Dissecting another inacurate article about mixed martial arts
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- February
- 12
Mike Toth writes for sportsnet.ca, a news website out of Ontario, Canada. Toth recently made some pretty bold,inaccurate statements about athletes who compete in mixed martial arts. I am going to carefully dissect each one of these statements, and then prove why every statement, with the exception of his first, is completely asinine.
You can find the original article here > http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/2008/02/06/toth_scattered_thoughts/
You’d be an absolute idiot to face a UFC fighter in any sort of physical confrontation. Heck! It would be intimidating just standing in a buffet line with one of these guys.
Well – I have to agree with you there.
But as much as you have to respect their toughness, there are big questions about the athletic ability of Ultimate Fighters.
Seriously? Have you ever seen the training regimen of mixed martial artists?
Maybe you don’t understand the definition of the adjective “athletic†– for your convenience, I will provide the Webster’s version:
athï½¥letï½¥ic -adjective
1.Of or pertaining to athletes; involving the use of physical skills or capabilities, as strength, agility, or stamina: athletic sports; athletic training.
Before you question the ability of “ultimate fighters”, why don’t you check out an episode of “UFC All Access”? Check out the episodes documenting the training regimens of guys like Rich Franklin, Georges St. Pierre, Quinton Jackson, Sean Sherk, and Randy Couture. After doing some legit research, let me know if you still question “the athletic ability†of mixed martial artists.
On April 19th, Montreal’s Georges St. Pierre will appear in the main event at the Bell Centre, as UFC presents its first ever card in Canada. But you have to wonder if Georges wouldn’t rather be making his Bell Centre debut while wearing the jersey of the beloved Montreal Canadiens.
I don’t recall any interviews where Georges “Rush†St. Pierre proclaims that he would have loved to pursue a career in hockey, but instead chose the easy path to mixed martial arts.
This guy has dedicated his life to martial arts. Georges is, pound for pound, one of the best fighters in the world today. That type of dedication doesn’t come when your real passion is with another sport. Something tells me that Georges St. Pierre isn’t dying to lace up a pair of ice skates.
If I am wrong, then please cite an example where Georges St. Pierre publicly claims he would have rather pursued a career in ice hockey instead of being one of the greatest welterweight mixed martial artists on the planet Earth. I’d love to see that.
Face it, Ultimate Fight fanatics. Many of your favourite fighters are a bunch of guys who failed to make the grade in traditional sports such as hockey and football.
Brock Lesnar is a prime example.He became famous as a pro wrestler with WWE. However, a few years ago he got the bright idea of trying out for the Minnesota Vikings. But Lesnar was quickly cut and when nobody else in the NFL offered him a contract, he headed back to the wrestling ring.
Now, Lesnar is giving it a go in UFC. But last weekend, he lost his first fight after only 90 seconds and his days in the octagon might be just as short as his football career.
Toth – I challenge you to come up with a legitetimate list of “fan-favorite†mixed martial artists who failed to excel in “traditional†sports and decided to give MMA a shot.
If Brock Lesnar is your best example, then your argument is as weak as Lesnar’s submission defense. Lesnar is a well conditioned, behemoth of an athlete, but he is still progressing in this sport and that is why he lost in his UFC debut. Strength and conditioning take you far in MMA, but you also need the ability to fight standing up and on the ground. These skills are learned through years of martial arts training. Lesnar will be great one day, but he needs more fights under his belt.
Why didn’t you name guys like Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, Wanderlei Silva, Fedor Emelianenko, Matt Hughes, BJ Penn, etc.
You didn’t choose these names because these guys have made careers out of fighting, first and foremost. These names are staples of the sport and your so-called “favoritesâ€.
Brock Lesnar is not a name closely associated with mixed martial arts.
Come up with a list of “favorite†fighters that made careers out of mixed martial arts after failing at other pro sports. If you cannot, your argument is invalid.
Next.
But an amazing physique doesn’t necessarily make you a world class athlete and the fact is, boxing also has trouble attracting top-notch performers. Where once the heavyweight champ was the undisputed king in the financial world of sports, these days you can make the same kind of coin signing a big deal in the NHL or NFL. With his long, lean body and quick hands, Muhammad Ali would have made a heck of a modern-day wide receiver; and it would have been a whole lot easier maintaining his pretty boy looks.So, if a great athlete can make huge cash catching footballs or shooting pucks, why in the world would they choose to get punched in the nose or kicked in the noggin?
Only an average athlete with an above-average thirst for the spotlight would ever do that.
This argument irks me. Badly.
Toth poses the question “if a great athlete can make huge cash catching footballs or shooting pucks, why in the world would they choose to get punched in the nose or kicked in the noggin?â€
The answer is quite simple: Because they are good at it. These athletes excel at martial arts; they experience their greatest levels of success competing in a ring or cage.
Just because Ali might have had the physical characteristics of a wide receiver, does that make him predisposed to excelling at the sport? NO. You have to have the passion for the sport. You have to want to put hours and hours into your training. You have to, at some level, naturally excel at it. If Ali wanted to pursue football, he would have. He pursued boxing for obvious reasons.
Johnnie Morton, a guy you would say participated in “traditional” sports, gave MMA a shot – and he found himself on the wrong end of a ferocious knock out in the first 38 seconds of his fighting career. On top of that, he failed his California State Athletic Commission drug test; he was all pumped up with steroids.
Morton had all the physical characteristics of someone who might be successful in MMA. Did the use of steroids, layers of muscle, and the ability to play football help him when he entered the ring against a skilled Tae Kwon Do fighter?
I think the photo answers that question.
Morton was stretchered out of the ring, by the way.
I just did a google image search for the word “obesity†and this image came up.
Now this guy has the size, and girth, of a sumo-wrestler, but something tells me he’d suffer a coronary if put in a match against sumo-wrestling legend Akebono. 
Just because you have the physical tools , doesn’t mean you have a predisposition to success in ANY sport.
Perhaps MMA isn’t your thing. Maybe you are mad because the UFC sold 21,000 tickets in 24 hours – when was the last time the Montreal Canadiens did that?
Before you decide to attack the fastest growing sport on the planet, do a little research. Your arguments are consistent with other disgruntled sports reporters who make unwarranted, inaccurate statements about the toughest sport that exists today. Mixed martial arts is here to stay; you don’t have to embrace it, but if you are going to report about it then you should make sure you have some legit facts to back up your opinions.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, February 12th, 2008 at 12:55 pm by Larry Vollmer.
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Yeah, Toth was way off base. Don’t forget about Michael Jordan. He tried baseball and sucked. Obviously he was better suited for basketball. And I am sure many would consider him one of the best athletes ever. I am sure the same holds true for many in other sports as well. Just because a person doesn’t excel in one sport does not mean they cannot be superior in another.
And Ali as a wide receiver? I am not saying he would not have been great, but he worked with clinched fists. Who knows what would have happened if he used open hands to catch a ball. He could have had total butter fingers. Totally different mechanics involved. But he still probably would have been great because as we all know, he was the greatest of all time.
I guess what Togh is trying to say is he is a writer because he sucks as an athlete.
Excellent points – great conclusion!
Mr. Toth, Georges did have a choice between focusing on ice hockey and martial arts. He chose to pursue martial arts and has excelled in the sport. I am not sure that after watching videos of his workouts that an athelete in any other sport could keep up with him. Perhaps you should hire a diverse group of atheletes and let them try and publish the results. I am sure it would be most enlightening.
I love it, I absolutely love it when people that don’t know what they are talking about get put in their place. Everyone seems to have an opinion about MMA, and mostly that opinion is negative. It is the fastest growing sport, and many heads can’t fathom that these guys are the real deal.
Boxers see them as a threat, uneducated opinionists see it as scrappy and devoid of any real skill or athletic ability. WTF? are you even watching the same thing? Like the man said, watch UFC all access and I will quite happily pick up your jaw from the floor when you see what these guys go through. I dare ANY ‘athlete’ from ANY other sports discipline to try and do ONE DAY of MMA training. I think they would be found wanting.
Good article my man, at last someone that actually knows what they are talking about. The Internet is made and run entirely on opinions, if you are going to man (or indeed woman) up and write an article where everyone can see it, at least do some research. If you don’t you may end up looking like this guy: A complete ****. There is always someone out there that knows more than you, and in this case its Larry Vollmer :)
Excellent! You are right on the money. Keep them on their toes. I hope that reporter got fired for his biased writing.
Christian – thanks for the kind comments.
I tried to post a reply to his blog on their site but they wouldn’t post it. I brought up the same points you did Larry. Must have been because I ended it with “Now I know why TSN let you go” (TSN is Canada’s ESPN, he used to work for them prior to Sportsnet). I can’t believe Mike Toth is employed by a large sports network (Sportsnet is another ESPN type in Canada) and reports so irresponsibly. He really made himself look stupid with his assinine and irrelevant comments. He is doing everything he can in his blog to delegitimize MMA, but he fails miserably on every point. MMA is literally destroying boxing…no one cares about the sweet science anymore. A one dimensional sport vs. one that incorporates various styles is so boring in comparison. You just know Mike was picked last in gym class…every time.
Carl – They wouldn’t post my comments either.
That is good information to know. Now his blabber makes a little more sense.
Nice job Larry! I don’t think that I could have done it without calling Toth a moron or much worse numerous times.
Toth writing articles about MMA is about the equivalent of Rachel Ray writing articles on tax fraud!
Mike – good analogy. I like that one.
Nice dissection. Toth reminds me of another so-called journalist that writes for Yahoo’s MMA content…Any guesses who this might be?
Georges made the right choice – Stick with the sport that resembles the most exciting part of a hockey game…
Great article. I was thinking about how retarded the hockey article was myself.
“Traditional” athletes use a different skill set than MMA fighters. Being able to throw/hit/catch a ball well and run fast doesn’t have anything in common with rolling in BJJ. The vast majority of “traditional” athletes would suck ass at BJJ.