MMA and its Fans!

The MMA world is filled with all kinds of fans just like any other sport. There are elitist fans who hold tight to tradition and have a difficult time embracing change. There are fans who assimilate their opinions and overall attitude about MMA with the times. In between you have all kinds of fans from the casual water cooler at work discussion types to die hard Internet fans who flex cyber wit in attempt after attempt to "pwn" one another. I'm going to attempt to break down the various types of MMA fans I have personally encountered in my years of being a regular forum writer and just being a fan in general! I'm sure I'll miss a few, but it's all just in fun anyway.

Fan Type 1: "I've Been Watching Since UFC 1 Fan" A majority of this type of fan are lying in the first place. It seems to be a common trump card used by fans to try and one up each other in terms of MMA wit and knowledge. Every now and then, you can differentiate and actually believe one of these fans, but those types are rare. For every fan who honestly makes this claim, I believe there are 20 who are full of shit. Not to mention, I know plenty of people who have watched from the inception who have very misguided attitudes about MMA.

Fan Type 2: "Dimension of MMA Fan" This type of fan roots mostly for MMA participants who come from the base dimension that they prefer. I myself may get accused of this, as I have a tendency to really root for the athletes who come from amateur wrestling backgrounds. The difference between myself and others who are truly a number 2 type pretty much boil down to the fact, that I don' t find it necessary to shit on other dimensions. Many Muay Thai /kick-boxing in general or BJJ lovers find it absolutely 100% necessary to take a dump on the skills involved in other dimensions. I find these types of fans to be in serious denial and working with very narrow scopes. Let's face it, "the modern day warrior" (I'm laughing as I type that) must have some semblance of skill in all areas.

Fan Type 3: "The Purist or MMA Snob!" This type of fan does not welcome any sort of revolutionary change that will alter the current perceptions of MMA. Case in point, the arrival and tenure of Brock Lesnar. Brock's brief WWE tenure completely overshadowed the fact that the man is a University of Minnesota former NCAA Divison 1 champion. The purist snobs could not get past the fact that this guy was doing F-5s in Vince McMahon's traveling circus, and his arrival on the MMA scene made them feel super threatened. This group also spent a great deal of time calling for Kimbo Slice's head on a platter, but then turned around and rooted for him when he came to the UFC to do The Ultimate Fighter. This leads to..............

Fan Type 4" The Fickle Fan": This type of fan will build a fighter up when they are winning and then pull a vanishing act upon the first loss. I see this type of fan all the time. They are the worst in my opinion. Here is a great example of fickle fandom. Anthony Rumble Johnson is being polled as the next serious legitimate threat to GSP's throne. He's an amazingly HUGE super athlete who is actually bigger than the French Canadian. He was knocking out people in devastating fashion, and he possesses crazy athleticism. The boards were loving them some Rumble. Josh Koscheck comes along and defeats Rumble and now you can't hear a pin drop in relation to Rumble's future title implications. AndreArovlovski is another fighter who has been victimized by Fan Type 4 .

Fan Type 5 " The Promotional Fan" This type of fan feels the need to either hate all things Zuffa because rooting for grass roots or smaller shows makes them feel like part of a counter culture or they root for Zuffa exclusively and feel the UFC is the only promotion offering quality MMA. In my opinion, both suck ass. Let's be real. There are entirely too many quality fighters that need to make a living for them to all be housed under the Zuffa banner. Being a fan of the sport should mean being a fan of the athletes involved and wanting them to have success. This is not possible under one promotion. On the other hand, anybody not recognizing the roads Zuffa has paved for MMA along with the superb quality of its products is an utter moron. However, in the end I'd like to slap the shit out any fan who roots for Zuffa to squash the smaller promotions and crush fighters' dreams.

Fan Type 6: " New Fans" This type of fan comes with a high level of enthusiasm but often offers too much insight in relation to thier knowledge of the sport. In other words, they love...love...love the sport, but don't know what the Hell they're talking about. They are a necessary type of fan though. Without them, demand for MMA will slow down. All fans should take the time to nurture new fans and educate them, as they are the backbone for potential growth. Be patient with this type of fan please!

Fan Type 7 "The Casual Fan" The water cooler guys who hook into TUF, Fight Nights, and go the bars to watch UFC ppvs. The WEC had caught on a lot with this type of fan, and shows on CBS have given some exposure to other organizations. Boy Elite XC came very close to misguiding MMA fans during thier CBS tenure though. (Thank you Seth Petruzelli, and no offense to Kimbo. I appreciate the interest Kimbo has generated in our sport.) This type of fan is extremely good for business and a complete necessity for MMA growths. A minority of this type of fan ends up becoming more serious and becoming one of the other types.

Fan Type 8: "The Internet Fan!" This type of fan is co morbid with at least one of the above types. I for example am an internet fan w/ a sprinkle of Fan Type 2 and possible others. I enjoy internet conversation about MMA. Sure many false rumors (RIP Kimo) are spread through cyber land, but I do believe the greatest place to learn about MMA in on the Internet by interacting with fans representing all of the above types.

Fan Type 9: "Juvenile Clown Fans" This type of fan usually does not compete at all or have any idea about what any actual combat sport it like. Next to their Ed Hardy shirts are all of their Tapout and Affliction duds. They may sport heavy tattoos like fighters, and they lurk around Internet forums looking to pick arguments with anyone who has a slightly different take on any subject MMA. These types of fans all secretly worship guys like John Cena and love Brock Lesnar for all the wrong reasons!

Fan Type 10: "The Die-hard" This type of fan eats, drinks, breathes, and shits MMA. They recognize that the sport doesn't grow without all the other types of fans. This fan is very pro-fighter and always looks out for fighters' best interests when forming their takes. This type of fan will also be quick to point out when fighters are being greedy or selfish and hurting the forward movement of the sport. This fan knows what is going on with the current MMA landscape and has the ability to not only offer insight, but to accept others. This type of fan is very rare, although most claim to be one. In all of my years posting on Internet forums, I have only come across a few. I can say with some degree of certainty that some of them have blogs on this site. I consider this type of fan to be the black belt of fandom. I'm not quite there myself upon serious introspection, but I eventually hope to be. The more of them our sport gets, the better off we're going to be.

Long Live MMA and All its fans!