WWE in MMA: Or how I learned to stop worrying and love the sport
Roar Pro 
Chael Sonnen attempting WWE in UFC : Credit: Esther Lin
On Wednesday, Karen Touma posted an article here on The Roar that dealt with the Pro Wrestling style promo Chael Sonnen cut following his arm triangle choke submission win over Brian Stann at UFC 136 on Sunday.
“Anderson Silva, you absolutely suck,” Sonnen proclaimed in his post-fight interview before going on to challenge the middleweight champion to a rematch.
He didn’t stop there though.
He then raised the stakes of the rematch to what is known as a “loser leaves town” match. If Silva loses he is to leave the middleweight division, if Sonnen does then he will leave the UFC forever.
It was this last part that didn’t taste nice in the mouths of many MMA fans and prompted the writing of the article I mentioned earlier.
The basic rationale behind the dislike is that Pro Wrestling is fake so bringing WWE-theatrics to MMA, as Touma puts it, “hinders the integrity of the sport.”
As in if you have fighters saying what sound like scripted promos out of the cage, it may translate to the casual viewer thinking what’s going on inside the cage is scripted as well.
I’ve never understood this line of thinking.
I can’t say I’m a fan of pro wrestling in the slightest but I have seen a match or two before and for anyone to think that someone could get confused between MMA and the WWE is pretty crazy.
If you watch either event for any small amount of time you can tell very easily that one is real and one is very fake.
Mixed Martial Arts fans get very protective over the sport. So much so that they think they have to eliminate anything from the sport that could possibly be nitpicked by the mainstream audience.
They usually forget however, that firstly, this sport is not for everyone and secondly, the world is filled with crazy and irrational people who like to nitpick at things regardless of if there’s no evidence to support their claims.
Trying to cater to the latter by doing something like trying to stamp out WWE-style promos in the sport because some ignorant people might blindly start believing MMA is fixed is just pointless and exhausting.
For better or for worse, promotion is a big part of the sport and if fighters want to borrow some promotional tips from an industry that is centred around promotion in order to boost their notoriety then what’s the harm?
There was a time when MMA was outlawed for being too brutal and it’s understandable why fans would not want to see that happen again.
They have to remember though that this is a different sport now.
This isn’t the mid-nineties where the UFC is battling the label “human cockfighting” and putting on shows in the backwaters of Alabama.
This is 2011, the UFC is about to debut on US network television.
It’s time to take off the bubble wrap. The sport can stand on its own two feet.
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The Crowd Says (12) | Page 1 of Comments
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- Chael Sonnen, MMA, UFC
October 13th 2011 @ 10:30am
Weatherman said | October 13th 2011 @ 10:30am | Report comment
Hehe, this is great stuff. Sonnen has got us talking more about him, it’s working
There’s always so much more interest when two guys do some talking. Not just Tito Ortiz trash-talk, but actually I-don’t-like-you-or-your-mother.
Go go UFC.
October 13th 2011 @ 1:34pm
Big I said | October 13th 2011 @ 1:34pm | Report comment
It was pretty unusual, but it’s not uncommon for fighters to call out other fighters after a win. I was surprised they didn’t try to get Silva into the cage with him to promote something.
Has been some great fights in the last few months, and some awesome ones still to come.
GSP v Condit
Overeem v Lesnar
Velasquez v JDS
Jones v Machida
And now hopefully Silva v Sonnen 2!
October 13th 2011 @ 1:47pm
apaway said | October 13th 2011 @ 1:47pm | Report comment
Most of today’s UFC fans grew up watching the WWE’s attitude era with larger than life characters like Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock. “Cutting a promo” was a very important part of the business, and far from being turned off by Sonnen’s post-match antics, I’d venture to say most fans probably ate it up. It certainly doesn’t cast a pall on the legitimacy of what goes on inside the octagon and really, pro wrestling got the idea of promos and hyping big fights from boxing. I have no problem with UFC doing the same – in fact, going back to guys like Ken Shamrock, Tito Ortiz, and more recently, Michael Bisping, UFC fighters have been cutting promos for a while now.
October 16th 2011 @ 5:21pm
Carlyme said | October 16th 2011 @ 5:21pm | Report comment
I wouldn’t say most of pro wrestling fans have gone to the UFC. When wrestling was at it’s height, About 15 million people watched pro wrestling every Monday night. The UFC is still underground, UFC only has about 2 million fans. So most WWE fans haven’t went anywhere. And there are more grown ups than kids watching the WWE.
October 13th 2011 @ 4:34pm
Chris said | October 13th 2011 @ 4:34pm | Report comment
I actually had a friendly debate about it on twitter with Karen. The one thing that really bugs me is when people mention that it’s ‘bad for the sport’. I always ask what is so bad about it? Your last sentence summarises my thoughts perfectly. “It’s time to take off the bubble wrap. The sport can stand on its own two feet.” Couldn’t agree more! The sport will always have controversies, much like most sports in the mainstream but it is now big enough that it can overcome the troubled times. UFC For all Australian MMA news follow me on twitter @zviggy
October 13th 2011 @ 4:43pm
Sledgeandhammer said | October 13th 2011 @ 4:43pm | Report comment
I think you guys are underestimating the commercial realities. While the fights will always be real, I can envisage fighters being under pressure to fight in an entertaining style. We all know everyone loves a slugfest, and I can image a few wrestlers giving up the ground game to put on a show.
October 13th 2011 @ 5:33pm
all7days said | October 13th 2011 @ 5:33pm | Report comment
Agree
Like I said in the last article. As long as they still kick and punch each other really hard in the head, I’m happy
October 16th 2011 @ 5:23pm
Carlyme said | October 16th 2011 @ 5:23pm | Report comment
You must live in the suburbs. If kicking and punching to the head excites you that much, something is wrong.
October 15th 2011 @ 2:28am
Neil said | October 15th 2011 @ 2:28am | Report comment
Remember Rocky 1 when Apollo Creed comes to the ring dressed like Uncle Sam? How about any Ali fight. In fact, Mohamed Ali said he got his promotional style from Pro wrestling….all of this was 30 to 40 years ago. Sonnen is doing nothing new with regards to fight promotion he is however doing it very well plus he can back up what he’s promoting with incredible fighting skills.
I am the astronaut of boxing. Joe Louis and Dempsey were just jet pilots. I’m in a world of my own.
Muhammad Ali
I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.
Muhammad Ali
October 16th 2011 @ 5:25pm
Carlyme said | October 16th 2011 @ 5:25pm | Report comment
Good comment. If Muhammad Ali likes wrestling, i don’t see why a angry 15 year old can’t.
October 16th 2011 @ 5:15pm
Carlyme said | October 16th 2011 @ 5:15pm | Report comment
This was a well written article. This article didn’t include pro wrestling bashing, and it didn’t include MMA favoring. But i do want to state some points of mine. All you UFC fans shouldn’t get too excited over the UFC debuting on FOX. Pro wrestling has been mainstream for decades upon decades. Pro wrestling has had very high ratings over the past decades, and pro wrestling is more popular. When UFC comes to FOX don’t expect everything to be fine and dandy. UFC on FOX only might get one million viewers for they’re TV show on FOX. WWE ratings get about five million viewers weekly for they’re Monday night show called “RAW”, that has been around since 1993. And those RAW ratings are nothing, back in wrestlings hay day, WWE RAW was getting ten million viewers a week. And when Ted Turner had his wrestling company called “WCW”, they had a wrestling show on Monday nights called “Nitro” on TNT, and it was on at the same time as WWE’s RAW, and the two shows combined pulled in almost twenty million viewers a week. MMA and UFC has LONG way to go before they get to that level, AND THAT’S A BIG “IF”. And by the way, The Rock is about to have his first match back since his last match way back in 2004. And The Rock will go one on one with John Cena at WM28 next year. So the WWE is gonna do better business than the UFC in these upcoming 7 months. And also, I TOO WATCH THE UFC, hell, i have been watching MMA since 2002. I like both the UFC and the WWE.
October 18th 2011 @ 11:09am
Lucan said | October 18th 2011 @ 11:09am | Report comment
UFC went mainstream when Jon Favreau’s character on Friends entered the octogon.