Lately there's been a whole lot less booing in the crowds in MMA fights for ground technique. Even in the UFC.

Diaz v. Pelligrino for example, was just on. Is was all on the ground, basic positions, decent movement, some good technical stuff happening here and there. The crowd oohed and awed good groundwork. I even heard a hushed oooh as Diaz was working a triangle setup. It didn't pan out, but they recognized and reacted to a setup.

This is more and more the rule rather than the exception. Is even the long reviled UFC live audience starting to understand and appreciate technical groundwork? I think the saturation bombing of popular culture isn't just bringing in new yokels who want to see blood, it's giving people a chance to appreciate what the hell is actually happening in a fight. MMA is growing up.

I went to a local amateur event yesterday, and all I could hear was a bunch of drunk rednecks shouting, "KILL HIM, BREAK HIS NECK, STAND 'EM UP, BOOO."

Things are undoubtedly getting better, but we still have a ways to go.

You think we'll reach that japanese level where 30.000 silent fans go whoooo and ahhhh at the graplling chess that goes along in the ring?

I love it when the clap politely, tennis-fashion, at a well executed escape in Shooto.

Japan's crowds were always much better but I'm glad there's less booing. Still, I don't think it'll disappear altogether... this sport is still being marketed directly to the WWE crowd.

There was an opposite reaction during the Boetsch/Hammil fight. The standup was so god awful people were praying for it to go to the ground. Well, at least I was.

Japan's crowds were always much better

Except when it came to supporting their promotions so that they didn't go belly up and get bought for chump change, but no nationality is perfect I suppose.

At King of Kombat there was a fair amount of "stand 'em up" shouting in a few cases, but only when both fighters had reached apparent stalemates or were unwilling to make a move. I don't recall the ref actually getting involved in many of those cases. There were plenty of positive crowd reactions when one fighter got a clear move on the other on the ground, triangle choke attempts etc were greeted with a lot of shouting and I think the fans are getting a feel for what constitutes a strong position or a reversal of fortune. (However, I think a lot of fans still see having someone in the guard as being in a defensive position, instead of the offensive, attacking posture that it is.)

There was booing, however. Usually in response to the ref stopping fights or in the case of a fighter winning "too fast." (In one case a winner got his opponent in a very tight arm bar within seconds of the fight starting and the crowd simply didn't want to accept that the other guy had to tap out. But that's just how it goes sometimes.)

I heard plenty of guys around me who didn't seem fit enough to be students of jiu-jitsu shouting things like "kumura!" and "get yer hooks in!" (which is really funny when shouted with a drunken texas twang...something like "getcheerhurkshinn!"). The sport is definitely making progress in educating fans in "how the game is played."

getcheerhurkshinn!

That shall be my new "KNEEBAH!!!!!!"

MMA is growing up.

*tear wells up in eye*

My little baby? All grown up?

There's usually less booing when there's something actually going on, rather than just hugging in the corner.

There's usually less booing when there's something actually going on, rather than just hugging in the corner.

Good evening drunken, belligerent redneck. Welcome to the thread, we were just talking about you.

Good evening drunken, belligerent redneck. Welcome to the thread, we were just talking about you.

Erm, "something going on" as in actually submission attempts, attempts to finish with gnp, rather than holding the guy tight and throwing short punches to rack up points.

Edit:

Also I'm from the city of Boston and I don't drink.

Also I'm from the city of Boston and I don't drink.


****, that's the worst kind of drunken redneck.

needs MOAR throws and WWE entrances

I think you should be able to win by ippon, that would stop all this ground fighting nonsense!

Seriously though, I have noticed more people starting to talk about the 'ground game' at the bars I sometimes frequent for UFC events. So the knowledge is growing.