Its been a long night on the town and you and your spouse/girlfriend just wanna relax, so you go home and she suggests that you watch a movie. Tell her that you have a better idea and that you want to share something with her that makes you happy. Now explain to her that its really important to you that she sit down, relax and watch what you put on the television. Proceed to show these fights in this order to your loved one, so she'll appreciate why we love this sport so much or least let you watch your MMA in peace. Remember this is only if your spouse/girlfriend has no knowledge of the sport, for those woman who do, God Bless You.
3. Chuck Liddell vs Wanderlei Silva at UFC 79- First things first be sure to explain the rules like no groin shots etc. Its very important that you show this fight first. One, because Chuck Liddell is probably the only fighter she has seen or knows anything about, and two, because there is virtually zero ground game in this fight and its way too early to show any ground work. Now explain to her the magnatude of this fight and that its been many years in the making. Give her some background on Wanderlei and maybe even pull out the old laptop and hit up some Silva highlights on youtube. Start the fight, of course the first thing she'll say is "Is that the guy from Fear Factor?" you say "Yes, honey". Now let her watch the fight, sit back and enjoy the ooh's and ahh's. After the fight tell her its only going to get better and no she can't marry Chuck Liddell.
2. Fedor Emelianenko vs Kazayuki Fujita at Pride 26- Before beginning the fight give her some history on Pride. Now explain to her who Fedor is and that he had just beat the best fighter in the world to win the belt. Again, youtube is your friend when explaining who fighters are, tell her how big of an underdog Fujita is although she'll probably figure that out by the announcers. Also, Rampage is a guest announcer in this fight so that will certainly get some laughs from her and explain who he is also. Tell her the things that make Fedor one of the best fighters ever, you know what I'm talking about. Start the fight, now this is the first time she will see a submission so let her know that these guys are professionals and that choking someone out is really not a big deal and they know what they're doing so the fighters know the difference between a choke that puts you to sleep and a choke that kills you. Hopefully she was rooting for the underdog and got excited when Fujita landed that punch, but then hopefully she appreciated the determination and recovery of Emelianenko to come back. Show her the fighters laughing and embracing afterwards.
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1. Mirko Crocop vs Wanderlei Silva 2 at Pride Final Conflict Absolute- She will already be familiar with Wanderlei so she'll have someone to root for right off the bat. Again, explain some background on Crocop and youtube it for some highlights. Tell her about Crocop being in the Croatian army and that he's a very important person over there. Explain to her that many fighters have college degree's, and maybe even some accounting college, and their not just dumb jocks. Also explain the weight difference and the fact that this is an open weight grand prix and that this is their second fight against each other. Start the fight and enjoy the reactions. This will be her first Knockout, hopefully she'll enjoy it, but explain to her that there are doctors ringside and that the fighters are taken care of immediately. Make her watch Crocop's interview after this and the respect he shows Silva, I think this is important(As was the after fight embrace of Fedor/Fujita) to show her that the fighters don't hate each other(usually) and that its only a sport.
This is just for one night to get the ball rolling. Ease her into it and down the road she can start to appreciate all the things you love about mixed martial arts. Like, the gracefulness of Anderson Silva's strikes, the heart of Minotauro, an amazing ground battle, the dedication of the fighters, the athletiscism of GSP, the smaller organizations, the agelessness of Randy Couture, and thats just to name a few. If she still doesn't take to it, then maybe it was at least enough for her to respect MMA.
