Fightmania Mailbag: Anderson Silva, Kyle Maynard and More

Fightmania readers like to make their feelings known, and there’s nothing wrong with that.  Unless your feelings conflict with my opinion.  No, I’m kidding…mostly.  Here are a few of the e-mails I’ve received over the last week or so, which I’ll respond to.

If you want to get your opinion in this space, send me an e-mail about whatever you want to talk about (MMA-related, of course).  Disagreements, debates, opinions, maybe even compliments?  I’ll take ‘em all.  Let’s get started.

Philip from Scranton, PA has thinks I may have been a little hard on Kyle Maynard:

It saddens me that so many people are hating on Maynard so hard.  The guy is just trying to do something that he wants to do, and like he says, he has a right to do so.  Why do people have such a problem with a guy that just wants to compete?  I know you weren’t lobbing personal attacks at the guy (like a lot of people have on internet forums), but I don’t think it’s right to say that he shouldn’t fight.

Look, Philip.  I don’t have a problem with Kyle wanting to fight.  It’s only natural for people to want to do things that they think they can do.  However, it is the job of promoters and (in states such as Georgia) the athletic commission to determine whether a person should be allowed to compete or not.  No one has a “right” to fight in MMA in a sanctioned state.  In fact, there is a responsibility for those in positions of power to only let those who are physically able to compete get in the cage.  If you have a heart condition, partial blindness, or are too old, you can have your license refused.  It’s no different with Maynard. 

Still, it’s impossible to justify some of the irrationally angry and downright mean comments that have been directed his way by keyboard warriors on internet forums.  Really, Kyle is the only person in the whole situation who is just doing what he should be doing: pushing himself to achieve his goals.  It is the job of others to protect such a competitive person from himself, just like it is when an aging boxer doesn’t know when he should retire (see: Evander Holyfield).

Topher from Sandusky, Ohio takes a different view on Anderson Silva’s fight with Thales Leites.

I don’t understand people complaining about Silva’s performance against Leites.  The guy doesn’t have to stick his chin out and say “hey, hit me” to be a good fighter.  What Silva did was prove that he is miles beyond Leites or anyone else in his weight class.  If the UFC doesn’t like it, they should give him a bigger challenge.

Hmmm…where to begin.  First of all, I’m not saying that Silva should get into a Frye-Takayama slugfest for all of the bloodthirsty fans who want a knockout.  Still, a little bit of an attempt to finish the fight and not look completely bored in the cage would be nice.  It’s true that there aren’t many fighters in the middleweight division who can challenge Silva, but that doesn’t change the fact that his job is to fight at his best against anyone who steps into the cage against him.  Why should he let a fighter whose skills he clearly doesn’t respect be able to say that he went five rounds with Anderson Silva?  If he wants to prove he’s better than his competition, he will dominate them in the way that he should.

Finally, we’ve got Chris from Waverly, Iowa, who has this to say about MMA movies:

I definitely agree with what you had to say about MMA movies.  I think that it sets the sport back to have these kinds of movies out there portraying MMA in a bad way.  Hopefully, true MMA fans will not be going to check these movies out in the theater…wait for a real MMA movie instead!

I don’t know how much the movies set back the sport, but it may affect how people who don’t know an arm bar from a triangle choke perceive it.  Of course, a lot of those people already think of it as two goons swinging wildly at each other, anyway.  I just think that it would be great to see a movie that really shows what MMA and its fighters are all about.

That’s it for this week.  Be sure to e-mail me with any thoughts, questions or comments.  There are e-mail links in each of my columns that you can put your own two cents in.  Make sure to include a first name and where you’re from!

 by Jon Hartley for Fightmania.com

Tags: Anderson Silva, UFC