sport and likened it to “human cockfighting” would have included: hard rock riffs, brutal violence, fighting for no particular reason at all, and of course, no rules.  Even the film’s protagonist was a person who was willing to seriously injure fellow motorists simply for honking their horn at him, and the characters (and their YouTube fascinations) were shallow enough to suggest that the film was written by a middle-aged person who fears and misunderstands young people today, as well as MMA.

Now, we have “Fighting”.  The trailer for this film, starring Channing Tatum, suggests more tripe along the line of “Never Back Down”, or for that matter, any other no-holds-barred fighting movies with all the same clichés and characters as ever.  Although many reviews of the film have mentioned that there are some good performances therein, and the movie is better than it has a right to be, it still makes you wonder.  Why doesn’t Hollywood see the potential in an actual MMA film?

The lives of a few MMA fighters themselves are practically begging to have scripts based off of them.  Consider a guy like Forrest Griffin, who toiled for years fighting in smaller cards while living on couches just because he believed in his ability and wanted to be a professional fighter.  Then, he proceeds to have a once-in-a-lifetime performance during one of the most important fights in MMA history, and even ends up shocking the world again by winning the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship (maybe we’ll leave the loss to Rashad Evans out).

MMA is literally full of athletes who have worked full-time jobs while squeezing in several hours of training whenever possible, fighting in no-name towns for a couple of hundred dollars, sometimes against opponents who aren’t even in their weight class.  The sport is also full of good people, men as well as women that devote themselves to seeing how good they can be in one of the most demanding types of competition one can find.  These stories aren’t interesting?

If Hollywood must interject their clichés, they can.  Throw in the single-parent angle, the evil fighter who the protagonist must face in the cage in order to slay internal and external demons, or even the untrustworthy promoter who wants to throw the main character in to the deep water before he’s ready.  But can we at least trust the audience enough to throw some gloves on the fighters, put them in a cage and have a referee present?  Does looking at MMA like a sport instead of a way to get revenge or act out sadomasochistic rage really make it less interesting as material for a feature film?

Millions of MMA fans don’t think so.

 by Jon Hartley for Fightmania.com

Tags: Forrest Griffin, Rashad Evans, UFC