Following the UFC’s politically-tortured debut in Australia last February, several media outlets in the nation developed the constitution of a small orphan boy with anxiety disorder and declared MMA the devil’s pastime. In terms of knowledge, their columnists appeared to be filing reports from 1995.
No, that’s not fair: Corbett, sensing his grasp of the situation may be limited, went on to explain that he reviewed the rules of a local promoter and found them lacking. His tireless investigation complete, he deemed MMA no better than “mindless computer games,” suspects we’ll raise an army of vicious killers, and imagines the sport no less foul than dog fighting. How his editor must delight in proofreading copy from a quill pen.
Corbett is probably not a dope but surely writes dopey things. This is nothing unusual, particularly in the case of a sport that is superficially disgusting to look at. But he’s hardly the lone voice of dissent outside of the United States: his column is accompanied by 12 pages of reader reaction, a sizable chunk of it in support of moral policing. If Zuffa has a five-year plan to conquer the world, they should consider tacking on an extra ten.
In the meantime, Corbett will likely continue to inform his audience using only the most substantial of evidence: people with tattoos are owners of “idiotic skin graffiti,” while people who don’t wash their hands after using the potty might suffer “dire consequences.” But not nearly as bad as if they then returned to the living room to watch more MMA, obviously.