For those who don't know, in the early days of Mixed Martial Arts in America it had alot of problems with angry politicians. I actually wrote an article awhile back on the rise of mixed martial arts that explains McCain's role. Here is what I wrote-Senator John McCain was so adamant about banning the UFC he was successful in making it illegal in all but 3 states. McCain, who is known for having connections in boxing, also had it removed from 90% of pay-per-view providers. Since then the sport has bounced back and is the fastest-growing sport in the U.S. today. Now what we don't know is if McCain still has strong beliefs about this issue. Its not likely that he changed his mind, the question is if he really wants to push the issue if he gets the presidency. I'm not a big supporter of his politics and this is an issue I wholeheartedly disagree with him on. As Dennis Miller used to say "Now I don't want to go on a rant here, but".
MMA is a sport, a beautiful sport and there are many reasons that this sport is growing so fast and yes one of them is the violence. The violence is probably what turns most people on at the beginning, but violence is also what turns people on to football, boxing and many others. Its just outright stupidity to want to ban a sport like MMA and endorse a sport like boxing, which is what McCain did awhile ago. Boxing has had more serious injuries and any person with half a brain can see the medical difference between getting hit, kicked or submitted for a short amount of time to getting punched in the head over a hundred times in a longer time period.
It really pisses me off when people who have never watched this sport automatically assume its "human cockfighting". If people(including Mr. McCain) would actually sit down and watch these fights, after awhile they would start to appreciate the incredible skill and intelligence these fighters exhibit, the way I and numorous fans do. It is a sport, there are rules that prevent the bouts from resembling street fights in any way.
So the question remains will McCain push the issue if he is elected? In my opinion its not likely to happen anymore because MMA is sanctioned in so many states around the country now. It has become big business and in that sense big business is hard to bring down for anyone, even the president. My advice to Mr. McCain, sit down, relax and watch a fight like BJ Penn vs Georges St. Pierre, Fedor vs Crocop or Tyson Griffin vs Frankie Edgar and speak to me about MMA being "human cockfighting". I will send the DVD's to Mr. McCain myself. In closing it is likely that if he gets elected that he will make some fiasco about it, but hopefully the people of the U.S. can see MMA for what it really is, a wonderful and a beautiful sport.
